Digital Story

“There always seems to be someone looking over your shoulder -just waiting for an opportunity to lecture on The Darker Side of Chocolate.”
- Sandra Boynton

I was inspired to do my digital story during a mini-lesson I did with my 7th grade Social Studies class. We had been studying the continent of Africa and I shared with them articles about the chocolate industry and child labor in West Africa. After the short lesson many of my students asked where they could find more information; they wanted to know what they could do! Because of their curiosity I also wanted to become a more informed consumer. I read books and online articles about the history of chocolate, the chocolate industry, and the fair-trade movement.
I have created a short story about the history of chocolate, from the time of the Mayas to the present day problems in West Africa. I have also shared how we can do our part as a chocolate loving society to alleviate some of the inequalities and abuses that occur in the industry.

A Brief History of Chocolate. Storyboard. Rubric.

Web Community

This semester I joined the ProTeacher Community online network. ProTeacher is a community of K-8 teachers who share valuable information with each other. The site offers bulletin boards about various subjects and topics such as classroom management, issues and politics, and future teachers. I did more reading on the site then I did writing and found it to be very helpful in finding new lesson ideas and in answering questions about being a student teacher. Recently I finished a 4-week unit on Africa and I was able to share one of the lessons I did with my 7th graders about chocolate in the Ivory Coast.

I think it is very valuable, especially to new teachers, to have a network of support. Using a web community such as ProTeacher is another way teachers can connect to other professionals from around the country to share ideas and inspirations. I have been fortunate in my student teaching experience to have worked with some veteran teachers that have been happy to share their wisdom with me, but I know that the more resources I have available to me, the better prepared I will be to meet the demanding needs of being a teacher.