Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Digital Storytelling

I'm not going to lie--digital storytelling is brand new to me. Yes, that's right, I'm a digital storytelling virgin. I know it's hard to believe after reading my incredibly knowledgeable blogs that I don't know everything and anything there is to know about technology (ask my school nurse, who's 70; she thinks I'm a technology guru because today I helped her format a cell in Excel and a few weeks ago I found a file that she thought she had deleted--turns out it was on her desktop the whole time), but it's true. In fact, I was blown away when I read Rubi's digital story about crayons; I had NO IDEA that could be done so easily! It gives me hope for my own digital story creation.
Image credit: Google Images: shop.teeandtoast.com
Not that I know what that will be yet, mind you. Given that I'm such a novice, I'm thinking I'll be using the services of PhotoStory to help me in my pursuit. I'm still debating what subject to do my story on. I was really inspired by one of the examples we saw in class on the Dust Bowl (or maybe that was just depression?). It was done really well. I also liked the example of the students' renderings of Clement Moore's Twas the Night Before Christmas with the children's narration.




Maybe I'll do something along those lines...

I can see a lot of uses for digital storytelling, including a great way for special needs students to shine. I agree that students should have opportunities to share their creations with a greater audience than their own classrooms. Just like musicians and singers have concert nights, writers can now give voice and life to their stories and post them on the Web for all the world to see. What better gratification is there than that?   



1 comment:

  1. Lisa,
    I'm also in the process of deciding what software I'll be using to put together my digital story. I am with you when you say digital story telling is new to you because it is also new to me. As I'm thinking about it, in college, my content courses did not integrate as much technology as we are being exposed to now. Digital storytelling would be something great to introduce to teacher candidates during a Developmental Reading course here at SJC. Or any reading course in another school. This has evolved to become something engaging and new for our students. They are able to collaborate, have fun with it, be creative, etc. They are also able to tell or read the story aloud and be recorded.

    ReplyDelete