Session Number BDTu2-SP

BDTu2-SP 2022 Session

Expanding Literacy: Digital Storytelling for the Classroom Brett Pierce, Author & Executive Director, Meridian Stories

Level: Beginner Grades: 6-8, 9-12

Digital Storytelling in the classroom is the collaborative process of creating narratives that use imagery, text, sound, and music around core curricula. This Workshop will enable you to lead your students in the creation of short video and audio stories that communicate curricular substance, as well as content related to identity development. Why is this important? If the dialogues and voices that propel our current culture is primarily happening inside of a digital platform that subsists on a mix of print, visuals, and sound, then our students need to be prepared to be productive and articulate participants on this digital platform. Digital Storytelling is a new and essential form of 'writing' for today's students. It doesn't compete with text-based writing: it is in dialogue with it. And here's the thing: in order to practically guide students through this research-driven, collaborative, and creative process, you don't need to understand a thing about media production! Participants will come away from this hands-on Workshop with 1) a re-imagined understanding of the educational value of students collaborating to develop, create and produce video and audio narratives around core curricular content; 2) clear and practical guidelines for how to integrate this approach in your educational settings; and 3) knowledge, activities and resources that support this approach, as taken from the presenter's nonprofit initiative, Meridian Stories.