Sample Student Stories

View the samples below to get a few ideas that will help you integrate digital storytelling into your classroom curriculum. Click the thumbnail to open the movie at its full size.

		Video Poetry Students analyze a poem by breaking it into scenes and supporting the text with appropriate images and sounds. They will use Frames to create their video poem.			Biography Have students research a historical figure, write a biography, and transform their written biography into a video biography of this person's life.

		Concept Stories After students have studied various science concepts, have them apply what they have learned by writing a creating story that illustrates the concept they have learned.			Ancient Culture News Broadcast After students have learned about a culture, ask them to create a news broadcast centering around a specific idea, such as how did geography affect daily life.

		Piggies in the Mud Students showcase graphic skills through a video story.			Literature Connections Have students retell and illustrate stories they have read, or go even further and have them create new endings or even new versions of the same story.

Handouts

The Process of Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling in the Classroom
The Art of Digital Storytelling - article by Bernajean Porter from Creative Educator #4.
 

Additional Resources:

The Center for Digital Storytelling

This is where the movement started and is usually the form that most people refer to when talking about digital storytelling. In this form, the author narrates a personal story and uses images and music to support the elements. In this type of digital story, students would write a 300-500 word story about a meaningful person, place, thing or event in their lives.(Momnotmom example)

StoryCorps

Many of us have heard the great short stories recorded as part of the StoryCorps project on NPR. While these are audio only stories, they are great examples of effective storytelling through interviews. You can also purchase a collection of these stories (book and CD) entitled Listening is an Act of Love. The StoryCorps website also includes a Do It Yourself Guide to effective interviewing (www.storycorps.net/diy-guide)

Digitales

This site is a must visit for aspiring classroom storytellers. Bernajean Porter has been inspiring and enabling students and teachers to tell digital stories for many years. The site includes ideas and resources, as well as links to many of the articles Bernajean has written on the subject. If you are looking for a book to guide you through the process, Digitales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories, is the book you need.

Pics4Learning

This online site includes over 25,000 photographs and illustrations you can use for your digital stories. All of the images are copyright-friendly for education, so there is no need to worry about copyright issues.

Creative Educator Magazine

Creative Educator is printed three times a year to provide ideas, lessons, and stories from the classroom that will inspire you to try creative projects with your students. If you would like a free subscription, visit the website and click the subscribe link at the bottom.

Products:

The samples I shared during the session were created with Frames and Pixie. You can find out more about these tools, view samples projects, explore lesson plans, and download trial versions online.

Frames
Frames is a stop-motion animation tool perfect for digital storytelling. Students can use Frames to tell digital stories using pictures they have taken with a digital camera, scanned photographs, or pictures they have created in a Paint or Draw program.  Frames combines an intuitive interface with powerful authoring tools. With Frames, students can add text, shapes, and transitions to images, and add sound tracks to tell their story. Click here for instructions on using Frames to create digital stories.

Pixie 2
Pixie 2 is a communication tool for your student's ideas. Students can use Pixie to write and illustrate stories and record their narration. With export options that allow students to share their work as images, movies, slide shows, and web sites; their audience is without limit.