Ways you can use Photo Story in Education
Activities:
present new vocabulary using individual objects or by miming actions
to practice dialogue work such as buying different items in a shop or asking for directions
to give a description of your daily routine or local area for example
to design a comic strip
to make a record of a trip
to put together a multimedia resource for your partner school
to design a comic strip
to make a record of a trip
to put together a multimedia resource for your partner school
video book trailers
public service announcements
documentaries
how to directions for completing a task
Lesson Ideas:
Develop a short story about a historical, scientific, literary, or current political/social hero students most want to be like, telling the story as if they were actually that person. The storytelling goes beyond the facts to unfold a deeper meaning about their hero’s importance to themselves, their community, or humanity through the lesson learned.
Act as if you are a totem pole (panda bear, invention, math/science concept, or song), telling your autobiographical story through the use of personification culminating in a lesson learned about the deeper meaning of their inanimate object’s importance to themselves, their community, or humanity through a lesson learned.
After completing a literature book like Ishmael, ask students to develop a personal narrative story unfolding their own life question and the dialogue that they imagine would take place modeled after the concepts and values gained from their readings.
Turn a current event into a personalized narrated myth or tall tale that would be told many years to many generations into the future.
Create a multimedia experience of existing poems or famous writings (The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, O Captain, My Captain, or Preamble of the Constitution) by not only vocally performing the emotional content but choosing to create a montage of images and sounds that go beyond the literal meaning to illuminate a deeper personalized understanding of the meaning found or intended.
Translate complex scientific, historical, or political ideas into understandings through a personal narration that guides deeper understandings rather than re-telling information.
Relate the cause and effect of a dilemma like stem cell research using digital storytelling elements. What is the personal story and meaning for our lives, community, or humanity if the research works in positive ways? What is the personal story and meaning for our lives, community, or humanity if the research works in negative ways?
After students finish a class or community service project, ask them to tell their own personal story of a defining moment in which the work and experiences changed the way they understand or view their world. How did the senior citizen they were helping touch their own lives? How did the work of cleaning up the neighborhood make a difference to them personally? How did the study of cultures, religions, or leadership styles affect or change them or their view of the world?
Make digital stories linking personal history to a core course theory
Create digital histories, explaining a historical event via digital stories, or digital stories that interpret and analyze course texts
Use digital stories in lieu of or as a complement to traditional term papers
Make digital stories about your overall research, teaching or learning
Electronic student portfolios for assessment and teacher portfolios for professional development.
Tutorials for management options such as class rules and procedures.
Student projects that benefit the school, such as An Introduction to Our School or a Book Talk for a Book Day.
Begin a video scrapbook of the school year to send home in May.
Video for online classes – self-contained web delivery.
Creative writing
Stimulus for writing to describe
Revealing the ‘parts’ of an image/picture to encourage detailed writing
Focus on characters’ thoughts
Using music to alter mood/atmosphere
Using digital camera images to support pupils’ handling of narrative
Supporting paragraphing in original writing, e.g. a picture per paragraph
Supporting travel writing
Poetry
Very useful way into the ‘Anthology’, for both teacher (e.g. setting context) and students (showing grasp of ideas)
Selecting images to support the text/understanding
Allowing students to interpret ideas from poems
Helping to understand the context – e.g. pre 1900 poetry, poetry from other cultures
Pre-teaching – e.g. social, historical, cultural context
Providing a storyboard – e.g. ballads
Poem narration
Exploring the themes from a poem (or other text)
Finding images and using key quotations
Shakespeare
Exploring artists’ interpretations of plays/scenes/characters (see Shakespeare Illustrated website)
Exploring different images/portrayals/stages of character and character development
Speaking and listening
Developing narration skills
Developing storytelling skills
Explaining images
Creating a presentation, then repeating with a narration explaining choices made etc.
Supporting assessment (at both KS3 and KS4) by capturing their narration, etc.
Media
Exploring an advert
Comparison of adverts/images
Examining the effect of image/sound/text – e.g. how they work together, what is gained by each
Other
Helping to promote point, evidence, explanation (and evaluation) PEE e.g. my point is… the evidence is (the picture)… my explanation/evaluation is…
Lots of cross-curricular potential
An effective plenary/review of a lesson (e.g. drama lesson) using digital snaps of students’ work. It could be shown at the end of one lesson or the start of the next.
Displaying students’ work for parents’ evenings/open evening/end of year assembly
There is a well composed online tutorial including video clips and teacher notes on how to use Photo Story 3 for Windows at this website Assignment: Photo-movie.
Student Sample Sites:
Grade 3-4 samples
Digitales www.digitales.us/
Berkley Center for Digital Storytelling
Samples online
Photostory school tour on webpage
Demos