Choose from a Kit | Scroll Kit Blank Use Kit Intro Use Kit Basic Profile Page Use Kit flavor tripping party invite Use Kit confetti birthday card Use Kit counterfeit obama website Use Kit Facebook kit Use Kit Tips (BRAND) STORYTELLING 101, LESSON 1 | Chelsea Tells Stories I’ve been struggling to get my storytelling resource page together for ages, but the finish line kept moving farther away…until I realized that I could do it bit by bit. There is so much to share, so I’ll be rationing it out to you here (and eventually on my professional page) in the weeks/months (years?) to come. The first instalment is from my recent master’s research project: ‘Telling Stories, Building Brands.’ Bored already? Despite what you may have learned in high school English class, there is no universally accepted definition of story or what makes a story. Actors engaged in actions to achieve goals – there should be a “valued end point”Insight into what the actors are thinking and feelingObservable personal evolution or change in the life of a characterCausality – what caused things to happen as they did? Organizations of all kinds–non-profit, for-profit, public sector and private–could learn a great deal from Charity: Water and its use of brand storytelling. P.S. Like this:
DigitalStorytelling “I know only one thing about the technologies that awaits us in the future:We will find ways to tell stories with them.” Jason Ohlar Presentation brought to you by American TESOL! Slideshow of the Presentation Download the Hand-Outs from the Presentation! *Elements of the Story- Hand-out by Kevin Hodgson *Character Development- Hand-out by Kevin Hodgson *Storyboarding- Hand-out by Kevin Hodgson *Storyboarding- Hand-out by Bernajean Porter Videos Featured in the Presentation *A Short Love Story in Stop Motion by Carlos Lascano A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo. *How A Short Love Story was Created *Chiarastella- Stop Motion Film by Raffaella Traniello's class Chiarastella from Raffaella Traniello on Vimeo. *How Chiarastella was Created *How to create stopmotion claymation films using PowerPoint by Maryna Badenhorst. Featured Tools/ Websites from the Presentation! *Creaza - Create comics, make movies, edit audio, and more! *VoiceThread for Educators *Storybird *Vimeo *PhotoXpress
Make Story a Priority | Seven Story Learning The privileged status of story. Our minds prefer to prioritize stories more highly than they do communication in other forms of information, like lists and figures. University of Virginia Psychologist Daniel T. Willingham has referred to stories as “psychologically privileged.” He writes, “Research from the last 30 years shows that stories are indeed special. Stories are easy to comprehend and easy to remember, and that’s true not just because people pay close attention to stories; there is something inherent in the story format that makes them easy to understand and remember.” Effective Stories Pique Our Curiosity Research shows that there is a “Goldilocks” aspect regarding the level of causality that makes a story grab our attention. Our Brains Index Memories as Stories In a 1994 study by Dr. We don’t fully understand why stories are easier to remember than lists, but Roger Schank explains that our brains index every bit of information and every experience we have in story format. Sources:
Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact This is Part 1 in a series on e-book distribution to schools. See Part 2 here. Digital books are triggering tectonic shifts in education. One of the most fundamental, yet seemingly invisible, shifts is happening in the back rooms of district offices—not in the classrooms, not among teachers and students, and definitely not in the board rooms of most big-name publishers and textbook companies. If ebooks are not actually books, what are they? School purchasing departments know. This profound, significant change is happening first in school district business offices, IT departments, and cubicles among staff members who work behind the scenes to acquire materials for today’s students. What exactly is this shift? It’s the revelation of the idea that ebooks are not books at all. That’s right, ebooks are not books. If ebooks are not books, what are they? Ebooks are actually software. Here’s the view of the situation from the district back room. Books are objects Books are objects. Ebooks are software
StoryToolz : Resources for Authors Popular Methods for Online Storytelling By Sabina Idler The act of storytelling is present in every culture. Storytelling, when done well, can move people to take action. The way we tell stories has evolved drastically over time. We constantly find new methods for preserving and sharing our stories: From drawings on cave walls, verbal recounting passed down from generation to generation and songs to more modern ways like newspapers, books, audio and video recordings. The newest place to tell stories is the Internet. Let’s take a look at how you can get the most out of online storytelling by going through the most common ways we tell stories on the Web, as well as by discussing a few examples of good online storytelling. Storytelling Through Text While contemporary web technologies allow for all different kinds of content presentation, text is still one of the most common methods for telling stories on the Internet. Textual content can be very effective, and sometimes it’s the only option that makes sense or is practical. Goruck
Story Sticks This past weekend we had absolutely no plans, so I decided to make Saturday a project day, inspired by a couple projects I saw on Pinterest. The first project was inspired by this: It's a cute little jar filled with painted popsicle sticks with date night ideas. Super cute. But I wanted to do something with the kiddo, so I came up with this alternative. I had talked to the kid earlier in the week about what all of his storybooks had in common. Once we were done painting the sticks, I had the kiddo gather some of his favorite books. We spread out the books and the kid had to place one stick of each color onto each book. We then went through each book. The blue sticks offset the fact that I was trying to keep the characters and conflicts and settings rather general, so I'd occasionally change what he suggested. This activity amazingly kept him interested the whole time. After we finished each of the books, we had extra sticks left over. Now for the game.
The Joy of Data Driven Storytelling Beyond the Book Report: Ten Alternatives In my last post I described 10 ways to cultivate a love of reading in kids. I want to expand on that theme by suggesting 10 alternatives to the book report. I'm not a fan of book reports; I don't think they are an effective way for a student to demonstrate understanding of a book and I don't think they help students enjoy or appreciate reading. Let's consider some activities that allow a student to show understanding of a book and that might be enjoyable. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. This is by no means an exhaustive list of alternatives to book reports, but I hope it's spurred some thinking about how to get students to respond to books they read. What alternatives to book reports have you offered students?
Yahoo acquires multimedia storytelling app Qwiki Yahoo announced Tuesday that it has acquired Qwiki, a storytelling app that integrates photos and videos. The company wrote in a blog post that Qwiki would be joining Yahoo’s New York offices and that it would continue to support the Qwiki app. AllThingsD reported that the purchase price was about $50 million. Yahoo has been on an acquisition tear recently under CEO Marissa Mayer’s leadership, from the $1 billion Tumblr acquisition to smaller purchases like the social recommendation startup Jybe, to the news summarization app Summly. While it’s not totally clear what Yahoo will do with Qwiki, it’s clearly interested in acquiring companies in the mobile media space. In a blog post, Yahoo explained the acquisition: “We’re excited to announce that Yahoo!
9 apps for creating multimedia content Until a few years ago designing an attractive presentation, or any other form of multimedia content, required expert designers. You first had to explain your idea to the designer who would then spend hours in isolation, using complex tools and software, to turn them into reality. Most of the times, however, you would still go away dissatisfied with the final product. However, this is no more the case thanks to different online tools available freely on the internet. Using these tools,you can create multimedia content in a matter of minutes. You no longer need to explain your brains out to a designer who would still prefer following his own ideas. All you need is an internet connection and a creative mind. Here’s a list of 9 such tools that you can turn your ideas into reality instantly. 1. Without a shadow of doubt, EWC Presenter is one of the best tools out there for creating rich multimedia content. There’s no need for any coding or designing knowledge either. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 9.
Help Students Tell Stories Human beings are storytellers by nature. Children especially love to hear stories, but aren’t always so keen on telling their own. Partly because they’re kids. Telling stories is more about the imagination and the curiosity and even the tall tales, and less about articulating a narrative to a specific audience through innovative tools. Advertising has become about telling stories as well—letting a company, CEO, or even customers explain who they are, where they come from, and what they value is the social media way. Even our social media profiles are forms of storytelling. But in this social media era of powerful tools and always-on visibility, how can we coach students to tell their own story, but with care, craft, and tact, and in a way that communicates the right message with the right audience? With the available modern technology, it’s more possible now than ever before to tell incredible stories using amazing tools to the widest of audiences. 1. This one is obviously important. 2.
5 Brilliant Tools for Student Storytelling Once upon a time, there was a class full of students. They needed to learn to tell vibrant, engaging, complex stories for a myriad of educational benefits. Storytelling would help them learn to express themselves clearly, to structure their thoughts and hone their descriptive skills. But the students were cursed with boredom – with only a pen and paper to create their masterpieces they were bored and limited and the results were distinctly lackluster. Then, one day, their teacher discovered a myriad of exciting online tools to sprinkle their stories with magic and excitement once again! 1. This great iPhone or iPad app enables kids to create stories quickly and easily by combining writing with audio and visual tools. 2. This clever tool essentially turns the student’s device into a recordable whiteboard complete with digital ink, voice recording, text and pictures. 3. 4. Allows students to make short, art-inspired stories they can share on any device. 5.