This document describes a digital storytelling unit created by teachers from three departments at a high school to engage students and address Common Core standards. The unit involves students collaborating to create oral history projects through interviewing family members and community members, writing scripts, and developing digital stories. It incorporates 21st century skills like creativity, collaboration, and visual/technical literacy. Formative assessments and differentiation strategies are used to support all students. The culminating event is a community showcase of the digital stories highlighting the value of oral histories.

1. A Digital
Storytelling Unit
That Engages
Students AND the
Common Core
Standards
Ron Neurauter & Michelle Torrise
CUSD 201 Westmont High School March 1 D201 Institute 2013

2. 7 Elements of Storytelling

3. 7 Elements of Storytelling
•A Point of View
•A Dramatic Question
•Emotional Content
•Voice
•The Soundtrack
• Economy
•Pacing

4. Collaboration Among
Departments
•Joint project between 3 departments:
•English: Ron Neurauter
•Media Specialist: Michelle Torrise
•Special Education: Jamie Mahmoud

5. Integration Into Curriculum
•District Vision on Student Centered Learning is
to create unique and high quality learning
experiences for our students, that…develop
skills of…
•Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
•Collaboration
•Agility and Adaptability
•Oral and Written Communication Skills
•Curiosity and Imagination
•Interdisciplinary Thinking

6. Common Core Standards
• Cognitive Apprenticeship
• Project Management
• Teaming & Collaboration
• Visual Literacy
• Technical Literacy
• Information Literacy
• Effective Communication
• Multiple Intelligences & Learning Styles

7. Scaffolding Using Anchor Texts

8. Digital Storytelling Process

9. Using Essential Questions
•Essential Question:
How do everyday experiences shape
1. who we are
2. what we become
3. what we pass on
•Theme:
Everyone has a story to tell

10. Teaching Interviewing Skills

11. Authentic Oral Histories

12. The Writing Process
Amanda

13. The Writing Process

14. The Writing Process

15. Using Formative Assessments
• Allows for do-overs
• Providing critical, regular feedback will keep students
on track
• Provides information needed to adjust teaching
• Process guides teachers in making decisions about
future instruction
• Practice for the student and a check for understanding

17. Collaboration Among Students

18. Written Product to Visual
Product

19. Authentic Oral Histories

20. Written Product to Visual
Product

21. The Culminating Event
•Objective: plan a community-building event that
(a) highlights the value of oral histories to the
families and communities they represent and (b)
increase community assets and skills

22. Authentic Oral Histories

23. Building 21st-Century Skills
1. Creativity and inventive thinking
2. Multiple intelligences
3. Higher-order thinking (lessons learned)
4. Information literacy
5. Visual literacy
6. Sound literacy
7. Technical literacy
8. Effective communication (oral, written, and digital)
9. Teamwork and collaboration
10. Project management
11. Enduring understandings

24. Digital Storytelling Resources

25. Inclusion Aspect/Differentiation
• Communicate IEP needs to all staff; follow
accommodations
• Extra credit to students who volunteer to offer tech
support in class and during Resource periods (as
available)
• Use scaffolding and graphic organizers
• Chunk portions of the project/progress checks
• Pre-teach/re-teach in Resource (if available)
• Adjust rubric for IEP students per accommodations
• Plan to be in the classroom as much as possible
during this process
• This is typically a positive experience for most due to

26. Lessons Learned/Reflection
•Need increased/consistent parent
communication; email parents well before project
begins and get them to help with authentic
artifacts
•Need to add a Native American oral history
element to part 1
•Sit down with each student to edit (peer editing
doesn’t seem to suffice)
•Work to ensure that projects are edited before
final.
•Design a culminating project that involves all
students, possibly over several nights

27. Questions & Answers