Digital Story Telling

Digital storytelling is an activity in the classroom that can be extremely useful but is often overlooked. It has several benefits, such as improving communication skills, broadening the students understanding of technology, and provide students with the opportunities to share their thoughts in fun and exciting ways. It is a great tool for young learners who are not avid spellers just yet, but can express their thoughts through pictures and oral language. Or, if a student writes a story on paper, they can go back and recreate that story digitally with pictures and sounds. It is proven that the listening comprehension is higher than the reading comprehension. Teachers can use it to show students their role in a community, see perspective of rules, routines, and home experiences, assist students’ language and vocabulary growth, reflect on experiences or environments, and help with behavioral management and reinforce correct behavior. Teachers can also use this to give ELL students a voice. They can receive assistance through digital story telling by showing it to their friends or family, re-recording themselves, and being able to listen to themselves speak. This shows that it can also be a great collaboration tool. Any student can ask their friends for help or tips on what to say or what effects to use. By doing this, students gain experience in the peer-review process. Digital storytelling can also encourage struggling writers and aid autistic students in performing social behaviors. This is a great way to show not only autistic students, but all students how to act in new places or difficult situations. Also, the students can help the teacher in making them, therefore making them even more personal and realistic to them.