Wilson Rawls: Author of Where the Red Fern Grows

I’m spending several days this week in and near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, leading a Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling workshop for Storychasers at Lowrey School. Lowrey is one of just five public school districts in Oklahoma implementing a 1:1 laptop initiative, and is located about thirty minutes north of Tahlequah. This evening after I tweeted about driving to Tahlequah, Kelly Croy tweeted:

Tahlequah is where Billy Coleman picked up his dogs at the train depot in Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Take pics pls.

I certainly will take photos in and around Tahlequah this week, but Kelly’s tweet reminded me of Amy Brookshire’s COV video about Wilson Rawls. It’s just over two minutes long, and gives an excellent (as well as personal) biographical snapshot of Rawls.

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Students of Stilwell, Oklahoma teacher Andrea created another digital story about Wilson Rawls. (2 min, 10 sec) Rawls’ story of becoming a writer through persistence, despite his lack of formal education, is inspiring and may come as a surprise to many readers.

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

It’s nice to compare these two videos as examples of teacher-created and student-created digital stories. If your students have read or will read “Where the Red Fern Grows,” consider using one or both of these videos as part of your author study about Wilson Rawls.

It’s been a few months since I led a COV workshop, and I’m looking forward to working with teachers at Lowrey this week who will create and share their own digital stories! We now have 567 videos in our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices learning community, created by Oklahoma teachers and students.

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