1. Teaching Literacy Across the Curriculum with Storytelling University of Mary Washington 11/12/15 Digital Literacy Colloquium
Antonio Causarano, Ph.D.

2. My Research Area Teaching literacy across the curriculum
Teaching literacy to culturally and linguistically diverse populations and exceptional students
How teachers’ reflections refine their teaching in K-12 classrooms
Multimodality and literacy education

3. Goals of Today’s Presentation
Digital storytelling to explore:
How multimodality help teachers explore new forms of text in teaching and learning across the curriculum.
How learning is constructed in multimodal texts
How math can be taught by the use of digital story telling

4. Multimodality and Education
Multimodality is an inter-disciplinary approach that sees communication and the representation of meaning using different systems of signs not only language (Kress, 2010).

5. Multimodality: Historical Contexts
The New London Group (a team of ten academics including James Gee and Allan Luke) came together in concerned about how literacy pedagogy might address the rapid change in literacy due to globalization, technology and increasing cultural and social diversity.
Multiliteracies are new literacies and new learning (Cope & Kalantzis 1996)

6. Multimodality: Historical Contexts
The New London Group introduced a framework consisting of three elements of design to describe the activities of individuals as they identify, read and create new texts using different semiotic codes.
The following three notions of design allow us to create patterns of meaning from the multi-literacies around us ( are-new-literacies?/138/)

7. 1st Notion of Design: What is a text?
A text is any coherent system of signs that bears meaning (Bakhtin, 1986).
Makes uses of different sign systems to create, organize and communicate meaning: i.e. art, painting, music, poetry
Art, painting, music, poetry are examples of text that makes uses of different sign systems to create, organize and communicate meaning

8. 2ND NOTION OF DESIGN: THEORY BEHIND TEXTUAL PRODUCTION
Social Semiotics:
Explores the nature and function of signs as well as the systems and processes underlining signification, expression, representation, and communication (Hodge and Kress, 1988).
Signs in texts have value and place and are continually being reproduced and reconstructed (Hodge and Kress, 1988, Bakhtin, 1986).
Signs are used in cultural and social contexts: the text creates the context as much the context creates the text (Halliday, 1985).
Social Semiotics: A theory that explores the nature and function of signs as well as the systems and processes underlining signification, expression, representation, and communication (Hodge and Kress, 1988).
Social Semiotics: Signs in texts have value and place and are continually being reproduced and reconstructed (Hodge and Kress, 1988, Bakhtin, 1986).

9. 3rd Notion of Design: Text Modes
Paper
Multimedia
Live
Electronic

10. The Big Questions on Multimodality(Albers and Sanders, 2010)
What are everyday literacies that learners bring into the classroom?
How can we value and integrate different literacies into our own practices?

11. Digital Storytelling: A Multimodal Approach To Writing
Digital Natives
Students immersed in a sophisticated digital world (Presnky, 2001).
Students use computers, video games, digital music players, cell phones and other tools of the digital age (Sylvester and Greenidge, 2009).
Digital Natives have a different approach to reading in a digital world (Prensky, 2010).
Reading and writing are not recursive linear processes.

12. A definition of Digital Storytelling
A modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling
Shares knowledge, wisdom, and values
A narrative structure adapted to new media
Incorporates text, image, sound, motion (Digital Storytelling Association, 2010).
A systematic application of multimodal literacy

13. The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling
Point of View
Dramatic Question
Emotional Content
Economy
Pacing
The gift of Voice
Soundtrack
(Lambert, 2010)

14. A Work in progress: Literacy Across Curriculum
Background:
Digital storytelling projects developed in a graduate literacy course.
Goal:
To investigate the importance of designing and applying new media literacies in K-12 classroom

15. The students in EDCI 515 Students: Procedures and Materials:
11 pre-service and in-service teachers in a literacy in the content area graduate course
Procedures and Materials:
The students had to complete a mid-term assessment-digital storytelling to integrate literacy and technology in the classroom
The students could choose to develop digital storytelling in their content areas-EDCI 515 has very different content areas in the same course that span from Social Studies to Math

16. THE 7 ELEMENTS OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING:
From The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) in Berkeley 1. Point of View What is the main point of the story and what is the perspective of the author? 2. A Dramatic Question A key question that keeps the viewer's attention and will be answered by the end of the story. 3. Emotional Content Serious issues that come alive in a personal and powerful way and connects the audience to the story. 4. The Gift of Your Voice A way to personalize the story to help the audience understand the context. 5. The Power of the Soundtrack Music or other sounds that support and embellish the story. 6. Economy Using just enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer. 7. Pacing The rhythm of the story and how slowly or quickly it progresses.

17. RUBRIC FOR DIGITAL STORYTELLING PROJECT
CATEGORY 5 10 15 20
Content
The story is not complete
The digital story is missing significant elements
The digital story is completed, yet the content is not grade level appropriate.
The digital story is grade level appropriate and engaging for students.
Quality of Proposed projects
The digital story meets the minimum requirements.
The digital story needs more details added.
The digital story is engaging, visually attractive, yet it is not complete for classroom use.
The digital story is engaging, visually attractive and ready to be used in the classroom.
Format and Technology use
The project does not have a storyboard.
The project is emerging, but needs supporting details
Project is completed in the yet more editing is needed.
Project is nicely presented including sound and visual images
Aligns to State Learning Standards
No standards are listed.
The standards are listed, but do not align with the project.
Standards are clearly identified.
The standards are clearly identified and appropriate to the unit of instruction

18. EXAMPLES OF Digital Story Telling
The Math Sample

19. Reflections on a Work in Progress
Developing the digital storytelling in their content areas was crucial to become aware and understand new possibilities of teaching literacy across the curriculum
The students pointed out three major areas in the educational use of digital storytelling:
Allowed teachers to improve their understanding of subject area knowledge, writing skills, technical skills, and presentation skills that can be applied in the classroom with their students;
Allowed teachers to use language in various texts and in a more engaging ways;
Was effective to engage high order thinking skills.

20. Planning the next steps: Barrett’s Model

21. Further Research Directions:
Further research should focus on the following learning components for students across the curriculum:
Reflection/self-reflection on reading and writing
Storytelling as a literacy tool to engage students with new forms of texts
Development of technology for pedagogy
Assessment for Learning
Project-Based Learning
(Helen C. Barrett)

22. Websites for digital storytelling
Tufts University:
Center for Digital Storytelling:
Primary Access:
Sound Portraits:
Voice Threads:

23. References
Albers, P., & J. Sanders. (2010). Literacies, the arts & multimodality. NCTE.
Barrett H.C. The REFLECT Initiative United States electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/SITEStorytelling2006.pdf document retrieved 11/20/2014.
Bakhtin. M.M. (1986). Speech genres & other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Burn, A., & k. Reed. (1996). Digi-teens: Media literacies and digital technologies in the secondary classroom. English Education, 33 (3), 5-20.
Lambet, J. (2002). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community. Berkley, CA: Digital Diner.
New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review 66(1).
Pahl, K. (2007). Creativity in events and practices: A lens for understating children’s multimodal texts. Literacy, 41(2),
Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching Digital Natives. Partnering for real learning. CA: Corwin Press.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, Vol. 9 (5) 1-6.
Sylvester, R., & W.L. Greenidge. (2009). Digital storytelling: Extending the potential for struggling writers. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), ).

24. Thank you!