Many, many, many years ago (32 to be exact) I started my teaching career with Palm Springs Unified School District. I have been a 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade teacher. With the help of Digicom Learning, I started my digital storytelling journey 11 years ago. Because of their help, my students and I created The DSL Engineer Report, a news magazine, that continued for 5 years. At my site, Della S. Lindley, other teachers became involved in the program and digital storytelling and we created our own Elementary Film Festival to highlight student films. It became a great success and wonderful family engagement event. I am currently working as an instructional coach for PSUSD and a teacher consultant for Digicom Learning. I continue to spread the word on the power of digital storytelling.
As a middle school teacher for 15 years and a California Teacher of the Year (2014), I have continually worked to redefine what learning looks like in my 6th-grade classroom. I am an advocate for student choice and voice, as demonstrated by the original content my students regularly publish for a global audience. Digital Storytelling has transformed how my students demonstrate their learning, and continues to be a pillar of instruction for both Language Arts and Social Studies. I have worked as a DIGICOM Learning professional development instructor for 12 years, and a DIGICOM teacher-consultant for the past 4 years. You can download my book "Digital Storytelling: Connecting Standards to Movie-Making" (2013) on iBooks.