The Original Freedom Fighters

In groups of four, students will create a digital storyboard.
Choose a general topic and do initial research on your topic. Find information and pictures, maps, graphs, or other visuals that will help you tell the story. Create a works cited from any sources you use.
Using the information and visuals from your research, first use the storyboard handout to plan a your story for these original freedom fighters that will show and tell readers about your topic in a story/narrative form.
After planning your story, write it.
Use movie maker and/or the class website to publish your stories.

Topics:

Astronomy – star charts that show the stars that the slaves followed North

Code Songs from slaves

Abolitionist Slaves – bios/pics

Joseph Cinquez, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Linda Brent/Harriet Jacobs, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Sojourner Truth, David Walker, William Wells Brown, John Brown, George Lawrence, Jr. or any other black abolitionists

Underground railroad – details/maps/pics

White people who assisted underground railroad/White abolitionists

Fugitive Slave Act info/Wanted posters/Newspaper ads-articles

Slave religions – superstitions that relate to African religion

Slave families

Slave wedding ceremonies/rituals

Slave folklore/myths – Big John the Conqueror, etc.

Patrollers – Dangers of the Underground railroad

Steps to Creating a Digital Story in MovieMaker

Under "Tools" of MovieMaker, click on command to "Create New Collection" -- which is just an area in MovieMaker where your images will go before being added into the movie. Give this Collection file a name, such as "My Exciting Adventure."

Under "File" of MovieMaker, click on "Import into Collection" and then browse to find the desktop folder with the saved images (in this case, it would be the three images of Hawaii). Click on each image, or select all, and then import. All the images should now appear in the Collection folder in MovieMaker.

At the bottom of the screen, there is a button that says "Show Storyline." Click this, and it will present a series of boxes -- these are the frames of your movie. Now, just click on an image from Collection and drag the image into one of the boxes. Continue dragging images until you've created the sequence of images you want.

To add a title to your movie either/or at the start and end, go to "Tools" and then down to "Titles and Credits" and follow the directions. To add transitions between frames, go to "Tools" and down to "Video Transition." Click on your choice of transitions and drag down to the area before the image. To add effects to images, go to "Tools" and then down to "Video Effect," and click on your choice of effects and drag down to the small box on the lower left corner of the image you want to be affected.

To view the sequence, just click on the play button below the little viewing screen to the right. If you want an image to last longer or shorter on the screen, you first need to hit "Show Timeline" icon. Then click on the right side of the image in the timeline and drag either left or right to make longer or shorter.

To add narration, you will need a microphone with a 1/8" jack that can be plugged into the back of your computer. Then, go to "Tools" and down to "Narrate Timeline." When you are ready, click on "Start Narration" and read the personal narrative that you wrote at the start. Make sure you use voice inflection (tone and pacing) to move your story along. When you are done recording, click on "Stop Narration." The file will be saved within your Collections as a sound file, and then you just drag it down to the space beneath the images in "Timeline" mode. You can move the narration file within the timeline simply by clicking on it and moving it left and right.

You can also add some music as a soundtrack, but you will have to import a music WAV or MP3 file into the Collection folder, and then drag it to the audio section of the timeline. If you do this and you have a long movie, you may want to break up your narration with short music files. Or you could download a free music mixing software program, such as Audacity, and mix the music under your voice (but be careful of copyright protection on any songs you use).

When you are satisfied with the movie, go to "File" and down to "Save Movie" and say "yes" to all the prompts. This will create the actual movie file for viewing in your media player. If you don't like the final product, just go back to MovieMaker and your files will still be there. Re-work and edit them as needed.

Share your movie with your classmates, friends and family. You may want to publish them on the Internet, but that is something your teacher will have to do for you. Most of all, you should feel accomplishment. You have created a true digital story. Congratulations!

Digital Storytelling Rubric

Student Name: ______

CATEGORY / 20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / Subtotal
Point of View - Purpose / Establishes a purpose early on and maintains a clear focus throughout. / Establishes a purpose early on and maintains focus for most of the presentation. / There are a few lapses in focus, but the purpose is fairly clear. / It is difficult to figure out the purpose of the presentation.
Voice - Pacing
Story / Story told on topic, related to images, and from subject matter’s point of view. Voice pacing in digital story matches speed and rhythm of pictures and engages audience. / Story mostly on topic, uses images to tell story, occasionally speaks too fast or too slowly for the story line. The pacing is relatively engaging for the audience. / Story on topic, refers to images, tries to use pacing, but it is often noticeable that the pacing does not fit the story line. Audience is not consistently engaged. / Story not on topic, does not match the images, and No attempt to match the pace of the storytelling to the story line or the audience.
Images and Storyboard / Images create a distinct atmosphere or tone that matches different parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors. Storyboard chart used with detail to outline story. / Images create an atmosphere or tone that matches some parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors. Storyboard chart used with some detail to outline story. / An attempt was made to use images to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work. Image choice is logical. Storyboard chart used but with few details or missing parts of the story to outline story. / Little or no attempt to use images to create an appropriate atmosphere/tone. Storyboard chart not used to outline story.
Economy / The story is told with exactly the right amount of detail throughout. It does not seem too short nor does it seem too long. / The story composition is typically good, though it seems to drag somewhat OR need slightly more detail in one or two sections. / The story seems to need more editing. It is noticeably too long or too short in more than one section. / The story needs extensive editing. It is too long or too short to be interesting.
Grammar / Grammar and usage were correct (for the dialect chosen) and contributed to clarity, style and character development. / Grammar and usage were typically correct (for the dialect chosen) and errors did not detract from the story. / Grammar and usage were typically correct but errors detracted from story. / Repeated errors in grammar and usage distracted greatly from the story.
Final Score: