Life Story-Digital Storytelling Project
Life Story-Digital Storytelling Project
Description of the Lesson
Overview
This lesson was created by Courtney Baker as part of the Nebraska ESUCC Special Project Digital Age Skills.
Students will research how to conduct a life story interview, create questions to ask their interviewee, conduct the interview, collect other pieces of life history from interviewee (video, pictures, audio), organize and synthesize all this information into a digital presentation on a platform of their choosing. This creation will be published and presented to their class and family members.
ISTE Standards
- 6a: Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
- 6d: Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.
NE Standards
- LA 12.3 Speaking and Listening
- 12.3.1.a: Communicate ideas and information in a clear and concise manner suited to the purpose, setting, and audience (formal voice or informal voice), using appropriate word choice, grammar, and sentence structure
- 12.3.1.c: Make strategic use of appropriate visual and/or digital tools to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence for specific audiences
Rubric Used for Assessment
Example Student Artifact(s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oeEjSG3hc&feature=youtu.be&disable_polymer=true
Lesson Design Reflection
-Read the New York Times article, “The Stories That Bind Us”.
-Go to Schoology and respond to the prompt on the “Life Story” Discussion Board. After you post your response, make sure you follow the instructions for responding to two classmates’ original posts.
-Skim through these blog posts: #52 Stories for Families and 60 Questions When Interviewing Relatives
-Write down 10 questions that you think are very interesting or unique and would like to use in your Life Story project.
-Find a partner and share your lists with each other. Feel free to add more questions to your list based on what your partner likes.
-Create an account on Adobe Spark using Google. This is an application you could use to create your Life Story video. Start a video project and view the Tutorial when prompted.
-Create a short video about yourself. Share three interesting things (ie. hobbies, favorites, jobs, sports, favorite quote, etc.). Use images and/or video with text. Narrate all or part of your video.
-Post your video to the “All About Me” media page on Schoology to share it with your classmates.
-Read the blog post, “Preserving Family Memories”
-Decide who will be the focus of your Life Story video and begin to plan the structure and write the interview questions you will need to ask. You can approach it chronologically, in sections, chapters, essential questions, etc. - whatever makes sense to you! *Your final video should be at least 5:30-7:30 minutes long*
Personal Reflection
I enjoyed this project very much, and it resulted in some great student examples. Some things that went well were giving the students choices regarding the tech tools to use to make their projects. At the same time, many of the students wanted a clearer picture of what they were supposed to create. I avoided telling them what it should look like and instead gave them a rubric to follow.
I would like to come up with a different starter activity - something shorter and more engaging that will hook them from the start.