Digital Storytelling Connected to Blooms Taxonomy

In response to the wiki question from week 1 (How would you use digital storytelling in your classroom?), I wrote about a possible digital storytelling project to replace oral book reports as part of a historical fiction choice book unit. As I wrote, doing a digital story in lieu of the oral book report would require students to think at higher levels of Blooms taxonomy and would be more engaging for the audience. Rather than just summarize the story, students could create a video as if he or she were the protagonist of the novel, incorporating images, videos, and music from the time period. I also would expect students to perform some literary analysis, finding and explaining symbols, themes, motifs, etc.

Of course, students would first need to read and comprehend their novel. Application and analysis skills would be needed to find the themes, motifs, etc., because students need to logically connect different areas of the text. Creating any digital video, actually, requires analytical skills: what is the best order to present the images and/or videos?, which images best represent my idea?, how would sound work with my idea?, and so forth. Once they decide the order, students need to use synthesis to put it all together creatively in a visually attractive fashion. Discussing each others’ digital videos, finding strengths and weaknesses and supporting the feedback with concrete examples, could certainly use the evaluation skills at the top of the taxonomy.

Students learning with podcasting

Podcasting has enormous potential for use in the classroom. When students create podcasts, their work could be heard by real-world, authentic audiences, which would be motivational for students. Conversely, podcasts open up a classroom's doors. Students can hear podcasts from all over the world. Through research for CED 534, I found podcasts from famed young adult author Lois Lowry that could be useful in language arts, podcasts from a veterinarian that could be used in biology, or a Kurdish student's podcasts about his life and culture that could be relevant in social studies. These are three quick examples I found easily; there are so many more possibilities. I also think that the format is so different from the traditional essay that students, who are used to a Web 2.0 world, would be very interested in working with this format.

Elements of storytelling in the classroom

I do think that the elements of storytelling have their connection to classroom lessons, and that they would likely offer improvements. In particular, the element of pacing is important to improving lessons. A teacher, like a storyteller, needs to gauge when to pick up the pace and when to slow it down, based on the needs and interest level of students. The wrong pace can ruin a lesson, as it can a story; conversely, the right pace can be a "true secret" to a successful lesson.

Connecting Session 2 to the Classroom Experience

VoiceThread was an interesting tool, and I can think of come great connections to the English classroom. Students could use their own photos and narrate them with original poetry. Or they could select photos to match the poetry we are studying in class. Also, they could select photos that would fit the setting and plot of a novel, and narrate their VoiceThread from a character's perspective. I do like how students can interact with and comment upon other student's presentations as well. As a side note, I did find some of VoiceThread's limitations frustrating, particularly the fact that sound or voice needed to be linked to one picture and couldn't be overarching.

I liked the Story Tools list on CogDogRoo's site. I think I would like to incorporate a variety of tools in assigning a multimedia project. Then students could pick the tool that best fits their style or their project's needs.

Finally, the copyright portion of class is definitely something that needs to be incorporated into every classroom. Today, more than ever, students need to be cognizant of what they can use and how much they can use it. It is easy for students to get caught violating copyright, and the consequences are high, yet students think it is no bug deal. We must convince them otherwise. This is an essential part of any student's media literacy education. FYI: I did find a great pdf that summarizes fair use for multimedia projects very clearly.

Week 1: Using Digital Stories in the Classroom

My eighth grade students used to spend five weeks working with a historical fiction choice book, and at the end, they gave an oral book report. A digital story told from a character's perspective would be far livelier than the book reports. I can envision a lovely example to go with Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry: still shots of Mississippi in the 1930s during the Depression, photos of segregation, and spirituals playing in the background. This would take students to a much deeper level than the book report. And the audience would be far more engaged, too, and more likely to develop an interest in the book being presented (so it supports reading, too). Students would also be more excited and motivated by such a project. Thinking as a future librarian, maybe these digital stories based on historical fiction books could be useful during book talks in the library as well, which creates an authentic audience for the students creating the digital stories. This is just a start--there are so many possibilities for this sort of project in the classroom!