Storyboard Experiment

Fourth graders use storyboard squares
to during their video production.

I tried a new type of storyboard this year. Instead of the traditional paper comic strip storyboard template, I handed out individual panels, allowing students to focus on one scene at a time.

I did this because after years of experimenting with digital storyboards (Google Slides or Keynote) and the traditional comic strip storyboard handout, both left me frustrated. The digital storyboards tended to feel like finished slideshows and for students, it restricted their vision of what their video could look and sound like. And when it came time to transfer the media elements from their digital storyboard to the editing software, the resulting video was essentially the same storyboard slideshow.

As for the paper storyboard, revisions became a hassle. Once they filled out their comic strip storyboard template, the paper workspace looked full. And then as peers and teachers added revision notes, the storyboard would become messy, even confusing. Visually it would also squeeze out room for any other potential changes, consequently reducing the students' will to revise their work.

But with the individual comic strip squares, students developed one scene at a time. They had greater flexibility to make changes. If they made a mistake or changed their minds, they'd simply grab another clean square. But these individual squares were most helpful when they were laid side by side sequentially. It became a visual retelling tool that allowed the storyteller to see the gaps in their story such as with sequencing, transitions, or a lack of information. If there was a storytelling gap, they'd slide the squares apart and insert in between them a fresh one with proper transitional information.

I will use the storyboard squares next year as well. This may not be the perfect solution, but I like the results I've gotten from students so far.

Pitching Our Favorite Books

An essential Media Literacy skill involves recognizing a "sales pitch." Today, our culture is immersed in biased messages that seek to shape our mindsets. They come in the form of commercials, political ads, and unsubstantiated news reports that show up in our social media feeds.  But when these skills are used effectively, we can also share information and ideas that are educational and possibly enlightening. Take for instance, our fourth grade book trailer videos.

It began as a persuasive writing project. Mrs. Aberman, Mrs. Blackley, and Mrs. Mraz taught their students the genre of opinion writing. For this assignment, students supported their writing with compelling elements of the story. In other words, no claims without evidence. But this writing assignment required only text. And a story told with only text will be written differently, than when it is told as a video. So the next phase of this writing project involved writing for a visual medium.

Students use storyboards as a guide
during the video production.

That's no small task because it requires students to rethink and rewrite their "finished" writing. So each class did a quick study of the genre of video book trailers. There are several online. Here's one example. We learned that in a visual medium, words are used efficiently. They are spoken and shown on-screen, but they are always supportive of the story that's told by each image.

Students then formed book trailer production groups, although some students worked alone, if they were the only ones to read a particular title. We created storyboards to remind us of the important story elements from our books -- character, plot, situations, etc -- that would provide a compelling hook for our teaser videos. You can read more about the storyboarding process here.

Once the storyboards were teacher-approved, students recreated the storyboard sketches with hand drawn scenes on card stock. These drawings were scanned as digital images and then brought into WeVideo, a cloud-based video editing program.

It was important for students to draw the images rather than download pictures from the Internet for two main reasons. First, it allowed for each image to match what they visualized for their production. The images were a product of their own imagination, not a result of what was made available to them via the Internet or the book's illustrator. So it helped personalize their experience with the story. Second, as creators, they owned these illustrations. Like all media content on the Internet, someone owns them. And nothing can be taken from them without their permission. It's a good lesson in digital citizenship.

As I tell all my students before we begin a video production: "When it comes to making videos, the easiest thing to do is to make a bad one." These days the tools for video production are inexpensive, accessible, and easy to use. Anyone can produce a video and share it with an audience. But it takes time and a desire to use this storytelling medium to effectively reach an audience and to get them to want to watch your video over and over again. I have watched and shared so many of these fourth grade video book trailers, over and over again. They're that good.

Collaborative Storytelling Experiement

Collaborative storytelling in
kindergarten with the Wixie app

I recently experimented with two things: my homemade portable sound booth and importing student pages to create a single, multimedia story using Wixie, a cloud-based drawing tool. You've got to love a job where you can take a chance on the belief that the rewards will far outweigh the risks in attempting a new technique or approach to teaching. That was the case in Ms. Theall's kindergarten class, which wrote the story of Little Bear and his search for his dancing pants. It was an idea planted by visiting storyteller, Jonathan Kruk.
   

Portable sound booth made with
canvas storage box and acoustic foam

The students each wrote a line of the story and then drew a picture of this sentence using Wixie on their iPad. That's when I broke out the new recording booth. Each student then came to me and placed their iPad in the sound booth, which was basically a 12x12 canvas storage container from Home Goods, padded with acoustic rubber foam. It does not make the recordings "sound proof," but it can block out a great deal of ambient classroom noise. And that's a good thing if you want a recording that limits the distraction of background noise.

Listening to his story, post recording. #edgewoodproud @mrtomizawa pic.twitter.com/cOeLb1cBgy

— Kindergarten Theall (@kimberleytheall) March 4, 2016

   

Import drawings from different
accounts into one Wixie project

    Once all the stories were recorded, I used Wixie's import tool. This allows the teacher to look at the Wixie files of each student in class and import the precise page needed into a new project. It makes the construction of a collaboratively authored multimedia story very simple. Take a look at our story. You'll need this public access key-- cpj65d.