How to Make an "A" in Math Class: A Digital Story

This semester of school has been a fun experience. From the beginning of the semester, I have observing an area middle school, which I am very excited about. I have been interested in working with students in the transition from middle to high school for a while. I think this is a crucial age and transition for students. One of the biggest, and most important, things for students to learn during this process is how to take on more responsibility, especially for their own learning. Becoming a self-directed learner is a long process. I am a strong advocate for teaching students organizational and time management skills. As with traditional content knowledge, students are not born with these skills.

With less than a week until the last day of undergraduate career, I might be considered a seasoned pro at being a student. For this reason, I decided to use our project on digital stories to create a simple video that shares the "tricks of the trade" with young students. Digital stories are a fun way to convey a message to students, and for this material it is probably a better way to get the point across. Simply telling students to be organized or to take responsibility for their learning cannot truly be helpful unless we also tell them how to do so. This theme is especially important in mathematics. Once students enter high school, the math curriculum becomes much more interrelated and hierarchical. What students learn during their freshmen math course will most certainly be used in their senior courses. Having a plan from the beginning can help students stay on top of their growing academic demands. My story focuses on teaching students how to start off on the right foot, especially in mathematics.

The process for creating the digital story was quite simple. We used iMovie, a Mac-based software, to create our stories. A simple drag and drop was all that was needed to get the images into the software. Adding the title, captions, and transitons was also as simple as drag and drop. The best part about using this software was the amount of control the user has in timing the slides and captions. For longer captions, it was quite easy to lengthen the timing of the slide. The most frustrating part was the limited amount of creativity that the user has when using still photos. For instance, there is no way to add two photos to one slide and captions and titles are limited. I feel that having the ability to be more creative could have enhanced the experience. In the end, however, I am quite pleased with my digital story. I hope you enjoy, How to Make an "A" in Math Class.