As a composition teacher, digital storytelling really excites me. Basically, it's a way to combine photos/video, voiceovers and music to tell a story.
This story can be historical, fictional, journalistic, personal, etc. In fact, you can use this format for persuasive and informative pieces as well. I've used this technique in the classroom a few times and find that students usually forget the overall objective: to produce good writing. When I say forget, I don't mean that students ignore the elements of storytelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation. I mean, they are so interested in the overall product, they forget the activity is academic. It's no longer "a lame paper that only my English teacher will read."
You do not need to abandon your traditional composition units to use digital storytelling. The writing is basically the same. The difference is adding images, music and voiceover.
We all know that students are often more engaged in writing when they know their work will be published somehow. At the end of a digital storytelling unit, you MUST either post the stories online for all to see or spend a day or two in class sharing stories.
TIP: I always have my students complete a storyboard before hitting a computer. An APPROVED storyboard is their ticket to continue. Without a storyboard, they have to sit at their desks until they produce one. This method proves to be a great motivator to get the writing done and done well. Of course you could have them compose the storyboard electronically as well. I would advise you not to let them continue to the next step, however, without a finished storyboard. The storyboard gives students a map for the rest of the project.
Storyboard template:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/myplacemyspace/promote-your-day-out/with-film/storyboard-template.shtml
Check out these links and feel free to ask my questions about my experience using digital storytelling.
http://www.streetside.org/stories/digital-stories.htm
http://edweb.fdu.edu/folio/FrancoE/ST/resources.html
http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2410
http://www.storycenter.org/
http://digitales.us/files/digitalstorytellingarticle.pdf
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/powerpoint.html
I'm so glad to meet a teacher who has actually done digital storytelling. I would love to come and watch you in action. I am a little confused as to how it equals the writing of an essay. I'm all about creativity and helping the students forget it's academic, but I want to understand how this brand of technology helps the ELA teacher assess the standards if the end product is not something you read, but something you watch. This wondering is not in opposition to the concept. It's kind of a "This sounds too good to be true" kind of thought. Look forward to learning more!
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