Final+Storytelling+Project


 * A3.3 Final Storytelling Project or Digital Storytelling Project - Due Date 8/06/10 (Friday f2f)**
 * Partner - Rachel Young (Public Librarian)**

__Melisa's Storytelling Practice Log__ Monday-July 19th - Made final selection, mapped the story, practiced in the mirror

Tuesday-July 20th - Listened to YouTube videos of story versions, created a new story map, practiced in the mirror and also telling to dog

Wednesday-July21st - Same story map, practiced with dog in the morning & afternoon, told story to husband at night(received feedback on needing to distinguish voices)

Thursday - July 22nd - Told story to Mother in the car, driving to dr. appt., told again to husband on the way home from airport (not a good idea)

Friday-July 23rd - Practiced story by using WebCam on laptop and reviewing playback - limited to only sitting - but helped with getting down voice distinction

Saturday- July 24th - Told story to teenage son over the phone

Sunday - no practice

Monday-July 26th Used WebCam again. Story is still too long.

Tuesday-July 27th - Practiced telling in mirror, timing down to 9:58 mins. but left some stuff out.

Wednesday- No practice

Thursday-July 29th-Practiced on WebCam again. Story is right at 10:10 with everything. Partner (Rachel) and classmate (Jaime) and I met at TWU library for additional practice as evidenced by attached photos. We video recorded each other's, gave feedback, and discussed our venue for Saturday at Rachel's library in Dallas. :-) My story was 12 mins. Still need to practice on the time, condense the intro, speed up Possom's journey to the sun, etc. Learned how to make Rachel's cool water sound to use in my story. Friday - July 30th - Reviewed video from last night. Worked on the feedback provided by classmates in order to polish performance for Saturday. Will practice again with WebCam, tell to my teenage son and husband together this evening so I have more of an audience. I will have one of them time the telling also.

Satuday - July 31st - Just did another run through of the story. Used computer for sound recording and it is now down to 9:32 woohoo!! I'm getting there! Did some cutting and increased voice pacing which really helped. I will practice more in the car on the way to Dallas. I'm looking forward to the experience with the kids. Thank goodness they are the most forgiving audience :-)

It was fun to visit Rachel's library in Dallas and tell to the small group of kids during storytime. Although it was a very small group, it was still nice to practice and it made me realize how much I missed being around young kids. Their faces told me how I was doing. I could tell they were engaged in the story by their facial expressions. After the story one of the boys (Andres)said that he thought the story was cool because, "It was the smallest and least likely of the animals that was able to bring the sun" (something I hadn't even thought of). It just showed me once again how much we can learn from children! I was really excited that the story was only 8:06 minutes- my shortest time ever, yet still effective. I reviewed the video tape and I'm pleased with the story. Here are a view pictures captured from the video.

On Sunday, August 1st, I told the story to the English Language Arts teacher from my school. We were working on our presentation for a Technology Conference. She recommeded that I make a clearer distinction between my coyote voice and possum voice because they ran together.

On Monday, August 2nd, I retold the story to Melissa (ELA) teacher at a local restaurant and a stranger next to us was listening (because he clapped after it was over) :-) it was funny. Melissa thought the voices were better.

I told the story to the 5th grade teaching team from my school during our conference lunch on Tuesday, Aug. 3rd. They all liked the story and thought the kids at school would like it too. No feedback.

Told the story to myself while driving in the car on Wednesday, Aug. 4th to/from lunch with husband.

I practiced the story again on Thursday night, Aug. 5th to prepare for telling in class.

Friday, Aug. 6th - Told the story in class to Emilie and received great feedback with helpful tips.

Friday, Aug. 6th - evening/ Saturday, Aug. 7th morning - Choose not to practice story again, in whole, but to go through it in my mind adding in Emilie's suggestions and practiced my spider hand gestures.

Saturday, Aug. 7th - shared story with entire class. It was a fun experience.