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INVITATION How can we give students opportunities to continue the tradition of storytelling by using multimedia to tell a story involving their families? How can we use digital storytelling to motivate students to research their family history and share the stories involved with the history. How can we motivate them to utilize multimedia tools to connect to users in the same ways our ancestors did at the local barbershop or around campfires? How can we increase writing skills through digital storytelling? |
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TASKS Students review basic principles of storytelling and elements of fiction. Students create storyboards, capture images with digital cameras or scanners, and write stories about their family or family history. Stories should include a relationship and bridge to family history and cultural influence. Stories will be shared with the community during a Digital Storytelling Festival, hosted by students. |
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TOOLS Computers; the Internet; Sherlock. AppleWorks; HyperStudio or mPOWER; Inspiration; MovieWorks; Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements; QuickTime Pro; SmartSound. Digital cameras (optional); scanners. |
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INTERACTIONS Students work together as a class during the initial discussion concerning storytelling elements, with the teacher serving as mediator. Once students understand these elements, they work individually to create their outlines. Students then come together again as a class to discuss with the teacher the materials concerning photography and the use of the digital camera. The teacher also works with students on using a scanner to allow students to scan their family photos and other important images. Once all images have been created, the students work as a class to discuss with each other and the teacher how to incorporate the images into the story. The final project, when finished, will involve a festival where students interact with community members and share their projects. |
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STANDARDS To identify the curriculum standards for your state that correlate to this student project, select the state in the popup menu below and then click the Go button. View Detailed Standards in |
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SITUATIONS Students work in the classroom, in the computer lab, and in the community. The project, including class discussion time and photography, will last two weeks. Prior student knowledge of the software used to create the digital stories will significantly cut down on project time. Allow time for student editing and critiques of written and digital work. |
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ASSESSMENT The teacher assesses student writing based on the students' ability to create a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The teacher also assesses student designs based on their creativity and detail, the understanding they demonstrate of the concepts and process of digital storytelling, and their overall clarity and organization. |
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When students attach their own lives to the stories they tell, the process of storytelling becomes more meaningful and more powerful. When students create digital stories and allow the viewer to interact with them via classroom presentation, or better yet, integration on the Internet, they begin to establish a connection between the creator and the viewer. During this unit, students will have the opportunity to share family stories. |
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Phase 1: Organization and execution In a whole group setting, help students discuss and plan an organizational strategy for a storyboard that follows the chronology of a well-told story. Use Inspiration to develop an outline of your own cultural heritage beforehand and share the visual storyline with the students. Allowing students to view a visual representation of what a story might look like will help them understand the important pieces that make up a story. The outline should contain as many pieces of a story as possible. Create a checklist for students to use during this phase for additional guidance. This checklist should include the basic elements of a story along with outline techniques. Review and check off each area of the checklist before the students begin to create their digital stories. |
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Phase 2: Writing the story Students decide what story they can tell involving their family. Will the story be a short historical documentary about the family and its ancestors? Will it involve a family trip that contains interesting stories? Will the story concern itself with a lesson the student learned from his/her family? Does the story involve a theme such as "images from my family that represent love" or "images from my family that represent humor"? (It is important for this project that students have pictures to support the stories they want to tell.) During this phase, students should interview parents, grandparents, siblings, and others. Work with the students ahead of time to create questions for them to ask their families. |
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Phase 3: Using the software Students decide what program or programs they plan to use in developing their story. One of the appealing things about digital storytelling is the ability to use a variety of tools. QuickTime Pro or mPOWER is very useful for creating digital stories if the student is not ready to move to MovieWorks or HyperStudio. See the Step-by-Step Card "Creating a Slideshow With QuickTime Pro" for assistance. AppleWorks can also be used. If the final project is to be posted on the Internet, QuickTime Pro, MovieWorks, HyperStudio, or mPOWER is recommended. During the process of image-taking (see Phases 4 and 5), students might want to use Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements for any graphic manipulation or touchups before the images are imported into the presentations. |
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Phase 4: Preparing the images Prepare students with a basic understanding of graphics and how they work in the digital medium. Students can then begin to scan or shoot the images they will need for their story. Quality images are extremely important and students should use a digital camera when possible. The digital camera can be a still digital camera or a digital video camera with a Photo option. If these options are not available, students can use a regular 35 mm camera, and then scan the images into the computer. Consider the following items issues when using a digital camera: If possible, choose a camera with high resolution and large pixel proportions. Prepare examples of different images, file sizes, resolutions, and image sizes in order for students to understand the differences between cropping a picture for quality and improved resolution versus stretching an image and the limitations of pixelation. Pixelation occurs when an image is enlarged to a size larger then the original image. This tends to distort the image, leaving it with a blurred and square look. Megapixel cameras are cameras that allow for improved image quality because of the large image proportion. If students are going to use a 35 mm camera, a convenient workaround to scanning is having the film developed onto a Photo CD. In most cases, for an additional charge, Photo CDs can include multiple scanned resolutions. |
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Phase 5: Processing and adjustments Students need to consider what source the intended medium will be for playback of the story. Will it be posted on the Internet? Is it for presentation purposes only? What is the speed and resolution of the computer the student will use for presentations? How much storage space does the student have? Will it be played across a network? With these factors taken into consideration, help students decide if the images will need to be processed and if so, how. In most cases, images need to be processed and adjusted whether they are scanned or taken with a digital camera. Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements can be used for the processing and adjustments. They may need to crop images, touch up image flaws, and resize. These skills take some practice, and teacher interaction is essential during this stage. Once the graphic files have been created, students should store all files in a single folder with a unique name. When creating the slideshow with QuickTime Pro, students must name the image files in a numbered sequence. For example, a series may include names like 00, 01, 02 and so on. Notice the number sequence begins with 00 in order to keep the logical sequence in order when a student reaches ten images. Also notice the numbered sequence does not include any names for the files. In order for QuickTime to read all of the files as a numbered sequence, the files must be named with numbers only. Students should begin the first image with the sequence 02 if there will be a title page or introductory page added later. |
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Phase 6: Additional features? During this phase, students decide the effect the story may have on the viewer. Is it important that the viewer see only images? Would sound add another dimension? What about a title? Does the student need to incorporate text on top of the images before the images are put into a numbered sequence? Will it enhance the story or provide clutter? Does the student want to do a voice-over and add the track as an overlay to the images and text to tell the story, or will text serve its purpose? |
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PREPARATION
Depending on the software tools you decide to use, students will need to be comfortable using some or all of the following applications: HyperStudio, mPOWER, Inspiration, MovieWorks, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop LE, and QuickTime Pro. Students should understand how to use the scanner and save images. Collect examples of digital storytelling and discuss its relevance with students. Locate and bookmark relevant Internet sites to focus student research and show students how to use Sherlock to find other links. Prepare your own digital story and Inspiration outline to share with students. If you do not have cameras available, check with the media center or journalism club. Collect royalty-free audio CDs for students to use or use the music from the SmartSound CD. |
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OPTIONS AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Begin the unit by telling students stories in other creative ways. Consider inviting a professional storyteller to your classroom. Share short stories with students to spark their interests. Invite the school board to view the finished products. Share the final stories with students' families and members of the community. Challenge the entire class to create a story together that passes on from one group to the next. Invite family members to share stories with the class. Film the storytelling sessions. |
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BOOKS Digital Fictions: Storytelling in a Material World (New Directions in Computers and Composition Studies.) by Sarah Sloane |
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INTERNET RESOURCES Ancestry.com
Ancestry and Genealogy at Kindred Konnections
Genealogy Toolbox
Ultimate Family Tree
The Genealogy Home Page
The WorldGenWeb Project
FamilyTreeMaker.com
Digital Storytelling Festival
The Center for Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling @ Creativity Cafe
JM Communications
Digital Clubhouse Network
Apple Masters--Dana Atchley
Story Vault
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