Digital Storytelling Heather Naughten / Lois McGill-Horn Balmoral Hall School, Winnipeg, Manitoba

BALMORAL HALL SCHOOL Independent all girl’s school. 525 students from Nursery to Senior 4. IB PYP program in Junior School Pre-Advanced and Advanced Placement Program in Middle and Senior School. Technology integration is a focus of our school and is supported by our wireless, mobile carts and dual-platform labs.

TEAM MEMBERS Heather Naughten Grade 6 English Teacher Little experience with technology Hesitant user of technology in the classroom Risk Taker Lois McGill-Horn Curriculum Integration Specialist

OVERVIEW – Digital Storytelling Learning Areas: English, Technology Integration, Social Studies Level: Grade 6 (age 11/12) - 36 Students Software/Technology Used: Movie Maker or Photo Story 3 Photoshop Internet Explorer Scanners Digital cameras

OVERVIEW CONT’D Objectives: To have students identify the main points of each chapter of a novel and re-tell the story through images, audio, and personal perspective Questions? How can we use technology to help meet the different learning styles of each of our students? How can we use technology to meet the unique learning styles of girls? How can we meet the curriculum requirements and the Gr. 6 technology outcomes?

Examples: (Irish Chain, Charlie Wilcox, The Brideship, Hollow Tree) PROJECT DESCRIPTION Phase 1: Choose a historical novel (Canadian) to read independently or in partners. Examples: (Irish Chain, Charlie Wilcox, The Brideship, Hollow Tree)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Phase 2: Storyboard the main idea of each chapter visually and include a brief written overview. Decide how images will be represented.  digital photographs of a “staged scene” * scanned drawings Computer generated images  combination of drawings and photographs

EXAMPLES OF IMAGES

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Phase 3 Assemble all media into one location (designated student drive) Import images into Movie Maker or Photo Story 3 and arrange on the timeline. Record narrations for each of the images. (adjust the length of each image to match the length of narration.)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Phase 4 Export finished project as a Windows Media File for sharing Burn a CD and include in each student’s Merit Portfolio (Gr. 6 portfolio’s are not electronic)

ASSESSMENT Analytical Student Scoring Guide Preparation Process Content Knowledge Format Structure Craftsmanship of Communication Text Communication Voice/Sound Communication Image Communication Design of Communication

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT Students work in groups – project became to extensive for those working alone More digital cameras Drawings scanned at too high a resolution Involve the Performing Arts teacher to help students with “setting the scene” Emphasize file management ! Costumes and props organized ahead of time Wireless environment became sluggish as projects increased in size

STUDENT FEEDBACK “My feelings about making a movie about our book is that I thought it was really fun because it made me understand the book more and enjoy novel studies more. It was awesome.” “I thought movie maker was fun. I learned how to do my own audio, how to import pictures, and how to scan pictures. I also found it kind of neat that you get to see other peoples movies. I hope we get to do it again.” ”It helped me understand the book better and I learned how to use a new program that I could use for other projects. It is time consuming but worth it.” “Movie Maker was really fun and it helped me understand the book better. I have a greater understanding of the program. It required a lot of organization with the actors and the costumes, but it was worth it when we shared them.” “I thought the process was fun, but I think we should have partners because it would make it all easier.”

Digital Storytelling Heather Naughten “I think the technology helped the students with synopsis of the story. They had to be extremely precise in picking a main event from the chapter and this was great for their overall comprehension of the story. It also suited the varied learning styles within the class and was a great project for girls that are less expressive with written words. I will definitely do this again.“ Balmoral Hall School