Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling can require the narrator to virtually tell a story. While using Digital Storyteller you should be able to mute the video, and there will still be a story, or plot being reached without sound. Audio can make it very entertaining, but it is also important to be able to tell a story without speaking to allow students to learn visually. Through Digital Storytelling it can be used as a very productive teaching instrument, in many different ways. It can be used by the teacher, and also by the students. In both ways it opens the area to teaching that way, it can make the lessons a little more interesting and fun for the students rather then just reading the text books, or listening to the teacher lecture.

An interesting question to ask students is if you are able to tell a story without words. I'm sure for most grade levels in Elementary students will give a wide range of answers, but most of the students realizing that maybe you can't tell a story without words. I asked this question to a students I'm tutoring, and he wasn't really sure how to answer this, when I went back to read his answer I didn't really understand the point he was trying to make.

By using Digital Storytelling the teacher can educate the students through this video, which allows her to use resources outside of the school, rather then being limited to the class. For example a lesson about different habitats, as this teacher explores the water, woods, dry land and so on outside of the classroom. Digital Storytelling can also become useful to teachers when you are trying to teach about a subject that students might not be very engaged in. An example of this might include a History lesson that students might not care too much about. As the teacher you can go around filming relating the subject to students today, this way they start making more sense of it and wanting to learn more. In my video I plan on using a theme of Blues Clues for the students to follow along as I introduce maps, and different tools they will be using while looking at these maps.

For older students it can be a great activity if they were to be required to teach the class about a certain subject without speaking. The teacher can have certain topics she wants the class to cover that week, and each group has to present a video which will lead into her discussion about the topic. This will require the students to be very creative, and allow them to think outside the box. Sign Language is a great way to teach without speaking, or through pictures, and so on. To make it extra entertaining you can also have them speak in their videos, but part of their grade can be how well can they make their point without any sound. For High School students it can be part of their grade, on how much the students learned abou the subject that didn't have any sound.