The Power of Connection

     This week I was asked to create a personal digital story for my multimedia course.  It seemed clear to me right away that my story would deal with my sons, who are the center of my life and the most powerful teachers I have ever had.  Joe Lambert of the Digital Storytelling Center describes relationships as a rich source of storytelling:  "How we love, are inspired by, want to recognize, and find meaning in our relationships are all aspects of our lives that are deeply important to us. Perhaps the majority of the stories created in our workshops are about a relationship, and in the best stories they tell us more about ourselves than the details of our own life story."  (Lambert, 2010)  As I began the project I had the advantage of a large, well organized catalogue of photographs, as many mothers do, and some prior experience with PhotoStory in my classroom.  My topic, while very close to my heart, exists as a part of my everyday life.  I expected this project to be entertaining, a bit sentimental, and benign. 
     In fact, the experience of putting a narrative to my emotions and memories was challenging as a writer and editor, and achingly lovely as a mother.  As I delved into the relationship between my sons, I had an opportunity to look at our family memories through completely new eyes.  Pictures that never left the computer's hard drive, deemed too rough or unflattering, suddenly became the true heart of the story.  Listening to the conversations between the boys, I heard tried and true words that suddenly spoke a completely new message.  In telling about what I knew the best, I found that I learned brand new lessons.
     This should be the learning expectations for our students when they use media to communicate.  Students who must create the narrative of their learning are forced to approach their knowledge from new perspectives.  Learning becomes personal, relational; and it is in this relationship that we gain our true education.  Marco Torres of San Fernando High School understood this well:  "What Torres remembers about his own education are the things he made in school: the plaster cast of his hand in kindergarten, the spouting volcano in third grade, the model of a California mission in fourth grade. His students, he finds, enjoy coming up with a tangible product as much as he did.” (Edutopia Staff, 2002)  Quite simply, children who do, learn.
Please take a moment to view my digital story, "The Way Brothers Do," in the Multimedia Gallery.
Works Cited:
Edutopia Staff. (2002, July 1). Students Find Their Voices Through Multimedia. Retrieved August 23, 2010, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/students-find-their-voices-through-multimedia
Lambert, J. (2010, January). Digital Storytelling Cookbook. Retrieved August 27, 2010 from the Center for Digital Storytelling: http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf