Digital Story Telling

After Dawn posted a comment about my podcasting dilema I got to thinking about how we could still complete audio recording tasks in elementary school but make it more interesting for the students here. The podcasts were not having the school-wide appeal I'd hoped they 'd have. One interesting thought that Dawn suggested was that even many adults don't find the time to listen to 'talk' radio on their own. The only time I listen to talk radio is in my car on the way to work. Its hard to make the podcasting authentic for the students.

My new thought is to start the students vodcasting more. I attended a digital storytelling workshop this year that was very beneficial. The students become authors and created a story with pictures and animations in Powerpoint. The visuals are what make this activity such a powerful one. They can later add their own voice reading the story and/or ambient music to complete the story they tell. This form of sharing I think will be much more authentic for students. Authors of children's stories publish their work, some authors turn their work into movies, and this form of sharing lends itself well to having book talks, or a community read day at the school.

Using a program Camtasia, provided to each TRT in Loudoun Co. schools I can actually take each students' finished Powerpoint story and transform it into a WMV file for sharing on the internet. Then it will be a true vodcast that can be shared worldwide.

Our 5th graders will be digital storytelling during the month of May. I will definitely share if this approach ends with a better outcome.