EDU 6433 Digital Storytelling with Sway and Snow White

https://sway.com/VhCOYif3C7axRNDm

The link above redirects to a Sway digital storytelling presentation titled "Writing a Summary Paragraph for Fiction Selections". The ability to write a clear, coherent, and concise summary paragraph is a middle school literacy standard, and a foundational building block toward writing essays and research reports. The TSWBSW summary strategy presented helps students maintain clear and focused writing.

Previously, this lesson was taught with the aid of a Powerpoint presentation and an accompanying handout with the sentence starter prompts (as seen in the Sway above) for the summary paragraph component sentences. While the adjustment from Powerpoint to Sway is not incredibly significant, and there are benefits and drawbacks to either, the use of Sway does allow for the use of technology to augment instruction, with reference to the SAMR model for technology integration. When used as a teaching tool for the instruction of writing a summary paragraph, that is, the Sway serves to augment; although, if students were able to use Sway to present their summary paragraphs, this could certainly advance to modification and even possible redefinition. Normal practice would be necessary first, obviously; Sway could serve as a vehicle for final publishing.

Regarding the first ISTE technology standard, or the need to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity, this presentation and associated direct instruction fulfills the standard requirements. While it is a bit ironic to use digital storytelling as a means to present and teach how to summarize fictitious stories, or story-tell, it is also quite engaging for students. Not only does the concept of the narrative captivate audiences and students alike, whether in book, movie, poetry form, etc., the use of technology in conjunction with instruction to further draw attention allows for further student engagement. Furthermore, the presentation is set up to have scaffolded, explicit instruction regarding each component sentence of the summary. Then, there is a practice example that incorporates the use of Disney's Snow White, a well-known story that most students know, thus broadening active engagement through common background knowledge. The final portion of the presentation and associated learning activity allows for students to practice - accompanying direct instruction would emphasize the practice can be with another, well-known Disney movie, another fiction movie, or any fiction book of interest. This choice allows for inspirational and creative thinking, especially since the topic of choice is one actually known and desirable to the student. After students write their own summary paragraphs, they may pair or group share. Alternatively, sharing may also be done sentence by sentence. Either of these sharing strategies adds a final component to the learning experience to incorporate each part of the "I do, we do, you do" sequence.

While I feel the experience I have thus sustained with Sway to still be quite rudimentary, I do feel I could pass this knowledge on to students. As said above though, using Sway to publish work, for example, would be a final step, only after pencil/paper practice. As a digital storytelling aid for use in conjunction with instruction, it does seem useful, and could likely be used in various ways to inspire student learning and creativity.