1. Digital Storytelling Presented by:
Elaine Fitzgerald –
Classroom Connect Consultant

2. Definition
Digital Storytelling takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the author's own story voice.
Digitales

3. Agenda Digital Storytelling Software and Equipment Resources
Definition
Examples
Steps to Storytelling
Software and Equipment
Using cameras, scanners, microphones and software
Resources
Tell Your Story

4. Objectives Acquire information on using digital storytelling
Understanding the necessary components of a digital storytelling lesson that promote the effective use of technology in the classroom
Examining a variety of successful teacher and student examples
Exploring how to appeal to diverse learning styles
Information on using digital storytelling to promote higher level thinking and address varying learning styles

5. Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. Tell your story now digitally. - Leslie Rule, Center for Digital Storytelling

6. Miniature Earth

7. No Story to Tell? Overload The Editor
Most of us carry a little voice, the editor, that tells us what we have to say is not entertaining enough or substantial enough to be heard.

8. Finding Your Story Small idea Find photos Set up a tape recorder
Develop a storyboard
Story, not journalistic or technical
Don’t over polish

9. Types of Personal Stories
Someone Important
Character
Memorial
Life Event
Adventure
Accomplishment
A Place
Draw Map
What I Do
Recovery
Love
Discovery
Up until this century 90% of people were born, lived and died within a ten mile radius of their homes.

10. Let’s Explore Some Examples

11. Why Digital Storytelling?
Well-suited for student exploration
Accessible to all ages and abilities
Combines imagination with the power of listening and speaking to create artistic images

12. Why Digital Storytelling?
As a learning tool, encourages students to explore their unique expressiveness
Heightens ability to communicate thoughts and feelings in an articulate, lucid manner
Supports reading, writing, and oral expression instructional goals

13. How Digital Storytelling Helps Writing?
Narrows the focus
Word Choice
In the piece
In the digital story
Text structure
Audience
Voice
Emotional appeal
The message
How we write is a search for meaning
Revision is critical
Organization

14. 7 Elements of a Digital Story
Point of View/Purpose
Dramatic Question
Emotional Content
The Gift of Voice
The Power Of Soundtrack
Economy
Pacing
Coaching a storyteller through the conception of a story is a dynamic process, not a prescribed one.
There are no formulas here.
The 7 elements are simply elements of constructing a multimedia story. This is not a linear process.

15. Point of View Purpose/Reason Why are you telling this story?
Why are you telling this story for this group of people (audience)
Hardly anyone narrates events in their lives without some good reason for it.
Every part of the story should relate to your purpose for telling it.
Who is your audience?
You, as the author, need to figure out what you intend the viewer to “get.” What message are you trying to convey? In other words, what is the theme?

16. Dramatic Question Conflict Question Desire Closure with a twist
How are you going to engage your audience and keep attention?
In a romance, will girl get guy?
In an adventure, will the hero reach the goal?
In a crime story, who did it?
When the question is answered, the story is over.
It’s these questions that create tension in the story.
A good story has a “hook” that will hold the attention of the audience until the story is over.

17. Emotional Content Reveal a truth no else knows
Convey a truth about you no one believes
Engage the audience to make them want to listen
Why should the listener care about this?
This is a shift for many of us and many of our students – those of us who have been coached to distance ourselves and keep to de-emotionalized perspectives.
It is hard though to cast aside years of non-personal writing experiences and embrace creating something of a personal nature.
But a story that deals with the fundamental emotional paradigms – of death and our sense of loss, of love and loneliness, of confidence and vulnerability, of acceptance and rejection – will increase the likelihood that you’re going to hold an audience’s attention.

18. The Gift of Voice The personality on paper comes alive
The art of true storytelling
Do not underestimate the power of voice of stills.
So get over not liking the sound of your own voice – it’s a powerful piece of your story.
Challenge – reading vs. reciting a script. Keep the script simple, relax, and work on a conversational tone. Let your students go in another room?
The way you use your voice can impact the story you tell.
Tone of Voice: Slow, Fast, Loud, Soft
The tone of the storyteller’s voice provides the drama and sets the mood, while engaging the reader. It draws the reader into the plot development through the use of story elements.
Caution: You don’t want your final project to sound like you are reading your paper. Practice!

19. Power of the Soundtrack
Music stirs up an emotional response
Music sets the mood.
The goal is to match the music to the story.
Instrumental music works best
The focus should be the narration and the music should support and enhance the storytelling.
Use copyright-free music if possible
Search for “free” music.
Your students will have an intuitive sense of what sound tracks work well – they are the children of MTV.
Watch out for the lyrical songs, which may conflict with the message of the voiceover. Instrumental music may work better.
Copyright issues – original music may be an option. Check for free use
Creative Commons - and
Give handout on copyright issues.

20. Economy Succinct and to the point
Images should display a tone, feeling, and communicate beyond what you are saying
In spoken work or written narrative, we’re operating at a high rate of closure as we are filling in all the pictures suggested by a text or words from images and memories in our brains…Example (Once upon a midnight dreary…)
With digital storytelling the images generally exist prior to a script, as in a family album.
But there’s no right way: script vs. images first. Just don’t linger too long with either. The trick is to let the reader fill in some of the missing pieces.
Use the least amount of images required to tell the story. Too many images tend to confuse the audience.
Your selection of pictures and drawings should illustrate the theme without becoming a distraction.
Example: Ken Burns effect. How long do you want to look at a person talking? Better to take a quick glance; then go to images that fill in enhance the person’s story.
You only have 1 written page and 3 total minutes for the movie…what do you want to say and show:
Are you going to bombard with visuals?
Are you going to use images to help or convey meaning you can’t say in words?

21. Pacing Rhythm of the story Punctuation
White space to allow listener to listen or reflect and internalize
Be aware of flow (quick, slow, quiet, etc)
Every storyteller has his/her own pace. The story itself may dictate the pace:
Fast paced can suggest urgency, action, exasperation, excitement
Conversely,
Slow-paced suggest contemplation, romanticism, relaxation, or simple pleasures.
Pace might change – e.g., race to the hospital, birth of child, the miracle of it all.
Changing the pace of the story can be very effective. The narrative can have pauses, the music can change tempo, and the images can be set to enter at different rates of speed.
Changing pace allows the audience to concentrate, think, and maintain interest.

22. Websites Digitales Center for Digital Storytelling
Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
A Collection of Sites

23. Online Resources for Digital Storytelling
Pictures/Videos
Public Domain
American Memory
NASA/Hubble Telescope
Library of Congress Learning Page
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library
Wikipedia (many of the photos and graphics at Wikipedia are in the public domain)
PD Photo
Educational Fair Use
FreeFoto.com

24. Online Resources for Digital Storytelling
Image Search
Ditto.com (not all public domain)
Sound
Educational Fair Use
FreePlay Music
American Rhetoric (famous speeches)
Free Kids Music.com
Soundzabound
Video Kits
Kitzu
SchoolHouse Video Kits

25. Copyright
Students and educators must follow copyright laws when creating digital stories.
The "fair use" standards of the U.S. copyright laws allow the use of copyrighted material for certain educational purposes.
Cite your sources to give credit to the creators of material
For more information

26. Possible Software
Photo Story

27. Possible Equipment
Digital Camera
Digital Video
Microphone
Headphones

28. Getting Started Define the purpose of the project.
Align projects goals and objectives with local curriculum and tech standards.
Create a storyboard mapping out the flow of content.
Collect and store media (images, music, etc.) in a centralized location.

29. Development Compose and edit ideas and dialogs in a word processor.
Edit media to better adapt to the storyboard.
Import media into the multimedia tool.
Arrange the media to follow the storyboard.
Transfer digital content by copying and pasting headings and narrations.
Record necessary narrations.

30. Sample Process Fayette County Schools Digital Story Samples Prewriting
Draft
Dividing
Storyboard
Storyboard with Pictures
Revised – Final Narration for Story

31. Customization Customize slides with transitions and special effects.
Wrap-up project by making final revisions.

32. Culmination Students demonstrate each digital story
Teacher evaluate each digital story through the use of rubrics and/or checklists.
Publish digital stories via the LAN, WAN and/or Web.

33. Assessment Self- Appraisal Checklists Examples Rubrics Sites
RubiStar
Project-Based Checklists
Assessment and Rubrics
Teachnology:
Kathy Schrock’s

34. Technology is always secondary to the storytelling

35. Tell me a fact and I’ll learn Tell me a truth and I’ll believe Tell me a story and I’ll remember it forever