Digital Storytelling

Digital Tools to help create a richer experience with stories.

1. Digital stories contained video clips, voice, music, etc.
2. Digital stories should still maintain elements of good story telling (character, plot, etc.).
3. Excellent for helping students engage.
4. Personal story telling can be particularly effective and can include historical references in all media.
5. Important components to consider when planning a project:

• Encourages Research - I've found that students who struggle with reading/writing are much more responsible to using digital media, which doesn't have to include many words.
• Incorporate personal voice - encourage students to explore the narrative form.
• Can project present an opportunity to explore point of view/perspective (paint brush perspective)
• Try to establish a dramatic question which will hold the viewer's attention (distinguishes story from a travel log)
• Include emotional content.
• Use a soundtrack. Help students see how music may enhance story, or interfere with the story.
• Economy - help students filter effective components and not overwhelm the story with too much. Teach simplicity.
• Discuss pacing. Is it monotonous? Overwhelmingly fast? Is there good variety of action speeds.

6. Helps students retain knowledge.

7. Increases communication skills.

8. Helps students understand that school is connected to the outside world.

9. Encourages creativity.

10. Promotes digital literacy (and literacy through researching and writing)

11. Specific steps in creating a digital story:

• Script or outline of project - planning always makes it better 
• Capture images with video camera, scan photos into computer
• Create story board *This step may be more efficient if it follow the script so you know exactly what images you need.
• Put images together in a movie or slideshow (iMovie, Garage Band, Power Point, lots of possible platforms).
• Add sound.
• Compress product for web.

12. Good for collaborating with tech teacher who can support process by teaching editing tools.

Personal reflection. WOW, so many possibilities! I can think of applications personally and in the classroom.

So now I have to stop to come up with the assignment....

Hmmmmm.           POSSIBLE DIGITAL STORIES:

1. Mom and Dad’s life for the anniversary party.
2. Short story of my favorite bike ride.
3. Exploration in the classroom of the history of Thanksgiving (good research topic and study of sequence and list describe text structures).
4. Study of development of technology through my life – how I’m living the space age in my old age. Contrast compare what I expected with what actually happened.

Other ideas I may want to steal:

“Idioms of everyday life” illustration

EASIEST ONE TO DO IN CLASS RIGHT NOW –

Thanksgiving!

Origins in Europe and throughout the world of harvest celebration.

First Thanksgiving in America – Pilgrims story in Plymouth  (post 1660) vs the Virginian story (first recorded in 1607 and then codified in 1619).

Why should we be thankful?

Thanksgiving as celebrated by my family.

 USE COMIC LIFE STORY BOARD FOR CREATING STORYBOARD. OR VIDEO STORYBOARD. CAN BE ACCESS FROM WEBSITE.

ASSIGNMENT: Explore components that will help you create a digital story. Check out Digistories. 

Assignments:
1. Create a script and storyboard for your own digital story and bring it with you to next week's class.
2. Bring digital media (photos, video, music) to class next week that go along with your storyboard.
3. Explore the online resources for digital storytelling listed on the class website.
4. Comment on this post. Include ways you could use digital storytelling with your students, something you learned in class, or thoughts about a digital storytelling resource you explored.

Wordle and Weebly

Wordle is a cute program that allows you to create random representations of a series of words. Found at www.wordle.net, you just type in a series of words representing a student, a subject, vocabulary words before or after study, etc.. The program then produces a image of the words on the list, the most frequent words showing up as the larges.
1. You can cut and past passages into the program to create word clouds for specific text.
2. Be sure you copy each passage before processing (by hitting the word "go" so you can return, paste, and add more words to manipulate the cloud.
3. You can adjust the color and fonts. Icons are located at the taps at the top.
4. Fun and easy to use.
5. A list of similar programs is also listed on the Canyons IT site.

Next is Weebly.com

This service is free and it's easy to sign up. This is a free website service!!!

I'm using jodeesteffensen.weebly.com and I created a "Jodee's Corner of Random Thoughts"

This site has everything you need to build a website.

1. Several themes available, favorites and by category.
2. Pages are unlimited
3. Commercial applications are available for a small charge
4. Design is user friendly and intuitive.
5. Can be linked to existing blogs and websites, along with youtube accounts, etc.
6. If you do accidentally drop in a "Pro" element, just delete it with the red top right hand corner button X.

iMovie

There a Film Festival coming up with a due date of 2/2/12 due date. Teacher category - no theme.

Interesting projects presented in class:
Take a folder of pictures (jpegs) and drop them into iphoto for editting, then drop into iMovie and it will create the movie.

Features:

• The camera icon gives you access to all photos
• Use Events icon to let you drag and drop entire folders of pictures.
• The program will instantly create a project for you, which you can then edit, delete, etc.
• You can add Music text (with alignment, font, placement, effects).
• Frames tell you the running time, allow you to adjust cropping, and other adjustments.
• You can also add movement to stills (pull out, dolly in, pan, etc.)
• Click the edge of the frame to add sound, which can recorded off the computer microphone.
• You can also adjust the time of each section. 
• You can also add maps.

Sorry guys - it's about now that I got a massive headache. There was so much to cover and I couldn't fully concentrate on anything and still blog. So I'm afraid this blog is less than clear. Maybe I'll get a chance to clean it up next week when we do iMovie II.