Digital School Solutions

Blog entry posted April 26th, 2010 by Sheila Tebbano

What do you get when you combine pictures, text and voice recording?  Digital story telling.  Some of the schools I work in were looking for software to use when the school Internet is slow or on the occasions when the Internet is not working?  My answer this spring has been Photostory3, a free software download from Microsoft.  I have used the program for a number of years, but web 2.0 tools like Voicethread and Animoto, along with Windows Movie Maker, PowerPoint, and I-Movie pushed this engaging little program to the back of my mind.  Knowing the power of Photostory 3, I started downloading it on some computers in schools, did a few Lunch & Learn demonstrations and got a few teachers to see how this program could be used to support their curricula.

In early March, I was working with a Social Studies enrichment teacher at PS120K and was downloading Microsoft Photostory on her classroom computer when I overheard her make a comment that she wished she could take some pictures of “My Community” models her 3rd grade students created.  Her classroom was filled with  3-D models that students created of their neighborhoods.  I told the teacher that I had a camera and offered to snap some pictures of the projects.  The rest say they say, is history. 

This is what happened, because of one comment at the right moment, during period 8 on March 5, 2010.  As the program was downloading, I took pictures of the student projects from my cell  phone, emailed them to the teacher, downloaded the pictures to her computer, uploaded them into the Photostory3 program, animated the pictures within the program, and demonstrated what I had done to the teacher.  Not bad for one period!

The teacher was thrilled and we talked about how she could use the photo story.  The next week when I returned, the teacher had taken more pictures and was ready to add them to Photostory3.  Then we planned how to add student narratives to the pictures of their models.  We were then into phase 2 of the project.

I had the distinct pleasure of recording the students as they described their model, where they lived, interesting things from their street, or how what they used to build their model.  After we recorded, of course, I played back the recording and the response was inspiring.  For most of the students, it was the first time they had ever heard their voice.  What fun!  For some, the 30 seconds of audio took several takes.  The students were totally engaged, flexible, focused, and unfazed working with me, a person with whom they were unfamiliar.  They know they were giving voice to their project, their street and it was something they had not done before. 

The SS teacher has now taken over the completion of the photo story.  It includes over 40 pictures and the goal is to play it for students and parents at an end of year Magnet Celebration.  I will bet that the third graders will make sure their families listen to their first attempt at digital storytelling and I hope it will be the first of many creations that come from this school. 
This project came about because of one comment; “I wish I could take some pictures so we can remember these wonderful models.”  This is the power of integrating technology into the curriculum and involving students by giving voice to their stories.

Resources for digital storytelling.

• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx
• http://its.ksbe.edu/dst
• http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/digital_storytelling.aspx
• http://web.mac.com/digistoryteller/DigitalStorytelling/Links.html