Digital Storytelling - Image Based Story

Another way to do digital storytelling is by using images to tell a story and just record your voice as a narration telling about each picture. Here is a story geared toward preschool about Easter that would be an example of an image based story.

I used the app, Shadow Puppet to create my image based digital stories. What I liked about this app was that you can highlight certain areas you may be talking about in the picture with a little star by touching the screen as you are recording.  You can also zoom into a certain area.  At first, I didn't realize that you had to load all your photos first, before you begin recording.  But after I tried again, it was fairly easy to use.

First, I made this video with my students talking about their artwork.  It didn't turn out super great, but this concept has potential. I think when I try this again, I will have students answer a list of questions first about their artwork so they know to say...or I would interview them instead and ask them the questions.  I think the idea of recording their voice made the kids a little nervous when they were talking, so I would have them practice it first.

This is the second try with using Shadow Puppet.  A third grader had created an original comic.  We photographed each frame with the iPad.  We then wrote a script.  She read it as we flipped through the frames. The story itself is a little sketchy...some background info not included in the actual comic was essential to understanding the relationships of the characters, so I included it in the script.

In my classroom I could use this image based storytelling to create a movie to demonstrate a technique or or step by step directions on how to do something.  I could also make presentations about collections of artwork by a certain artist and present them to the class.  I will probably use it mostly to interview my students about their artwork.  I think this would work especially well when my students build structures in the architecture center.  The structures are always temporary and we document them with cameras. When they finish, they fill out a paper that asks them questions about what their building is and challenges they encountered while building it.  I could let them record these thoughts with Shadow Puppet, instead of writing it out. Students could also use this app to interview each other about their artwork. For example: student 1 asks questions about student 2's artwork (displayed on the slide), student 2 answers possibly using the highlighter feature and then they switch.

I enjoyed playing around with both Shadow Puppet and Sock Puppet.  I think I will be able to use both of these apps in my classroom for various purposes.  I think that both apps are easy enough for my students to learn and use. For elementary kids, the sock puppets are great and so much fun to use to get across concepts and information.  I don't think one is better than the other. They both could be used to support my curriculum in many ways.