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Unit III--Lesson IV--Using Digital Stories with Students: Part III--Lesson Planning

From KNILT

When using digital stories with students, it is imperative that a succinct lesson plan be designed. In Unit II, we created a sample digital story called "How to Grow a Flower." For the purpose of this lesson, I created a lesson plan to accompany the flower story. Please review and print this File:Digital Storytelling Lesson Plan.doc. Then, return to this page click the UNIT III Lesson IV option at the bottom of the document page.

As you noticed from my lesson plan, there are many components in planning a lesson. However, I only want to focus on a few that are very important when creating digital stories. First, the lesson plan should have clear objectives that explain how students will meet its goals through the creation of the digital story. This is because students need to understand why they are creating the digital story. In my lesson you will notice that the very first objective clearly states "Students will create a digital story explaining how a seed becomes a plant." This tells you that after they learn about the transformation form a seed to a plant, they will display this knowledge through the creation of a digital story.

Next, the lesson should have properly sequenced activities leading up to the creation of the digital story. These activities should grasp the attention of the learner, connect to the learners prior knowledge, and allow ample opportunities for feedback. Look at my scope and sequence and notice how I activated prior knowledge by asking the students if they have ever picked or seen flowers. Then, I passed and flower around the room. I also had them read a story by their favorite author, and played a game of thumbs up/down. These activities were created to increase their understanding of the life cycle of a plant, before they created the digital story.

In addition to clearly stated objectives and properly sequenced activities, you might have also noticed a supplemental materials section. This is very important when incorporating digital stories into the classroom. Some of the students might have difficulty navigating the software and might need a guide to help them. Look at my supplemental materials section and look at the Navigating Microsoft Photo Story Handouts that I created for the students. Having handouts such as these in your lesson will definitely ameliorate many navigational problems that students might experience.

Lastly, your lesson plan should have a detailed rubric that explains how you will measure student understandings. Look at the rubric I created to get ideas on how this can be done.

UNIT III TASK 4

  • Use the File:Lesson Plan Template.doc to create a lesson plan that can be used with the digital story you made in the previous lesson. Upon completion, save your document and then hit the UNIT III link at the bottom of the document page to return to this page and complete task 4.
  • Upload the link to your video, as well as your lesson plan, in the Digital Storytelling Discussion Area. After you complete this portion of the discussion, hit the "Return to UNIT III-- USING DIGITAL STORIES IN THE CLASSROOM" link at the bottom of the discussion area. Then from the Unit III main page, click lesson IV to return to this page and finish task 4.
  • Using the Digital Storytelling Discussion Area, give your classmates feedback on their digital stories and lesson plans. Again, upon completion, hit the "Return to UNIT III-- USING DIGITAL STORIES IN THE CLASSROOM" link at the bottom of the discussion area. Then from the Unit III main page, click lesson IV to return to this page and complete the reflection.

Continue to Unit III--Reflection.

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