21st Century Storytelling
storytelling (stɔːrɪtɛlɪŋ)
the activity of telling or writing stories
The art of oral storytelling is slowly fading out in our society. We tell stories with a different type of expression and this would not be something that would come naturally to students. Although, “increasingly, technology seems to be used narratively in society, for example, the storying of self through social media” (Hall, 2018, p.1). This is a way for students to be telling stories from their experiences and be exposed to the art of storytelling. Where voice (especially tone) is a very important in being able to capture an audience.
This workshop goes through the elements of storytelling and how to achieve this in a digital format. There are 7 elements of digital stories, these are:
Emotional content- humour
Economy- using images and talking
Pacing- using tone and volume
Prior to this lesson, the one resource that students will need, will be to bring in an photograph of a memorable time that they had. It is helpful to have both a hard copy and a soft copy to use throughout the video. Going through the stages of making videos, there are 4 stages of production of videos, these are:
Kirsty provided us with a handout that was a template with the questions below added into it for ease of writing about their memorable image. This handout could be modified for different stages, so adding sentence starters for K/1 would be helpful. These probing questions were definitely helpful for us as we thought about our image and helpful for being able to tell the story.
Writing the story/script to be used for voiceover into production.
Photos are taken which are:
One of the student holding the image (hands only)
One with the student in the frame.
The voiceover is also recorded, making sure that there is minimal background noise and a good microphone will be helpful in ensuring this happens.
This consists of importing photos into iMovie or any video editing application and the voiceover that was recorded. I completed my digital story on my phone, on the app iMovie, which is very user friendly (especially for students) and is similar to the app on the iPad, which most schools would have. Adding a soundtrack/sound effects will enhance the storytelling in helping the audience understand how the storyteller is feeling.
It is important to be able to see all your students’ work with the finished product to give them feedback but also just to listen to their experiences. This is a wonderful way to finish up their stories, by having a viewing party. Students can also reflect on the production process whilst receiving feedback on their digital story.
Hall, T., & SpringerLink (Online service). (2018). Education, narrative technologies and digital learning: Designing storytelling for creativity with computing. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.