Tell You A Story? Just Watch Me

The idea stemmed from something simple.  Most ideas do.  Last spring, the rug got pulled out from under me like everyone else.  A pandemic.  A pandemic in the 21st century.  Wait...what? How do I manage this unpredictable “fluid” situation as a parent, as a caregiver daughter, in my role as an educator? If it’s true that you can’t control anything except your response to situations, then how do you manage when there are so, so many situations and information to respond to - and not just for yourself, but for the others in your lifeboat with you? And so, as the information gets disseminated, you become innovative and creative with the ever changing and unfolding pandemic landscape.

Sometimes you are lucky and you have a partner who is also innovative, creative and has the uncanny ability to know when to pour you a cup of perspective.  I have one of those. Truly blessed already to have him co-parent with me and to support me in my role as a caregiver, he also came through in a major way in helping me forge through the pandemic sea as an educator.  

Can you say abrupt? Can you say topsy-turvy?  Last April, deemed an essential worker, I returned to my school’s campus.  I tended to my library.  I had a multitude of projects that I could attend to while the students were virtual and until all the library books and textbooks came back to be checked in, inventoried and stored safely over the summer break.  Surely we would be back after the summer break, right? I had a bulletin board to take down, a library to undecorate, a website to complete. I had...no students to look for books, ask me about books, share their weekends with me. One of the best ways I know to grow literacy with students is to share my love of it through the books I read to them.  There were no students to read to, to share my decision process with, to talk to about reading and writing. 

Soon after we went back virtually, a Kindergarten teacher asked if I could read a book to the whole Kindergarten (or however many showed up) via Zoom.  Since none of the computers in the library had a camera, I brought an Elephant and Piggie book home with me and read it to them in the Zoom session.  The lighting wasn’t great, it was a challenge to angle the book so they could see it...to me, it wasn’t an ideal experience.  By this time, first grade had also come to me to share a story.  I conveyed this to my husband and wondered if there was a better way for me to do this.  Maybe a video - maybe I could create a YouTube channel and share a recorded video.  

I recorded reading a book on Zoom and saved it.  Remember that innovative, creative partner I have?  He has over thirty years of experience in video production.  I may be able to write my way out of a paper bag, but he can visually make that bag dance.  He asked me what I wanted to do.  I told him my issues.  I also told him I wanted to read stories, but I wanted the pictures to be more prominent in the telling. I wanted kids to see the words and I hoped to convey why I picked that particular book to read to them.  I hoped that maybe, just maybe, a few of them would want to read that book, too, after they saw the video.  Big dreams, right?

On a Saturday in April, 2020, our living room became a makeshift studio - a Canon camera on a tripod, a roll of green paper behind me, a stack of eight books at my side. Away we go….

Preparing to record

It’s been less than a year since we’ve uploaded the first episode of “Reading With Mrs. DeGagne.”  In that time, we’ve uploaded over 60 videos.  I’ve sent many links to teachers for them to either watch with their classes over Zoom or add to their Google Classrooms. We’ve improved how we record and edit the stories.  The biggest challenge for me is recording the wraparounds, since they are not scripted and I’m reading off the teleprompter inside my brain.  Often, I’ve researched the featured book before going on camera and I want to share some of that quality information with my students.  The second biggest challenge for me is throwing my vanity out the window.  Listening to my voice as we’re editing and seeing my face on the computer screen during that process is quite humbling.  

I never really expected to get subscribers to my channel, but I have.  I never expected huge numbers of views for the videos but one from that first batch, Tell The Truth, B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra, has gotten more than 1,000 views.  That’s very cool, considering I just wanted to share some stories with my students while we were figuring out this virtual/hybrid schooling situation. It’s been a fun and entertaining process for both my innovative husband and me to volunteer our time and talents to.

I’m looking forward to next fall when I can welcome students back into my library.  The void I have felt in the year they’ve been gone is vast. While creating these videos for them has been rewarding in ways I never imagined, it can’t replace that connection I feel while sitting in my reading chair, interacting with them about the story I’m sharing with them that week. Even after they are back in my library listening to stories and reshelving my books in ways I’ve never anticipated, there may still be an occasional episode of “Reading With Mrs. DeGagne” recorded and uploaded.  Promoting literacy comes in many forms. A simple idea is like a seed.  Once planted, you feed it, you tweak it and you see it grow.  Sometimes it surprises you in how it blossoms. 

Reading With Mrs. DeGagne Tell The Truth B.B. Wolf Mother Bruce