Digital Storytelling Lesson Plans Bring Stories to Life
Students can use technology to enhance and improve their stories using digital storytelling lesson plans.
By Deborah Reynolds
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then digital storytelling is priceless. Digital storytelling opens the door for students to utilize modern technology to share ideas and information that’s usually put only in written form. Programs such as Power Point, Movie Maker, and Kidspiration are some of the many tools available to make digital storytelling possible.
Digital storytelling allows students to take their writing beyond the written page. Personal narratives can now be presented in the form of slideshow presentations. Family tree projects can be digitally recorded to include actual footage of the members of the family. Plays can be written, performed, and recorded to share with the class or the school. Students can take poetry and create digital representations of their favorite stanzas or lines. With the Internet available in most classrooms, students can not only create digital stories, but they can also share them with other students around the world via webcams, class web pages, and email.
This form of storytelling aids the teacher in differentiating for the diversities in his or her classroom. Students that are visual learners would greatly benefit from taking their written ideas and creating a visual presentation. It could also aid students who have difficulty beginning a story if they can create it using pictures or video first, and then write about it. Gifted students would enjoy the opportunity to use technology to extend what they are doing in class. For example, they may take the novel "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbitt and create a movie version in which the main character, Winnie, decides to choose love over living.
Digital storytelling provides students with a wide array of opportunities. They can create digital images of stories they have written or read. They can then share their stories with classmates as well, or even with other students their age across the globe. It also provides an alternative method of telling a story for students that either have difficulty with putting it in writing, or students that need an extra challenge. What a way to use modern technology in the classroom! What follows are some lessons that can get your students started with digital storytelling.
Digital Storytelling Lesson Plans:
Using oral, visual, and written media, students will tell an autobiographical story about their name. Students not only research the origin of their name, but also learn about the elements of an informative and engaging story. This lesson plan includes websites where students can research the origin of their name. It also includes several ideas for extension activities for students ready to take the assignment beyond the box.
Students use technology to tell a story about their family. Students will study the life of the American family. They will then choose a form of technology to tell the story of their own family. Suggestions in the lesson are to use Power Point or movie story boards. The students are asked to do research on their family and bring in artifacts to include in the presentation. This lesson includes four ideas for extensions and five suggestions for assessments that go beyond the standard paper and pencil format.
Sending Smoke Signals by Webcam
The students tell a Native American story to another class of students via a webcam. This lesson is interactive and hands-on. Before the students create the story to perform on the webcam, they participate in a wide array of activities related to Native American culture. It also includes five cross-curricular extension activities.
After learning about African folktales, students perform them on video. The students design costumes and props for the presentation of the stories they are creating. They will use iMovie to create video footage of the story. There is also a video segment in this lesson that gives an example of the final product.
Discussion Question:
How do your students use technology to enhance their storytelling assignments?
