TechnoMovie

The digital storytelling lesson plans in TechnoMovie turn students into the stars of their own movies. To begin, students view the sample Adventures in Oceania, provided with the resources. They reflect on the slide show by answering questions on a worksheet.

View a digital story created using PowerPoint

Next, students use a storyboard to sketch out the five slides of their own adventure. They are guided by questions:

• How do you enter the new world?
• What do you see when you get to the new world?
• What happens to you when you are in this strange place?
• How do you get home?

A storyboard helps students organize their ideas.

The final preparation steps are to record a brief video clip of the student, which will be used on the second slide, and to take two or more digital photos, which will be used on the third and fourth slides. If a digital camera is not available, you can omit this step, and instead use clip art characters to produce the digital story.

In order to place the student photos into the slide show, the background must be removed. Students are shown, using detailed, illustrated instructions, how to use PhotoFiltre V6 to edit their photographs so that the background is transparent. PhotoFiltre is FREE software that is easy for elementary students to use to photo edit. You can download the software from http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm

Now students are ready to begin creating the animated story using Microsoft PowerPoint and the digital storytelling lesson plans in TechnoMovie. On the title slide, students learn how to format text and apply a background. The second slide is a “portal”, in which the students pass through a magical door or entrance to another world. Students are guided through new skills as they insert clip art and the video to produce this scene.