Digital Storytelling- What's your story?

Digital Storytelling has always fascinated me as a child and continues to do so as an adult. I had the privilege to spend a considerable amount of time learning from Bernajean Porter. In Bernajeans words, "Digital Storytelling takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the author's own story voice." Her work reflects a belief that technology can accelerate all students in rediscovering their joy and personal success as learners. Her enthusiasm and vivacious presentations create an energetic climate for all learners.

I got to participate in her sessions and with a group of other educators and got to create stories that had structure, character, pace, voice, timing and setting. Storytelling both positive and negative, is one of the most powerful tools of humankind. We have all experienced how story telling has grown so much just in its scope and power to influence the common mass due to the amount of information being generated and the way media portrays it. It is a way of organizing knowledge. Telling the story in words versus doing it digitally made us see the difference and the impact it had on the audience. There were a lot of resources that she shared with us that help in making stories come alive. 

This week in fourth grade Hilary taught a lesson on finding the right image that would make their poem stand out. We worked with the students on turning their poems into a story using images that should influence, inspire, and inform. Images can be categorized into 3 categories: decorating, illustrating, and illuminating. In Brian's class, we also worked on how music impacts the story that is being told. The students got to analyze different kinds of music. The mini lesson was well received by the teachers and students alike and we are looking forward to some amazing poems that children have written and turned into awesome digital projects. If you would like to book a time with us to come and work with your students, send us a request. Team Prilary would love to work with all of you.