StoryChasers

Last week I had the privilege to lead a “Celebrate Oklahoma Voices” workshop for Storychasers at Kenwood School, which is located about an hour northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma. 100 percent of the students attending Kenwood School are Cherokee. The school is small, with about 80 total students, and serves students in grades K-12. The teachers who participated in the two day digital storytelling workshop did a great job sharing aspects of their culture and community. I particularly loved how several used musical tracks of their students at Kenwood singing songs in the Cherokee language. I feel completely “centered” professionally when I facilitate workshops on oral history and digital storytelling for teachers like those in Kenwood. I was inspired by their stories and hard work! Here are five of the outstanding stories Kenwood teachers created last week. These are now featured on the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices learning community.

The Cherokee Language by Janice Ballou tells the story of family gatherings in ‘days gone by’ when stories were shared in Cherokee. According to Janice, “stories are always funnier and scarier when they are told in Cherokee!” Janice also interviewed kindergarten teacher Faye Ross, who explained how she teaches her students the Cherokee language to enhance their cultural literacy and pride in their Cherokee heritage.

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Mom’s Pretty Boy Floyd Story by Tambra Dewey is an adorable interview with Tambra’s mother, who relates a story she was told as a child by her grandmother who used to cook and give shelter to Pretty Boy Floyd and his gang in the 1930s near Salina, Oklahoma.

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Kenwood Cultural Day Presentation by Wanda Wilson McBride describes Kenwood School’s 2011 Cultural Day which celebrated Cherokee culture. Her retelling made me want to bring my own kids to this special event next year!

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Kenwood School Cherokee Choir by Faye Ross features an interview with music teacher Janice Ballou. The Kenwood Choir has traveled and shared the Cherokee language as well as songs in a remarkable number of places including Washington DC and Japan. “Through the music, kids can express themselves, and that is why I love sharing music in the Cherokee language.” I LOVE the music tracks Faye included in this video!

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Grandmother’s Story by Annetta M Bundy tells the remarkable tale of Annetta’s grandmother who “led a busy life with two husbands and twelve children (including a set of identical twin girls.” The hardships of the past can barely be comprehended by students today who are blessed with so many things as well as opportunities. Digital stories like this one can help us connect and remember.

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

If you are trying to view these videos on an iOS device like an iPad or iPhone, I encourage you to use the Skyfire Web Browser ($3) to convert the Flash-format videos on the fly to a format readable on Apple mobile devices. We are in the process of working on a transcoding solution for our videos on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices, as well as Celebrate Kansas Voices and Celebrate Texas Voices.

If you are in or near Oklahoma or Kansas, please register to attend one of our two day digital storytelling workshops this summer! Our opportunities to digitally create, learn and share continue!

Storychasers is pleased to announce registration is open for SEVEN digital storytelling workshops in Oklahoma and Kansas in June and July 2011. These workshops for Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV) and Celebrate Kansas Voices (CKV) will be held the following dates in different locations:

1. COV 1-2 Jun 2011 Muskogee, Oklahoma (2 sessions)
2. CKV 14-15 Jun 2011 Greenbush, Kansas
3. CKV 20-21 Jun 2011 Andover, Kansas
4. COV 23-24 Jun 2011 Stillwater, Oklahoma
5. CKV 28-29 Jun 2011 Haysville, Kansas
6. CKV 25-26 Jul 2011 Greenbush, Kansas

These dates are listed on our Storychasers’ Public Events Google Calendar:

A “digital backpack” of digital storytelling supplies is included in the registration cost. Our workshop lasts two days, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm each day, and costs $500 to attend. Participants learn to create a 3 to 5 minute digital story / video using a digital audio recorder, Audacity software and either PhotoStory3 or iMovie, depending on the computer platform used. (We teach both Windows and Macintosh users!) More details about our workshops and information about Storychasers is available in our FAQ.

photo © 2008 Wesley Fryer | more info (via: Wylio)

To register for an upcoming Storychasers workshop, please fill out the “Storychasers Workshop Registration Inquiry” form online. After we receive your request, we will send you a Google Form registration link so you can enroll in your desired workshop. Our mailing address and W-9 form are available on our contact page if you need that information for your school purchasing department. Workshop payments can be submitted via school PO, check, or credit card. If you have professional development funds remaining in an existing grant or school technology bond initiative, we would love to work with you to provide Storychasers digital storytelling training for as many of your teachers as possible.

Remember ANYONE can “volunteer a site” to host a Storychaser workshop. More information and an online request form is available on our FAQ page. Storychasers now supports Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV,) Celebrate Kansas Voices (CKV) and Celebrate Texas Voices (CTV.) Over 880 videos created by teachers and students have been shared on our learning communities to date, and we look forward to many more this summer!

Please contact Storychasers if you have questions about our workshops. We’re serious about “empowering digital witnesses” to share their voices constructively on the global stage of the Internet! We hope you’ll join us in this important work in our communities.

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Today in our “Celebrate Texas Voices” workshop for Storychasers in Lubbock, Don Wilson and I showed teachers how they could use any cell phone supporting 3 way calling and the free website, iPadio.com, to record an audio interview with another person. Of course, as is the case with all audio recording, it’s important to get permission FIRST from the individual you’re interviewing to both record the interview AND share it online. This evening, Don helped me create a short, five minute screencast demonstrating the steps for using iPadio and a cell phone to:

• record a phonecast
• download it to your computer
• import it into Audacity for editing

Because of some issues with a frayed iPhone USB cable, I ended up trying to record this screencast about ten times tonight. The end of this final screencast attempt was slightly cut off, but I decided to just go with it instead of trying to record this YET AGAIN! Please forgive the lack of professional closure on this screencast.

photo © 2008 Steven Depolo | more info (via: Wylio)

More information about hosting and “volunteering your site” to host a Storychasers’ workshop is available on the FAQ page of the Storychasers’ blog.

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audio, interview, phonecast, record, storychasers, texas, voices, celebrate