Digital Storytelling Lesson Plan

Media Production

Level: Grade 9

About the author: MediaSmarts

making and remixing

Overview

In this lesson, students learn about the digital story format. They watch a video that explains the elements of a digital story and how to make one that is compelling, then brainstorm their own short digital stories. They use a story table to plan the project in detail and then create a video using the MediaSmarts Digital Story Maker.

Learning Outcomes

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

Each medium has a unique aesthetic form:

  • Different media forms have different rules of notice that media creators use to communicate

Key questions:

  • What makes a compelling digital story?

Essential knowledge: Students will know…

  • Reading media: Elements of a digital story
  • Making and remixing: Digital storytelling tools and techniques

Key vocabulary:

  • Digital story: a multimedia movie, made of segments with an image and spoken narration that goes with it
  • Render: Rendering turns a project file into a format that can be downloaded and played by others.
  • Segment: In a digital story, a segment has one image and one video clip.

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Recognize the elements of a digital story and analyze their effectiveness
  • Create a story table that effectively uses what they have learned
  • Use their story table as a rough draft towards creating a finished video
  • Use the Digital Story Maker to create a finished video

Student-friendly outcomes:

  • We will learn about the elements of digital stories, the tools and techniques used to make them, and important vocabulary like “digital story,” “render,” and “segment.”
  • We will think about what makes a digital story compelling and how different media have their own rules and styles for communicating ideas.
  • We will recognize and analyze the parts of a digital story, create a story table as a rough draft, and use the Digital Story Maker to produce a finished video.

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit