Thursday June 15, 2006
Thursday June 15, 2006
Digital Stories
Description
A digital story is a series of images, along with a narrated soundtrack, that tell a story. In the article by Kajder on digital storytelling, seven steps are suggested to help teachers being using this technology: write an initial script (what to say), plan a storyboard (what to show), discuss and revise the script, sequence the images in a video editor program such as iMovie or Movie Maker, add the narrative track, add special effects and transitions, and add a musical soundtrack (if time allows). Kajder emphasizes that using these steps is not the only way to accomplish digital storytelling, but that they are a good starting point, especially if teachers have not done digital stories before.
Key Findings from Readings
In the Kajder article, one of the "lessons learned" was to have students plan their scripts and storyboards away from the computer. This resulted in more focused stories. I would agree - computers can sometimes be a distraction because the students are so eager to get on them that they rush through the preliminary work. If I used digital stories with my class, I would require students to complete prewriting steps before using the computer. I also liked the piece of advice that Kajder gave to not "let the technology get in the way of the story." The focus should be on the planning and telling of a meaningful story.
One of the drawbacks to digital storytelling that Kajder mentioned was limited equipment, since most classrooms only have a few computers. This is true for my classroom, so we would have to go the computer lab. We have a scheduled weekly time in the lab, but it's only 45 minutes long, so I would be definitely have to schedule more lab time if I were doing digital storytelling. Another important point that Kajder makes is that since we are responsible for teaching so many objectives for the End-of-Grade test, those objectives would need to be aligned with objectives used for digital storytelling so that time can be used wisely. Since we have the writing test as well in fourth grade, I think time spent using digital storytelling as part of the writing process would be well-spent.
Applications for Teaching
I would like to use digital storytelling in my classroom as part of the publishing phase of the writing process. Students would already have their story planned and written on paper, so they would just have to adapt it to a script and storyboard for a digital story. I think this would be a great way to publish student stories, and the students would really enjoy it. We have a Young Author's Day at my school, and a digital story would be a wonderful published piece to have for that. I also like how organizing the script and storyboard echoes organizing thoughts before writing a story. Students would be able to see the connection between writing and a video production. This could be related to TV shows or even video games to help them see a real-world purpose for writing.
Posted at 10:00PM Jun 15, 2006 by DEAL, DONNA in General | Comments[1]