Writing in the 21 st Century Using Technology to Enhance the teaching of student narratives

Research “ The well-chosen points of view, unconventional content and varied resources indicate that students did not just report facts and concepts connected to the subject, but reflected on their own thoughts and engagement with the subject, visually and aurally ” (Sadik, 2006). Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational technology, research and development, 56(4),

What is Digital Storytelling? “Just about all digital stories bring together some mixture of digital graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video and music to present information on a specific topic. As in the case with traditional storytelling, digital stories revolve around a chosen theme and often contain a particular viewpoint” (Robin, B., 2008, p. 220).

Robin, B. (2008) Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Theory into Practice, 47, 220–228.

Population Grades 3-12 Beneficial for English language learners and students with disabilities

Benefits: When students participate in the steps of creating their own stories, they increase their own literacy skills: Research skills: Documenting the story, finding and analyzing pertinent information Writing skills: Formulating a point of view and developing a script Organization skills: Managing the scope of the project, the materials used and the time it take to complete the task Technology skills: Learning to use a variety of tools, such as digital cameras, scanners, microphones and multimedia authoring software Presentation skills: Deciding how to best present the story to an audience Interview skills: Finding sources to interview and determining questions to ask Interpersonal skills: Working within a group and determining individual roles from group members Problem-solving skills: Learning to make decisions and overcome obstacles at all stages of the project, from inception to completion Assessment skills: Gaining expertise critiquing own and others’ work

Benefits: Students who work with digital stories in the classroom build “21st century literacies,” including: Digital Literacy:  ability to communicate with a large community about issues, gather information, and seek help Global Literacy:  capacity to read, interpret, respond, and contextualize message from a global perspective Technology Literacy: ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance Visual Literacy:  ability to understand, produce, and communicate through visual images Information Literacy:  ability to find, evaluate, and synthesize information (Robin, 2006, p.4).

Application Teachers must decide whether they want students to create their own digital stories or if they want to create their own stories to share with students. To engage students, some researchers suggest that teachers use anticipatory sets at the beginning of a lesson. Teacher-created digital stories can help to enhance students’ learning of topics within a larger unit. Teachers can model digital storytelling to students and then assign topics to students. Students can then follow the Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling to compose their own digital stories. Students can publish their stories online to promote writing for a real audience and to practice critiquing each others’ work.

My Life in Seven Stories + Digital Storytelling Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling 1. Point of View 2. Dramatic Question - answered by the end of the story 3. Emotional Content - personal and powerful 4. The Gift of Your Voice – personalizes your story and adds context 5. Soundtrack – music that supports the storyline 6. Economy – just enough content to entertain and maintain interest 7. Pacing – how slowly or quickly the story progreses

Reflection Literacy demands that students communicate and make meaning from a variety of texts, but also that they use that literacy in terms of how they live their lives (Kajder & Swenson, 2004, p. 46). Awareness of changing times: visual and technological Awareness of teacher needs Available technology Robin, B. (2008) Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Theory into Practice,47, 220–228. Kajder, S. & Swenson, J.A. (2004). Digital Images in the Language Arts Classroom. Learning & Leading with Technology,31 (8), 18-21, st Century Literacy: – Digital Literacy – the ability to communicate with an ever-expanding community to discuss issues, gather information, and seek help; – Global Literacy - the capacity to read, interpret, respond, and contextualize messages from a global perspective – Technology Literacy - the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance; – Visual Literacy - the ability to understand, produce and communicate through visual images; – Information Literacy - the ability to find, evaluate and synthesize information (Robin, 2006, p.4).

Tips for Creating your Digital Story Audio: Always start by recording your audio first Transitions: “fade in” or “fade out” Effects: Video\sound effects are okay now and then; don’t overuse Pictures: Be creative, think metaphorically, and don’t use too many! Music: This isn’t your high school senior video so don’t use “time of your life” by green day. Pick music that won’t take away from your own story.

Kajder, S. & Swenson, J.A. (2004). Digital Images in the Language Arts Classroom. Learning & Leading with Technology,31 (8), 18-21, 46. Robin, B. (2008) Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom. Theory into practice, 47, 220 – 228. Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational technology, research and development, 56(4), References