Sunday, April 6, 2008

CEDU 531: Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

I have spent some time this week watching samples of digital stories on YouTube and some other video sites. I know the kids in my class spend a lot of time on these sites because they are constantly talking about the weird videos they have found (and made!) I must confess that I have never before really taken the time to look at the videos on these sites. It was amazing to me how much is out there! The videos I saw have given me some ideas for things I could do in my classroom.

The first idea I had was based on a VERY strange video I found on YouTube. It was called Mathmaticious, and it was bizarre. It did, however, give the idea of creating stories to explain mathematical concepts. I think it would be a great activity to have my seventh and eighth graders create stories to explain math concepts (like fractions) to the students in younger grades.

Right now, my seventh graders are reading The Outsiders. Since the novel has such great characterization, I thought that the students could create digital stories to tell the "life story" of one of the main characters. The students could pretend to be one of the characters and tell the story of their life through pictures, video clips, music, and narration. I think they would really be excited by a project like that.

A third idea I had involves our eighth graders writing a digital story about their experiences with grade school. As a final project, they could write biographies, highlighting the best and worst of their grade school experiences.

I am anxious to read the ideas from others in our class. This is all really new to me, and I can't wait to hear all the different ways people plan to use digital storytelling!

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