Digital Storytelling

      Digital storytelling is "the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component" (7 things you should know about digital storytelling). Digital storytelling allows the storyteller or storytellers to add more detail and therefore add more personal attachment to the story being told. The values of digital storytelling are many and include allowing students to better express themselves, encouraging students to further explore the digital world, and encouraging practice with the target language.
      As I complete my observations this semester, I have come into contact with students with many different, complex backgrounds who seem to struggle with expressing themselves. ESL students and students of interrupted formal education generally have a lot to tell and I think that it is difficult for any teacher to know their full story and that students often do not feel that they are able to tell it but I think that digital storytelling would offer the perfect medium. By allowing students to incorporate images, I think that they would be better able to share their culture with their instructors and peers and I also think that students might feel more encouraged to work on their language output if they know that it will be published for an audience. As an ESL teacher, I might have students draft parts of their stories and conference with peers so that they could work on revision and being confident with their final product. Digital storytelling is something that I believe could be invaluable in almost any context, as stated by educause but especially for English language learners who are looking for ways to express their diverse backgrounds and might be greatly helped by the ability to add visual support to their presentations.