Integrating technology into the classroom can be motivating, exciting and rewarding for both students and teachers.  It can also be scary and uncomfortable to try something new.  Teachers who hesitate to use technology in the classroom may not realize, however, that doing so does not mean abandoning what has worked for them in the past.  

Take digital storytelling, as Abi Smart writes about “Combining traditional and new literacies in a 21st century writing workshop.” The writing process of planning, drafting, conferring, revising, and creating/publishing is the same, whether using digital tools or paper and pencil.  Teachers can still teach the writing process, including their favorite mini-lessons about the craft of writing, but digital tools can enhance what they have always done.  

Using digital tools is not a new way to teach writing; it is a way to engage students and even deepen their understanding of the writing process.  In an earlier post, educator Hani Morgan cites many of the benefits of digital storytelling, especially for struggling writers.  Digital stories can also challenge gifted learners, as discussed in Lynda Kieler’s article from Gifted Child Today.  

I first tried digital storytelling with my seventh grade language arts students last year using GoAnimate for Schools, a tool for creating animated movies.  I created my own video on GoAnimate so I could become familiar with the tools.  I knew I would not be able to answer every question that came up during the process, but being familiar with the tool made me more comfortable and better able to assist my students.  The students were so excited they actually clapped after watching my video introduction—not a typical response for seventh graders!

Following the writing process, the students then brainstormed possible themes for their story and used a planning sheet to identify the story elements and create a storyboard.  The students were eager to create detailed plans so that they could begin exploring the tools on GoAnimate.  Class time was then devoted to “playing” with this new tool.  Along the way, some students took the lead and learned how to do many things that I hadn’t yet learned.  These students became the experts as students delved into constructing their story.  We created a shared Google Doc for students to contribute tips and suggestions for creating a GoAnimate video.   

At this point in the writing process, students were ready to confer with other groups and provide feedback for each other on their movie drafts.  I taught mini-lessons on improving the quality of the videos, incorporating more authors’ tools and strengthening story elements.  The students then had time to revise their movies before sharing them on our movie preview day.

The final products, as expected, varied in quality.  Some students went beyond what was expected while others completed just the basics.  This is not because I used GoAnimate; it would be true had I taught this unit with the traditional writing process and no digital tools.  This video shows one student’s story about gender stereotypes.

Overall, the students found it challenging to create a short video and gained a new appreciation for all the planning that goes into each detail when telling a digital story.   In order to improve the project, I will make several changes this year.  One of the biggest will be that students will actually write a short narrative first, and then boil their narrative down to a GoAnimate video.  I may provide the option of using another tool I have just learned about, Pixton, which will allow students to turn their story into a graphic novel.  This project enabled students to achieve the traditional narrative writing goals as well as gain practice with important digital literacy skills.  

Tim Flanagan is a seventh grade language arts teacher at Pawcatuck Middle School in Stonington, Connecticut.  He holds a Sixth Year degree in Instructional Technologies and Digital Media Literacy from the University of New Haven.  You can read his blog and follow him on Twitter (@tflanagan01).

This post is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE SIG).