May 2008 — 21st-Century Classroom
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Show and Tell
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For a look at the prize-winning student film Suspended, go here.
The students' first step was to prepare a storyboard. They were then recorded telling their stories. The project next moved to the computer lab, where the students used digital still photos taken during the camp to put together their stories, and finally, Microsoft Windows Movie Maker to produce their short films. One of the student movies, Suspension, was named the winner of the TIES Student Digital Storytelling contest for grades 3 to 5.
"Students see a lot of presentations with data, but not a lot of stories are presented electronically," Pease says. "It was nice to get them to think about taking a story from beginning to end, to get the reader or viewer to anticipate what happens next."
On her website, Porter identifies the practical benefits of digital storytelling, charting the many 21st-century skills it touches on, such as higher-order thinking, visual literacy, and collaboration. But there is a broader factor at work that has the most impact on students. "The opportunity for them to get real about topics that matter-not just having toy time with technology," she says, "comes as a benefit that supersedes even the multitude of skills that digital storytelling develops."
Matt Bolch is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.
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