Digital Storytelling

For me, digital storytelling means empowerment. I believe that no matter who you are, and how old you are, each person has something to teach us, so digital storytelling is a great project for anyone. There are lots of great resources out there to learn about digital storytelling, and there are lots of ways you can do this cheaply and easily. (See my links at the top of my blog.) As an elementary school teacher, I'm also interested in how we can make this easy for even younger children to do. I have found that it is best to give them a prompt to get them going, and to keep it short and sweet. Another idea is to have each student contribute only one photo, and do one voice over for a group or class project. Here's an ideas of how you can use digital art instead of photos for the visuals. This short student sample from a third grader was the story about a real dream he had the night before. With a little "imagination" he was able to escape danger and unfortunate events by transforming his canoe whenever it was needed. Using only his finger and a free app. called "Doodle Buddy," he painted his story on the iPad. His voice overs were then added using iMovie. Tweet

Photoshop for Kids: Scratch Art

Here's a fun tutorial to do with your kids that's both easy and fun! This won the award for the best resource submitted at the Adobe Education Exchange, my new favorite "hangout" spot to "meet" like-minded, creative educators. I'm learning new tricks with Adobe software and thinking in a whole new way. Enjoy! Also, if you create any student samples, please send them my way, and I'll be sure to post them.

Scratch Art: Photoshop for Kids of All Ages from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

This is a fun tutorial for beginners, kids, or anyone teaching kids who likes scratch art. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Tweet

Photoshop for Kids: Animation Made Simple

Photoshop for Kids (of all ages): Animation Made Simple from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

Here's a tutorial that teaches basic animation concepts right inside of Photoshop CS5 Extended. You can animate each layer's position and opacity, as well as animate 3D objects. If you find this tutorial helpful, and use it, please send me a link to your samples. Thanks!

Tweet

Just a few free/cheap resources for Digital Storytelling.

For those who aren't lucky enough to have cool software like iMovie, Premiere Elements, Camtasia, or even Power Point, there's always Brainshark. I like Brainshark for Digital Storytelling or even for creating online tutorials, and there are lots of reasons why I like it. First of all, it's FREE, and there is no software to download. It's also relatively easy to use, and it's easy to share your Brainshark presentations by emailing, posting a link, or by embedding it on your website. At first glance, it seems pretty simple and business-like, but I do believe there is a lot of potential for creativity here. Most importantly, it allows you to upload your own photos and then record your voice to match each slide. This way you can tell your story easily. There is even a small library of free, royalty-free music that you can add as background music, and that makes it all the more interesting. Lastly, if audio is what you want, you can download your audio recordings as MP3 files to use for podcasting. Cool! My sample video shows how these presentations can be done cheaply and easily using Brainshark combined with other free/cheap digital media making devices. Tweet

Fotobabble and Psykopaint

Here's a digital painting that I made using a very cool and free online resource called "Psykopaint." I added audio using Fotobabble. It was lots of fun, and easy to make and share. For more details, listen to the audio recording. Tweet

Photoshop for Kids: Making 3D Objects

I love Photoshop, but I also love 3D...  Here's another tutorial for you.

Photoshop for Kids: 3D Objects from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

This tutorial teaches you how to make 3D objects from custom drawings, photos, or video clips in Photoshop CS5 Extended. (also can be done in PS CS4 Extended). This is a tutorial that covers the basics of working with 3D, and is appropriate "kids of all ages." It's a great way to integrate geometry and art. Enjoy!

Creative Commons Music downloaded for free at CC Mixter:
"I Like It Like That," by Stefsax

Tweet

Photoshop for Kids: Patterns

Here's my latest tutorial - helpful for any math teacher that also teaches art and Photoshop.  Otherwise, I'm sure any digital scrapbooker would like this, as it teaches you how to make your own custom digital scrapbook paper.  This lesson can be modified to the skill level of just about any Photoshop user.


Photoshop for Kids: Patterns from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.
Here's a beginning level Photoshop tutorial for kids. (of all ages)  This tutorial shows how to make patterns, and is great for a math lesson since children study patterns. It is also a fun way to design your own "wallpaper" or your customized digital scrapbook paper.  Enjoy!  Also, feel free to submit your pattern samples to me, and I will add it to the gallery and post it in my blog.
Tweet