Kindred Story Map # 1: Final Project and Analysis

Platform: The tribal elders speak of a time in the past when there were many Native-American tribes
that roamed the Great Plains, following the great herds of buffalo for sustenance.

Catalyst: But, one day, the discovery of gold in California led to a tremendous rush of people moving to
the west. That is when the tracks and Iron Horses started to appear.

Consequences:

Because of the paths for the Iron Horses, Native Americans lost land as the government and railroad
companies sought to move Native American tribes onto reservations so as to acquire more land that
had long been the tribal hunting grounds of Native American tribes. Conflicts increased.

Because of the increase in white settlers, the herds of buffalo began to thin as they were shot for
sport or profit.

Because of the money that could be made from resources other than gold, like buffalo, even more
white settlers began to move west.

The buffalo herds thinned even more and confrontations between white settlers and Native
Americans increased.

Climax: More and more tracks were laid and more Iron Horses appeared coming from the east and west,
until finally the paths were connected and the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

Resolution:

The linkage of the tracks for Iron Horses across the entire country prompted the final phase in the
loss of Native American land, the near extinction of the buffalo population, and the end of traditional
Native American culture.

Since then all Native American tribes were eventually forced to move onto reservations.

The moral of the story is that what one culture considers progress might harm or lead to the
destruction of anothers culture. We need to respect everyones culture and find ways to peacefully
co-exist.

Analysis:
Analyzing two videos and creating the following story maps for them helped me to develop the preliminary
map for my final project. In Unit 4, we had to create a preliminary outline for our final project. The
version of my story map posted above was edited based upon my analysis of The Good Fight and 1,890

Stories. Out of those two videos, I felt as if 1,890 Stories was more difficult to map, but it was also the
map that proved most useful to helping me map my own story. I felt that The Story Spine was the best
version of a story map to use for my own story as well as for mapping 1,890 Stories. However, I found that
it was still difficult to match up the aspects of Natalias story to the different aspects of that particular
story map. This was due to the fact that the video, as created by Natalia, fails to include an easily
identifiable problem, or catalyst in the parlance of The Story Spine. Essentially, in order to properly map
the story I had to place the facts of her story in a different order than they are presented in the video.
Mapping and analyzing this story had two major influences upon the creation of my own story map. The
first was to make sure that my story had a clearly identifiable problem, or catalyst. Compared to the
catalyst in my preliminary story map from Unit 4, the catalyst in my new version is more focused.
Secondly, from analyzing and mapping 1,890 Stories I was able to realize the importance of the structure
and flow of a story. As I mentioned, her story would probably flow better if it was structured in a way that
more closely resembles the story map that I created, rather than the way it was actually created. Based
upon this awareness, I was able to edit my story and eliminate some information that I had originally
included because I felt that those facts were not as essential to the story and would have been detrimental
to the structure and flow of the story. The only real influence that creating a map for The Good Fight had
on my own planning was on planning the ending (resolution) to my story. After viewing and mapping The
Good Fight, I felt as if there could have been a little more information included about the resumption of
Kates life after the death of her mother. Essentially, I was left wanting a little more information about her
life and story. In creating my own story map, I tried to make sure that the resolution was detailed enough
to create a true sense of closure.

References:

Anglin, N. (2014, May 18). 1890 Stories. Retrieved July 28, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2AaJDKkM8zs

Burns, K. (2012, August 19). The Good Fight. Retrieved July 28, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHPKX_yMjAo

Ohler, J. (2013). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning, and
creativity (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Kindred Story Map #2: 1,890 Stories (The Story Spine)
The Platform

Once upon a time, when she was little, Natalias uncle Kenny lived with her
Every week he would let Natalia play with the oldest pennies in his penny
collection and tell her family stories about childhood with her Mom

The Catalyst

When Natalia goes to school she asks him why nobody seems to care about
pennies that are on the ground

The Consequences

Because of this question, Kenny tells her that later on in life they will learn to
appreciate things they have
Because of Kenny, Natalia begins to form her own penny collection and has
collected 1,890 pennies by age 15

The Climax

Natalias uncle Kenny dies

The Resolution

Ever since then, when Natalia misses Kenny, she dumps out all of her pennies and
remembers her uncle and the stories he told her
And the moral of the story is to be grateful for what you have

Kindred Story Map #3: The Good Fight (Annotated Visual Portrait of a Story VPS)

Kate becomes politically

active and announces that
she is gay but her parents
reject her activism and
sexuality

Kates parents begin to reach out to her, each

in their own way to start the process of accepting her
for who she is

After Kates Dad has

a stress induced
heartache they stop
their political
activism
Kates parents are very
liberal and politically active
in the 1950s and 1960s

Beginning

After rejecting Kates sexuality and refusing

to accept that she is actually gay her parents begin
to realize that they must accept her

Before dying, each of Kates

parents makes peace with
her, accepts her for who she
is and tells her that they are
proud both of her and her
political activism

Kate and her life-partner

continue in the footsteps that
Kates parents took in the
1950s and 60s and dedicate
their continued social and
political activism in their

End