Interestingly the most web traffic we've received has been in the form of a Web 2.o - Youtube. We posted an episode of Raven Tales and so far have received over 10,000 original views. Teachers across Canada also used the tool to illustrate the importance of viewing different mediums to understand narrative elements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2IWV24CWHk
As part of lesson plans in British Columbia, students were asked to create their own Raven Tales, and since then we've seen twenty postings of student made animation. Given the time and effort involved this is fantastic response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB3SgMP9QW8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8u6AfejgJY&feature=related
Our hope is to continue to explore this kind of give and take with students in using Web 2.o based tools.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteThis is intriguing. Every year I fight the reading program at my school as I try to engage freshman students at various levels of comprehension and fluency. In my class I always have a few students with Navajo roots and students read Hillerman and watch the PBS videos based on two of his books. The kids never get the real stories, they only get stories based on the stories.
We have a local artist, Romaine Begay, who is a potterer of stories and his family is rich in telling stories through the arts. These same kids get an hour of story acknowledgement through a very short presentation. I am an arts integrator and literacy advocate. I also understand the need for reaching my kids in a way that actually gets through to them.
With that said, I had trouble watching your videos via your link. I googled you and Raven Tales and watched. Raven Tales has to be a part of the diverse literacy experience reaching kids who have the roots, or need to know there is more beyond the four walls of their tiny house, or their priviledged mansion, or any of many scenarios that limit their ability to embrace the diversity that is the history of a nation.
I will keep exploring and will probe your revelations once I learn more. This is truly exciting. Jill
Thanks for your comments Jill. I’ll try and fix those links. The experience we’ve had with Raven Tales has been both surprising and rewarding. Both Simon and I, the two creators of the show intended it to be something our children could watch and learn about their own cultural identities, as well as inform the general public. It was a case of recognizing that there was no integrated multi-media resource for First Nations/Native American learners, or a youth based resource for anybody else who might be interested in the heritage of America’s first people. Prior to creating Raven Tales when we visited schools to assess the kind of materials available in classrooms or libraries that addressed Native American culture or history, so much of what we found was either outdated or inaccurate, if it could be found at all. Our intent was to fix that by creating a contemporary experience, informed by actual tribal elders/councils, that would engage young learners by using animation, web based tools and stepped readers. The idea was to introduce children to the stories of Native peoples as well as promote literacy. In Canada it’s been incredible successful.
ReplyDeleteWhat has been surprising to us has been the impact on non-Native peoples. Our expectation had always been that we’d see literacy scores increase among Native children, who would finally have materials that engage with them directly, but we also saw scores increase among general students as well. The suggestion of researchers looking at his phenomena is that since Raven Tales is telling novel or “first heard” stories in a novel format, children are more likely to engage with the materials.
We’re now pursuing a Teaching American History grant via the Department of Education to seed Raven Tales into schools in New Mexico as well as incorporate materials from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian into the mix.