Student Digital Stories!

Digital Storytelling: Capturing Family Stories, Connecting Lives

The Rainbow Tulip by Pat Mora..
"What pleasure I've had writing a family memoir, listening to the lives of my relatives, to theirbilingual voices, their lessons, their songs, their humor,. "What about you? Have you made a family tree, discovered the treasure of stories that is your family?" -Pat Mora


Pat Mora is able to express her ideas through fiction, nonfiction, and poetry – for both children and adults. In this video clip, (A Versatile Writer, 2 min. Source: ¡Colorin Colorado!) she explains how her picture book, The Rainbow Tulip, grew out of her family memoir, House of Houses. Note: You will need Real Player to listen to this. If your computer does not have Real Player download it here.

ACTIVITY: Students will research their family history by interviewing relatives - parents or grandparents, aunts or uncles. Students will hunt for a 'family treasure' in their own home or the home of their grandparents to find a special object; photo; letter; story, etc. and find out the story behind it.

Sample Primary Sources: family photographs (of ancestors and their homes), memorabilia, souvenirs, recipes, ancestors' clothes, ancestors' papers, oral histories.  

  • Research your family history by interviewing relatives. Using images and audio recordings, you will compile a Photostory family memoir report. You may use a digital recorder, a digital camera, or you may write your interview. You may bring in photos or memorabilia to be scanned, if necessary.
  • Possible starting points:
    • What is the oldest object in our home (Cultural Marker)? How did it get there and why is our family saving it?Is there an event associated with it? If the object could speak, what would it say?
    • What custom or tradition is important to our family and why is it important?
    • Is there a family treasure in our home? What does that treasure tell us about the history and/or culture of our family?
    • Is there a family story that you remember that might be told at family gatherings? Are there differing recollections about the same event?

Lesson 1: Read Aloud: Read Betty Doll, by Patricia Polacco. Explain that this is a memoir and that often in memoirs there are objects that are "memory keepers". After reading, ask students:*

      • Who are the two important characters in the story?
      • What did the doll symbolize?
      • Teacher - share a 'prized possession' with your class. Why do you treasure it? What does it symbolize for you?
      • Have students pair and share their important possessions.
      • Explain to students that they will interview a family member to find out the story behind an important treasured object. Hand out guide and tell them their assignment is to read the guide with their parents and decide on the object and who will be interviewed. Go over guide with students to make sure they understand their assignment.

    * These questions are garnered from Betty Doll Activities on Patricia Polacco's website. Please visit the site for more information.

INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM

4TH GRADE PARENT/STUDENT GUIDE

Lesson 2 : Have students do the CULTURAL MARKER EXERCISE. This is good practice for interviewing their family members. Next, have students type a list of interview questions. Give students a week to interview their subject. Ask students to start bringing in objects or photos of objects.

FAMILY FOLKLORE INTERVIEWING GUIDE

Lesson 3: Have students bring in their interviews. Using Microsoft Word, students will type a script for their photostory based on the responses to their interview questions. At this time, teacher should set up folders on the computer - one for scripts and one for images (it is a good idea to give each student their own folder for their images). Photograph objects or scan if appropriate.

Storytelling Checklist

Lesson 4: Edit scripts; have students search for additional images online to support their stories. Tell students that they could look for images that put their story into a historical and/or geographical context.

A good resource for images can be found at Glenn Gurley's Resources. If you are located in NY, also go to http://www.wliw.org/itv/ - EdVideo (PowerMedia) for video, images, and audio. If you are not located in NY, check with your local PBS station to see if you have access to United Streaming or EdVideo.

Lesson 5: Introduce PhotoStory. If you do not have PhotoStory, go to Microsoft's Website - Photo Story 3 for Windows to download it (it's free). There are many tutorials online to share with students.

Storyboarding: At this point, have students create a storyboard. Note: If time is short, skip this step and have students go directly to PhotoStory. Have them import their picture files and type in their narration for each picture.