Purpose of This Blog Post The purpose of this blog post is to share my digital story project plan and get feedback from peers to help me develop it. What type/kind of story will you tell? What is the purpose or impact? I am thinking of telling the story of my health transformation, where I have lost a lot of weight, and also took up running, and am building up my speed and stamina. I would like it to be both informational and inspirational. The picture above is from my most recent 5K race (Monster Mash Dash on October 26, 2024). A year ago I couldn't run for more than a few seconds, and last weekend I ran 3 miles in a witch costume and had great fun doing so! What are the story elements? (Ohler) My story core is as follows Problem: being overweight (my highest was 280 pounds in 2020 during the pandemic, and I’d only got down to 260 after that), I was prediabetic, had lower back issues that had me in severe pain for weeks and even took me to the ER at one point (April, 2023), an...

PART 1: AN EXAMPLE OF A DIGITAL STORY I find myself particularly drawn to The Story of Stuff  video by Annie Leonard. In this series of educational videos, she describes where the stuff that we buy and use comes from, and where it ends up when we dispose of it. In an engaging and lively way, with humor, she educates viewers on the hidden costs to the environment, and some of the political systems involved in producing the stuff we use in everyday life. The introduction is shown here: The simple line drawing graphics help illustrate the points that she makes and help focus the viewer on her main points. There is introductory music but otherwise, it is quite plain, with a white background and no background music. PART 2: EDUCATIONAL VALUE This story is very educational since most people don't think very much about where stuff comes from or where it goes, so it is designed to raise their awareness. I used these videos a number of years ago when I taught Economics to help illustrate ec...

I was born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and did my first degree at Edinburgh University, but I have lived in California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, since 1996. My husband and I met at university in Edinburgh and ended up moving back here where he is from. We have two grown children. Our son is a computer programmer, and our daughter has followed me into teaching. I am a Special Education Teacher (Resource) at Pittsburg High School, around 40 miles east of San Francisco, California. I have been teaching for around 20 years and co-teaching Geometry for the last few years. I have a General Ed. Math credential in addition to my Special Education one, and have often specialized in math over the years. I am co-chair of my department and a member of the Ed. Tech team which provides support and training for our fellow teachers in Educational Technology. I find the idea of digital storytelling interesting. I'm not entirely sure what my story will be but am considering telling ...