My Digital Story

RESOURCES

Students will use various hardware and software to create digital stories. Resources needed include digital cameras, digital video camcorders, microphone or audio recorder, headphones, image, audio and video editing software and a laptop. Additional resources needed include a privacy area within the classroom allowing for audio recording without background noise, lesson plans and storyboard materials.

OBJECTIVES

Several objectives are being met with this lesson. The state educational objectives, TEKS, are being met, specifically English II TEKS 110.32 (b) 15 (D) produce a multimedia presentation with graphics, images and sound that conveys a distinctive point of view and appeals to a specific audience. This lesson appeals to multiple learning styles, and offers engaging and interesting activities that will retain the interest and motivation of digital generation students. The foundational objective is for students to engage in the narrative writing process.

ACTIVITIES

The digital storytelling project consists of 7 major steps that students will directly experience:
1. Write. This is where you will write down all of your ideas about your story and draft the narration of the story.
2. Video. Capturing video creates an emotional connection and enhances the story.
3. Photos. Photos can be used to highlight ideas in your story or in a “video” format. You can use existing photos you have or take new ones.
4. Voice. You will want to have your story narrated. You can record your own voice using digital formats.
5. Audio. Audio can be music you add, sounds you find, or sounds you record.
6. Storyboard. Once you have all the media pieces, you need to put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. This is done with a storyboard.
7. Edit the digital story. This is done with a computer video application where you put all the pieces on a timeline following your storyboard, and then edit everything so that it flows together, and looks and sounds good.

ASSESSMENT

Students will be assessed in multiple areas, including narrative writing and story development. The digital story should show voice and creativity. Students will need to prove their planning process with scripts and storyboards. The digital story will be assessed on organization and presentation and end credits are required.

CLOSURE

Students will be able to view each others digital stories, and respond to the topics presented, as well as discuss and share photography, videography and audio techniques.