Story
My digital story is a media production about my experiences as a student in Quebec. It is presented in the form of an online scrapbook with captions. Also contained on the pages are reading comprehension questions which can be used in a beginning French class.
How did you purposefully select your tool?
My process in selecting a tool was a personal learning experience. I first began this experience by browsing through a list of Web 2.0 story telling tools and found one that was visually appealing to me. More specifically, I found a tool called ToonDoo that provides a user-friendly way to create and publish comic strips online. Using this tool, I created a comic strip about my family, which can be viewed at this link. I also decided that this comic could be used as a reading comprehension activity and consequently posted response questions below the activity. Given then that this program currently only allows the creation of three frames, I decided, however, to use a different approach to designing a story.
I decided to follow a process called “Understanding By Design” to first develop the overarching learning outcomes and assessment criteria that I wanted my students to accomplish based on my story production. Based on this design process, the learning target I developed was that my “students should be able to read and understand a short story in the passé composé and accurately answer questions on it.” I was then able to focus my story on my study abroad experience in Quebec to would fulfill these learning targets and develop reading comprehension questions for the activity.
To develop my story, I used a process called storyboarding to outlined the major events and sequencing of the story. Given that my students are at a beginning level of French, the story needed to be comprehensible and offer a variety of visual or audio supports. I decided that a slide show production tool with photos and words would be the best format for presenting my story and having students reach their learning targets. With this in mind, I began a search for a Web 2.0 story tool that would match accordingly. Lastly, I wanted a tool in which I could upload my own photos so as not to be concerned with copyright infringements, which I was able to accomplish. The search was a trial-and-error process of viewing samples of different projects posted online, but I would argue that this process resulted in me selecting the best possible tool for the student learning goals.
Why was this the right tool for you to use to tell your story?
My design and selection approach resulted in me using a tool called Scrapblog. Scrapblog is a free, online toolkit in which a user can upload photos, type text, and arrange various design elements to create and publish a professional-looking, virtual scrapbook. I selected this tool for a number of reasons. First, the scrapbook approach allowed me to upload photos in a visually-appealing manner appropriate for middle-school students and create my story in French alongside the photos. In addition, the design layout and text features allowed me to build in reading comprehension questions in an aesthetically-pleasing way on the actual scrapbook pages. Scrapblog also comes with a number of visual themes and sound clips to make my story even more appealing to students. Lastly, the publishing feature means that my students can view my production without having to create an online account, which protects their privacy. My only complaint about the Scrapblog is that I had no control over the timing of the slides, so the story slides transition too quickly for a thorough reading. In a classroom setting, I would overcome this setback by reminding students to click on the arrows to individually view and read each slide.
Why is this story worth telling: what does it contribute to student learning? What’s your pedagogical rationale for doing this? How does this story work within a course that you teach (or would like to teach) using sound pedagogical arguments?
On a cultural level, my story imparts valuable cultural knowledge about Quebec culture and places of interest in the region. By adding photos of myself into the show, the students have a visual connection to the places mentioned in the story and can envision themselves there. Furthermore, the students also learn more about my life as a language learner and travel, which can make my instruction more meaningful and relevant to them.
In terms language learning, my story is designed to be a reading comprehension activity to be conducted in a language lab with partners or as an individual homework assignment. The text is appropriate for students in the process of learning the passé composé. The photos offer visual support to guide students’ understanding, while the reading comprehension questions embedded on the actual scrapbook pages provide an assessment activity for the reading passages. Students can be provided the option of writing their responses on paper or e-mailing their responses to their professor. An extension activity would be to have students design their own scrapbooks in French based on a story they have to share.
What are the strengths of a storytelling approach? What are the limitations?
While storytelling can be an effective tool for some approaches, it may not always be the best for others. I came across this problem during my first attempt at creating a story. I initially wanted to focus the activity around present tense verbs since my students do not learn the passé composé until the very end of the year. Although my comic strip can still be an effective learning tool, it does not actually tell a story. I only realized after completing that activity that stories are challenging to tell in the present tense, especially in a beginning level French class. In contrast, story telling can be much more effective in world language classes if the students have a descent grasp of the past tenses. Not only can they add interest, but they can be used to target specific language concepts, teach new vocabulary, and offer new cultural perspectives.
