Stephanie Cutler

LITR 630/Instructor Mary Morgan

Assignment 4: Digital Story
June 28, 2017
Research

There is a social justice imperative for educators to incorporate digital literacies into

literacy curriculum. Gatekeeper skills are necessary for students to navigate in todays

technologically advancing world. We, as teachers, are attempting to prepare our students for a

world of tech we do not yet understand. The International Society for Technology in Education

has created standards to help teachers meet the technology needs of students while preparing

them for the future. For teachers new to integrating technology, ISTE standard oneStudents

demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and

processes using technologycan seem overwhelming, especially if you have young students or

emerging readers. Digital stories, however, can provide a strong foundation in digital literacies

(Robin, 2008) and highlight a students ability to be creative and innovative.

Digital storytelling allows students to take information learned in traditional formats and

transform the synthesized learning into digital works of art using innovation, creativity, and

research (Caffey et al, 2014). It is important to point out that a teacher could use digital stories as

instructional tools to engage students (Robin, 2008) but it is essential for teachers to move

beyond being transmitters of knowledge and put the responsibility into the hands of our students.

We should not be encouraging students to be passive recipients of knowledge, especially at-risk

students, we should be engaging students as consumers and producers immersed in digital

literacies (Dennis et al, 2015).

 When teachers design inquiry based learning that includes digital technology they are

promoting learning that is infused with critical thinking, collaboration, and expansive ways of

conceptualizing written and oral communication (Dennis et al, 2015). It is important for

teachers to find opportunities to incorporate activities that will expand students digital literacies

and digital storytelling offers hands-on engagement with both content and technology (Caffey

et al, 2014) Digital storytelling not only motivates and improves a students reading and writing

skills, it is a way to show understanding of content through digital representations (Caffey et al,

2014).

When thinking about a culminating assessment for a unit on Animal Needs Digital

Storytelling seemed a prefect fit. It would allow the students to have voice (Ohler, 2006),

highlight informative writing (Robin, 2008), provide writing scaffolds for students, all the while

allowing for an authentic way to blend traditional and new literacies (Caffey et al, 2014).

Standards/Lesson Breakdown

When designing and planning instruction to extend learning I focused on TK when I used

iMovie, You Tube, and Wikispaces to help facilitate students ability to present findings about

researched animals (KTS 6.1) The incorporation of a digital story shows I understand the

perception of reading and writing has changed to focus on the incorporation of digital literacies

(ILA 1.2). The main focus of CK of the lesson was on identifying main topic and key details

(RI.K.2). Students will achieve this goal when they describe key details about an animal

(SL.K.4) orally during an animal mystery game and then tell the main topic, when they identify

the main topic and key details of a story I created, and when they begin writing information

(W.K.2) about an animal they researched (W.K.7) on their prewriting story map including the

main topic and key details as a first step for creating a digital story (ISTE 1a). The PK structure
of the lessons gradual release will help students understand that good informational writing has

a topic and key details (KTS 6.2) and modeling to students how technology can be used to share

learning with others promotes ethical use of technology (KTS 6.5) This lesson is a first step for

emerging readers to enter into a creative and innovative process as they work toward publishing

a well-crafted digital story that highlights their research. Moving students from being a passive

learner to an empowered learner who has the 21st century literacy skills needed to research,

collaborate, and present.

 References

Javorsky, K., & Trainin, G. (2014). Teaching young readers to navigate a digital story when

rules keep changing. The Reading Teacher,67(8), 606-618. doi:10.1002/trtr.1259

Price-Dennis, D., Holmes, K. A., & Smith, E. (2015). Exploring digital literacy practices in an

inclusive classroom. The Reading Teacher,69(2), 195-205. doi:10.1002/trtr.1398

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century

classroom. Theory Into Practice,47(3), 220-228. doi:10.1080/00405840802153916

Shelby-Caffey, C., bda, E., & Jenkins, B. (2014). Digital storytelling revisited. The Reading

Teacher,68(3), 191-199. doi:10.1002/trtr.1273

Ohler, J. (2005/2006). The world of digital storytelling. Learning in the Digital Age,63(4), 44-47.