“There is no such thing as an intermediate or advanced video editor.” What Jeff Bradbury means by this comment is that it is the soft skills that you are enlisting, and the final product that determine the level of professionalism. Creating a high quality video is not so much about technical expertise and capability, although that is a component, but about the proficiency of storytelling. It is therefore not the smooth transitions or slick effects that makes that video good, but rather it’s the journey it takes you on.
Teaching is no different. We are not teaching students how to do something as much as we are telling a story; yes they need the skills that we endeavour to develop, but it is in the storytelling that the ‘why’ of what they are learning really takes shape and takes root. It is in the storytelling that the skill, competency, concept, or
content finds its meaning and becomes connected to real people living in a real world. And by story-telling I do not refer to the fervour with which a lesson is taught or the animation with which an explanation is given, but the sequence with which lessons and units are constructed, and the journey that the learner is taken on as they progress through. Is there a beginning, middle, and end that runs deeper than just the dates outlined on the calendar? Is there tension, drama, and emotion that is experienced by those participating? Is there logic and progression to the learning that elevates it from a steady stream of ideas and information to something that tugs at our humanity?
Perhaps this is something that ought to come from the learner and not the educator (despite these two terms being somewhat interchangeable); that it is a matter of perspective. Yet I wonder how my students would encapsulate the past year when they look back - as a Social Media-like stream of information, or as a good film that imparted on them a sense of progress and, most importantly, left them wondering..