Digital Storytelling: Technology as a Platform for Narrative Writing

 by Shari Meyer, HS English Teacher

 

As a second year teacher, I admit that the prospect of the 9th grade 1-1 program made me a bit nervous. But I soon came to view it as an incredible opportunity. Technology certainly isn’t going to go away, and the sooner we can adjust to the “new normal” of computers in the classroom, the better prepared we will be to educate students who are truly earning the moniker of “digital natives.”  Even more important, I knew the 1-1 laptop program would allow me to model the habits and behaviors of a lifelong learner: trying new things, assessing and then taking risks, and learning from mistakes. I knew it would be a wild ride, but I was ready to jump on board.

In addition to using Blogger, administering quizzes online via Google Forms and Socrative, and having students collaborate on presentations, I set out to create a digital project that would serve as the culmination of the first major unit of the year. As my students and I journeyed through The Odyssey, we discussed what it means to be a hero (was Odysseus heroic or were his flaws too great?) and explored the hero’s journey, a story pattern that can be identified in movies as wide-ranging as The Matrix and The Wizard of Oz. I challenged my students to create a digital storybook from an original story they would write using the hero’s journey as a framework. My goals were two-fold: to have students make use of the hero’s journey pattern and to allow students to demonstrate their master of the MA Common Core Standards for narrative writing in a creative, meaningful way.

I sought assistance from Colleen Worrell, HHS’ Technology Integration Coordinator, to find just the right platform for this project. We considered several, including Voicethread, Animoto, and Mixbook. We weighed the pros and cons of each, and ultimately chose Mixbook because it was easy to learn and we liked the design, which allows viewers to “turn” digital pages. Colleen and I worked together very closely throughout the process to not only ensure that the learning goals were being met, but also to support the seamless blend of technology into the project. We both worked with students to help them master various aspects of the project, from finding “open” images and considering elements of design to cutting and refining their stories to meet project expectations.

At the outset of this project, students completed a brief pre-writing activity to generate ideas, then drafted their stories. They storyboarded their completed drafts and brainstormed images that could accompany and enhance the text on each “page” of the digital story book they knew they would eventually create. They searched for copyright-friendly images and worked diligently on documentation. Finally, they used Mixbook to bring their stories alive!

Based on a survey conducted upon completion of the project, a majority of students really enjoyed this assignment. Several indicated that the biggest challenge they faced was finding images that they were allowed to reuse in their stories without violating copyright. One typical comment read, "I liked the idea of coming up with a story and having all the elements of a hero's journey. I also liked that we created online books instead of having to print them out. The one thing that I really didn't like about this project was finding good pictures to use and where its credit information was." In class, Colleen and I openly acknowledged the challenge of finding images, but felt that this was a great opportunity to teach students about fair use and how to find appropriate materials online.

At the "share fair" that marked the culmination of the project, it became clear that some students used this opportunity to write serious stories, and others to write silly ones; several drew all of their own pictures and scanned them in because they wanted their images to be just right. Each student produced an original story that can be shared with friends and family, and the majority were able to clearly articulate how they had used various aspects of the hero's journey in an original tale, an important goal of the project. This project allowed students to be creative and showcase their personalities while demonstrating understanding of a concept they had learned, which is, to me, at the heart of the 1-1 initiative.