Animation, Cartoons, Kids and Storytelling

[Kelley Irish]

Animation is defined by Wikipedia has the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. When I think of animation I remember those little flipbooks that we fanned to make it look like a little stick figure moved. Using technology we can now create animations/movies to use for digital storytelling. I like to have the kids play around with the software and save their animations. If they don't save in a WMP file I simply use Cam Studio to capture the mivie. The real thrill comes when the kids write their digital stories to go along with their animation. They seem to work very hardf on their stories when they realize they will be reading them aloud to do voice overs for their movies.

Digital Storytelling begs us to take a long hard look at what we see and define as text. Text used to be the written word on paper. But can't text also be the story read aloud? Can it still be called text if it is rolling across the screen.? Could text be any image or symbol that holds meaning? How do we view , "The Story" when using interactive media to diaplay, comvert, and manage text?"

Storytelling has been a part of our history since the very beginning. From the drawings on caves we as a species have been compelled to record and retell our stories. Digital storytelling embraces not only the written medium by also honors the oral tradition of passsing down stories through the generations. At their very best Digital Stories are great stories told in a digital medium. There will still be various characters with flaws, there will be obstacles which must be overcome, there will be a beginning, middle, and end. As with all good art nothing will be in the story which doesn't serve the purpose of moving the story along to reveal the mystery and meaning of the story. However, unlike traditional storytelling digital stories will be told with graphics, animation, sound and text. They may start with an animation program, a drawing, a scanned picture of downloaded image , or a hand written story that is transformed using interactive tools. For our kids with camera's in their cell phones, and their own instand messaging language-digital story telling hold the promise of using the new technologies to honor a very time honored and true tradition-sharing our stories

[Patti Harju]

Digital Storytelling is an area I want to learn more about and integrate into my teaching. We have tried a little with Claymation and Voice Thread. My class this year loves to write and they want all of their stories Published in our publishing center. I do have them type their stories on their Wiki page, but typing for second grade is very time consuming. My next idea is to have the children record themselves reading the story (I tend to use Audacity) and then publish as a podcast. This is not the same as the written published work, but it may appease my very eager authors!