"Storytelling by everday people is no longer just about composing texts and oral narratives, but rather the expression of ideas through multiple media including print and digital text, still and moving images, music, animation, and games"(p.2353). In our Kindergarten classroom, we use a daily Writing Workshop format in which whole group mini-lessons are followed by stages of the writing process completed by individual children at their own pace. Here is a look at the writing workshop board in our classroom that I had shared as part of a #gafe4littles Twitter chat several months ago.
Although I had considered the benefits of integrating digital storytelling into Writing Workshop from an academic perspective, the article presents the idea of digital storytelling as it supports construction of self-representation for a public audience, in turn, supporting the writer in understanding the self and his or her experiences within the world. The article focuses on adolescent development of sense of self through digital storytelling. Since I work with young children, I decided to consider the ways in which this idea may apply to our work in the classroom as well. I created the chart below to organize some thoughts on the ways in which the creation process for digital storytelling communicates ideas that help the young child develop a sense of self.
In order to look closer at the ways in which digital storytelling can help children develop a sense of self, I decided to look carefully at some samples from children's completed digital books. We have recently been using Book Creator to publish stories on the iPad which allows children to: create a digital book that can be added to our iBooks collection on the iPad, publish into Seesaw portfolios in video format for viewing with families, and publish as a pdf which is printed and placed in our classroom library.
Examples of the ways in which story choice helps children to connect and define personal experience and interest:
Exploration on topic of interest helps child to expand
understanding of the world around them and identify
their place within the larger context.
Exploration of family traditions and culture
helps children to process the stories that help to define their
experience.
Exploration of self within the context of peers.
Stories allow children to imagine experiences and
develop sense of social conventions and communication.
Examples of ways in which tools children use reflect their communication of ideas.
Illustrations in this book were created using the Felt Board app.
The child used open ended pieces to create the scene which communicated her idea.
The ability to see ways in which open-ended tools can be used to create specific
images increases the child's understanding of herself as a creative human being.
Creating an illustration that matched the child's idea required him
to research a photo and then use the drawing tool to add detail
that was unique to his text. This child developed a sense of
collaboration as he recognized that this photo had been shared,
but could be used as a way of expressing a different idea.
This child chose Draw and Tell app to communicate her ideas as she felt strongly that she needed complete freedom to add the detail necessary to convey her thoughts. Her carefully detailed drawings show her commitment to capturing her developing definition of friendship within her narrative text.
Reflection:
Interestingly, Writing Workshop is part of our everyday literacy block, however, digital storytelling has allowed for it to become a natural extension of the children's play during choice time. On a daily basis, children can be found playing and creating stories in the block center, art center, or housekeeping area. At this point in the year, the writing center is often the most popular choice in our classroom because children have become extremely motivated by creation of their own stories. This is the first year I have incorporated a larger amount of digital storytelling into our classroom experiences. The impact has been that children now see themselves as creators without limits to a certain area of the classroom. They do not need to be in the writing center to create and share their stories.
It was difficult to find a video version of a story that I could share publicly because most of the children's work features themselves and their friends! This story was created by two 5 year olds back in October when I first introduced the idea of documenting their stories using the iPad. They were excited to write a "chapter book" that shared the adventures of the animals in the block center. It is interesting to note the ways in which they are processing the ideas of protection, safety, community, problem and solution within their play.
This exercise was important for me as I continue to develop my understanding of the ways in which digital media creation impacts the development of young children. Considering the social and emotional impact of work with technology has been a focus for my work over the course of the last couple of years. This assignment helped to bring my understanding to a new level as academics, technology and development of sense of self interplay within the experience of digital story creation through Writing Workshop.
Sources:
Halverson, E. R. (2010). Film as identity exploration: A multimodal analysis of youth-produced films. Teachers College Record 112(9), 2352-2378.
