MANAGING THE ART ROOM Digital Stories I James Rees started digital stories with students as a way for them to express their thoughts related to their creative process outside of the classroom. My thinking was that having them use a digital medium would provide expo-sure to a different art form and facili-tate a clearer perspective. Recently, I gave students a deeper look into the digital storytelling medium by utilizing online resources such as StoryCenter. Here I found won-derful resources providing a variety of voices covering a wide range of topics. I also worked with my colleague, Flavia Bastos, on a digital stories proj-ect to elicit student responses to the question, “Who Is American Today?” (see Resource). This project provided students with a unique opportunity to contribute to online content by captur-ing their perspectives on timely issues. Connecting the Standards Digital storytelling projects are ideal for students to engage in all four National Media Arts Standards: Cre-ating, Presenting, Responding, and Connecting. Students create in an unfamiliar medium (audiovisual) and present in a familiar creative arena (online). The question that drove our Who Is American Today? project required students to connect their ideas with social, cultural, and cur-rent context. They had to synthesize and relate their own experiences as they produced their digital narratives. Practical Matters I taught the above project in a studio classroom and structured the class with an overlapping project to best use our seven computers. I found it helpful to set up a computer and sound booth where students could create a voice recording and align it with their images. We used video-editing software because of the ease-of-use, accessibil-ity, and low cost. Most students were unfamiliar with the process of editing a movie, so I taught it to the whole class and repeated it as needed. Food Stories This year, I’m fortunate to be in a new school with a soundproof classroom— ideal for audio recording. I’ve found that good audio is key to a great digi-tal story, because you can really get a sense of what the stories are about when you’re able hear the person’s voice coming through loud and clear. This year, students created digital stories about their positive and nega-tive memories with food. These videos are currently on display alongside paintings of the same theme at a local student-run gallery. Ethical Practices and Safety Online Before starting a digital stories project, there are important issues to discuss with your students. One is the con-cept of originality and appropriation. Students will often freely use images from the internet without regard to copyright issues, so having them think about originality and their rela-tionship with it is important. Another topic to discuss is becom-ing more aware and sensitive to ethical practices and personal safety when sharing works online. As a teacher, you need to make certain that you comply with local and federal laws related to digital technologies and their safe use. The NAEA’s position statement on digital citizenship is a great resource for this information. James Rees is an art teacher at Provo High School in Provo, Utah. james@james-reesart.com NATIONAL STANDARD The Digital Story Process 1. 2. 3. Write a paragraph related to the topic. Explore the topic with family, friends, and online. Receive feedback and adjust your paragraph to become more of a script that will be accompanied by images. 4. Create a simple storyboard in your sketchbook to help you visualize your film. 5. Create your images. 6. Record your narrative. 7. Combine all of the elements together and create your video. 8. 9. 10. Refine your work. Share your digital story with the class and online. Receive feedback and reflect. Producing: Select, analyze, and inter-pret artistic work for presentation. RESOURCE SchoolArts Article: bit.ly/SAWhoIs-AmericanToday SCHOOLARTS.COM 11
School Arts Magazine December 2020: Page 13
