Digital+Storytelling

Technology offers students many opportunities for digital publishing. It can also bring students to a much wider audience than traditional forms of final draft writing. Here are some examples of ways that our students use technology to publish original stories. By working in collaboration with classroom teachers, I can help students present their creations in exciting new formats to be shared with the school community and beyond. Research shows that student writing improves when they are publishing for an authentic audience beyond the classroom.

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My Trip to Dig Dug by Will S. (1st Grader in Ms. Kelley's Class) media type="custom" key="5296383"
 * __Video Publishing with Powerpoint and Photostory__** - An easy way to digitally publish a story is to use MS Powerpoint to create pictures. The slides can then be exported as photo files and brought into a simple movie creator like Microsoft's Photostory 3 . From there, the story can be easily narrated. Zoom-and-pan effects are used to enhance the story through the artwork. //These files may take a moment to load in this window.//

Berry on Mars by Ethan S. (1st Grader in Mrs. Beech's Class) media type="custom" key="5296379"

__**Documentary-style reports**__ - Students can use Photostory and MovieMaker to create alternatives to more traditional research reports, posters, or dioramas. Here are some examples made by third graders who created and narrated animations showing cycles of the moon and sun. media type="custom" key="5375191"

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 * __VoiceThread__** - VoiceThread is a versatile online tool that lets students or teachers post content and organize a discussion. Recently, I collaborated with a classroom teacher to use VoiceThread as a means of publishing writing pieces for an Authors' Tea. Instead of traditional forms of creating books from construction paper and staples, students transformed their writing into a series of narrated VoiceThreads. These were shared with parents at school, but could also be shared with relatives and friends far away.

Visit the Olive Chapel Elementary School 1st Grade Student Work page to see examples of digital storytelling and video publishing...