Thing 4: Digital Storytelling UPDATED

Thing 4: Digital Storytelling

Although I did this topic way back in Cool Tools 1, I wanted to re-visit it since there are so many new tools and ideas that have been developed in the past couple of years. It also came at perfect timing because the 7th grade ELA teacher in my school just asked me to collaborate with him on a Digital Storytelling project! Of course I said YES! I immediately dove into Thing 4 to get some new ideas.

As recommended, I began with the article 6 Reasons You Should Be Doing Storytelling With Your Students.  I appreciated that the article reinforced the benefits of this sort of activity: it creates leadership in students through giving them initiative to be decision makers and problem solvers, it increases technological competencies and prepares students for tech careers down the road, and most importantly when working with my ELA7 students: “Digital storytelling is still writing. Whether it is a multi-day project or a storyboard created in ten minutes, the process for digital storytelling is the same as any other project:”

• Brainstorm
• Plan
• Create
• Revise
• Edit
• Publish
• Reflect

Additionally, digital storytelling encourages creativity and can produce a final project that is easily collaborated on and shared out, all while providing an alternative means of assessment.

I then went back to the Thing 4 assignment list of resources, and the article The 5 Rules of Digital Storytelling Every Teacher Should Know About  next caught my eye. The TED talk by Andrew Stanton, the Pixar writer and director behind both Toy Story and WALL-E, talks about some of these rules in The clues to a great story. I shared this video with the ELA7 teacher as well, and then checked out the infographic that went with it:

The infographic seemed like it’d be a handy reference, so I printed out a color version to have handy during the upcoming project.

The Teacher’s Guide to Digital Storytelling was my next stop, since I was still looking for specific ideas on how to use digital storytelling with the students. I liked how this article immediately referenced the meaningfulness of this tool, stating “Teaching critical thinking and creativity in writing can be a difficult task, but it is crucial in preparing students to meet the standards of the Common Core. Digital storytelling is a highly effective technique for doing so, as it requires a clear organization of thought, discipline, and problem solving skills — all of which can translate directly into more traditional essay writing.”  This would be a great article to share with administrators who are interested in learning more about the value of digital storytelling in the academic curriculum.

Sorry for the long “copy and paste” from the above article here, but I wanted to keep this list handy for future reference, since I really like some of these ideas and definitely want to revisit them:

Digital Storytelling Lesson Ideas

1. Dream Scenes. Have students write a narrative essay about what they’d like to be when they grow up. Then have them draw digital pictures to animate their vision and put it all together in a YouTube video.
2. Animated Personal Narrative. Teach students how to write a personal narrative. Then help them turn that narrative into a storyboard, and finally have them put it altogether in an xtranormal animation.
3. Google Story. You know those (tear jerking) Google Ads, like the one that uses Gmail to tell a father’s story about his love for his daughter? Teach your students the epistolary format, and then have them write a Gmail story of their own, to be compiled via video or compressed into an illustrated PDF. Alternatively, use this Google search Parisian love story as inspiration. Have students brainstorm plotlines, write an outline, and flesh it out with the magic of Screencast-O-Matic and Google search.
4. Historical Slide Show. Have your students pick a favorite figure from history and write their biography. Then have them scour the web for Creative Commons images that are relevant to their project, distill the biography down into its essential parts, and put it all together in a shareable Slideshare presentation.
5. Book Trailer. Who needs a run-of-the-mill book review when you could have a book trailer? Trailers should help students practice their critical reading and analysis skills, while also developing their constructions of arguments and use of rhetoric as they battle to convince their classmates to read their book next.
6. How To Guide. Every student has a secret talent. Have students describe theirs in a straightforward YouTube video, laying out each step in logical sequence. This is an especially effective lesson for more hands-on students who struggle with writing and need a more intuitive connection to a physical skill as they learn to lay out steps logically.
7. Two Sides of the Story. Sick of the regular old persuasive essay? Assign students a controversial topic. Then have them research arguments supporting both sides, and put it all together in a video, presentation, or infographic that must devote air time to articulating a clear thesis for both sides of the story.
8. Family or Community History Project. Send your students out to interview and record members of their family or community about their past. Then challenge them to put this together into a podcast, video, or newscast, reviewing all that’s come before.

I also enjoyed checking out some of the sample projects included in the list, such as “Don’t Let the Pigeon be the the Principal” book trailer and some of the teacher guide links, and appreciated the “ready to go” list of Creative Commons image libraries. They definitely make it easier to convince students not to simply “steal” from Google images (of which I’m guilty of myself!). I will bookmark my favorites from the list and use them as my “go to” image libraries when teaching lessons that include photos.

Of all of the options I looked through, Adobe Spark’s “Tell a Story” option seemed the perfect place to start considering the project I hope to do with the 7th grade English classes. I loved the animated story examples! I decided to have one of my current students test out Adobe Spark for me as part of his author study project. It turned out to be very easy to use. Here is the link to my 6th grader’s author study presentation: https://spark.adobe.com/video/aWANgawUBrzrG

I can’t wait to try this out with the ELA7 classes in late March! Another great “thing”!