Digital Story

The population of our school will be doubling in size as we receive the student population of a school that closed in June. Students who have been together since preschool will be mixed this year, so for all students, new and old September will be a change. The intent of the story is to introduce the students to grade 3 in a nonthreatening way, through the eyes of a child they will see around the school on a daily basis. I think that using Dawson’s images and seeing Grade 3 through his eyes will be an effective introduction. The story will also act as a model for primary students to use when creating their own digital stories in September.

Our parents are also anxious about the changes happening in the school. This digital story will be a good tool to use at parent orientation to give parents a glimpse into a grade 3 classroom and hopefully allay some of their fears.

I chose PhotoPeach as the presentation tool because it enabled me to showcase the artwork and present the text of the story while telling the story from Dawson’s perspective. When selecting the tool I needed to consider, first the intent of the story, ease of use, needs of primary students, and reliability of the tool. PhotoPeach allowed me to present this story in a format that enhanced the storys’ intent. It is a free online tool that enables teachers and students to create slideshows, digital stories and interactive multiple choice quizzes with just a few clicks of the mouse. The tool guides you through each step of the production process, from the uploading of images from your computer or Picasa, to choosing background music, and putting captions with the images. PhotoPeach will then automatically create a professional looking video. Customisation of the production is straightforward, you can reorder your slides through a simple drag and drop process and add/edit text by typing into an attached caption box. Finally, for sharing the production you can use e-mail or generate html code to embed it into class blogs.

Storytelling has both strengths and limitations. It is a very powerful communication tool with unlimited applications. Stories can be entertaining, educational or calming, for reading /viewing alone, or for large audiences, for young children or adults. They give the author a voice to share ideas, knowledge or personal stories. The use of storytelling in classrooms engages students in the writing process in a creative motivating way. Teachers use storytelling to bring abstract concepts to life, to help students make connections with new concepts, and to engage students in the classroom. Students can use storytelling to give life to their ideas, share their ideas or research with classmates, parents, the school, and community. It supports different learning styles with the number of different tools available and the multitude of formats to present the story and allows students to use technology for authentic purposes. Digital storytelling also has some limitations. Access to tools is limited by student access to computers. The tool can sometimes interfere with the production if students get caught up in the fun of the tool and lose focus on the intent of the tool. The process of producing the story can be time consuming depending on the tool chosen to deliver the story. However I think the benefits of storytelling far outweigh the limitations.

Through Dawson’s Eyes: Memories of Grade 3 on PhotoPeach