Monday, June 30, 2008

The Art of Digital Storytelling

BernaJean Porter from Digitales presented this topic. Ms. Porter is a wonderful presenter; she's very accommodating and makes the participants feel comfortable in the learning environment. Most importantly, she knows her stuff. The concept BernaJean introduced is not new - storytelling; however, the mode is. The internet is filled with free websites that teachers and students can use to create stories to explain concepts in math or science, show character development in literature, or even to create their own original stories. Visit my del.icio.us for links to the many available comic sites: http://del,.icio.us/jrising/comics
Digital storytelling offers a different form of assessment. We may have students who write beautifully, filling their papers with deep content and correct grammar. More than likely, each of us knows a few students who can relate a story verbally, but when it comes to putting it on paper, the whole thing changes. Those students will benefit from this alternate assessment mode. In addition, it's fun.
In this session, I sat next to an educator from Alaska. Her school purchased a site license of Comic Life (a one time fee); it is available for Mac and Windows platforms. This teacher shared with me that by using Comic Life for story-telling, they have seen their native students flourish. Now those students are able to share who they are and to do so with a medium that all can connect with. What a great way to get everyone involved!!!

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