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.
Today's feature: Awkward conversation between zoo animals!
I have used comic strips before in my classroom and they were a good way to get students to practice the target language, although massively time consuming. However, the comic strips that I used did not have pre-made templates and were static so they were more complex to put together and did less once created.
Today, I used GoAnimate to create my first ever animated comic strip and along with a review, I am going to reflect on ways that it could be used in the classroom.
So, before I get rolling, here's the video I made. I tried embedding but it simply did not fly.
I wasn't sure what to have the animals say so they introduced themselves to each other and I worked in a snide comment about how cold it is in Buffalo.
This program was extremely easy to use and the video came together rapidly which I love. There weren't too many options so as to be overbearing so I chose my zoo animals and got to work.
First, for the critiques:
I did notice that the video cut out part of my dialogue. The giraffe had an entire line at the end that was reduced to "T." which is slightly depressing because I really wanted the world to know that he too liked The Walking Dead.
Also, when I named the animals I did not think that they would have genres and it surprised me a bit to have a deep, manly-voiced elephant introduce himself as "Amelia" but I thought it was hilarious so I decided to keep it. I guess that's not so much a critique as a "my bad" kind of situation. I could have easily swapped the characters but I decided not to.
Now, for the perks:
Like I said, this program was really easy to use! I think that if students had handwritten the dialogue beforehand in class, this could be completed in less than five minutes. Also, the templates and characters are cute! I like the different options like "anime" which I can see interesting a lot of students that I have personally known. This program is free, it's easy to use, and it goes quickly. The perks outweigh the complaints.
I almost wonder if there is a time limit that I did not know about which caused my video to be cut off, making it my fault (oops).
Applications:
This program would be absolutely amazing for English Language Learners (my specialty, goody!) because it would allow them to see dialogues that they created be read aloud in (although slightly robotic) fluent-ish English.
Also, the reward is instant with this generator and it is something that students can share all over if they wish so I think that the motivation and interest would be high.
I think that if I wanted students to practice a certain grammar point, discuss a certain topic, practice debates, or do pretty much anything else under the sun requiring fluency and two-way dialogue, that this tool would be extremely valuable and easily worked into the classroom.
My final veridict is a hearty 1.75 thumbs up (if only I knew what happened to the giraffe's last line!) and I am delighted to have used this tool because I can imagine it doing wonders in my future ELL classroom.
