Digital Storytelling--- Tell a Story, Show your Learning!

 In its simplest form, digital storytelling is using a combination of pictures, sounds, and words (written and spoken) to tell a story. Most people think of digital storytelling as a way for student to tell their own narrative story in a in a video form.  And in reality, that's probably the most powerful form of digital storytelling. However, digital storytelling can also be used to tell explain, or to share an opinion about any topic a student is learning in school, and the projects can be incredibly powerful.

What's so special about digital storytelling?

When a student creates a digital story, whether it be their own story or a content based story, it forces him/her to think about the topic in on various levels.  They need to visualize the topic and find the perfect pictures, they have to write the script that will accompany the pictures and present the words in a way that perfectly emphasizes what they think is important, and they need to find music or sounds that will highlight the story in the correct way.  

How could they use this in the classroom

Digital storytelling could be used in practically any content area. For example a teacher might decide to use it:

• As a personal narrative writing assignment
• In a science class to explain a concept
• In a math class to explain describe a real math scenario
• In a social studies/culture class to imagine living in another time or culture
• In any content area to persuade the audience. 

So, what do they do? 

Write the narration

Before the student even begins working on a digital story, they need to write the narration that goes with it.  If this is a narrative story, often they have written this ahead of time. But, if it's a content based story, they would use their research to create the narration that will go with the story.

Storyboard 

After the student has created the narration, they need to plan out a storyboard. The storyboard helps the student to think about the music and pictures that help to tell the story.  You can make a storyboard that suits your need or it is very easy to find templates online.

Images

One of the most important aspects of the digital story is what the viewer is seeing. Students can either use a camera to take pictures that tell the story, use personal pictures, or find fair use pictures online.  

It is very important to talk to the students about fair use and copyright when they begin to look for pictures. Here are a few resources to help the students to find fair use pictures:

• Iolani Libaries- Images, Pictures, Photos, Music for Fair Use: Finding Fair Use Images
• Creative Commons
• Pics 4 Learning

Putting it All Together

Students can use any number of tools to glue the components together. At our school, each student has the WeVideo app on their Chromebook (which allows for sharing and collaboration) but really any video editing tool  can work.  

The power of a digital story is that it combines the visual and auditory components of a story to really pack a punch. A story that is impressive in written form can become downright breathtaking given the right mix of sights, sounds, and expression.

Give it a try, and see the power of digital storytelling!