Multimedia Lesson Plan

Engaging in Digital Storytelling

Project overview and description:

Storybird.com would act as an additional outlet for students to publish and share their work about
forests. All experience with typing, up until this point has been inserting an image after writing a nonfiction
piece. The use of Storybird.com would allow students to story tell and write fiction or non-fiction stories
based off a picture that appealed to students about a setting or animal they have learned about from forests.
In this lesson, students will each write a short story, with teacher assistance as part of a class book about
forests. Students will share stories with the class upon completion.
Standards/Objectives/Resources:
Standards:
SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and
texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.K.4 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
S.L.K.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly
NETS-S 1a: Create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
NETS-S 2a: Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of
digital environments and media
Objectives:
Student will be able to interact, collaborate, and publish with peers and teacher through utilzing
digital website and media.
Student will be able to create original works as a means of expression or group expression.
Student will be able to express thoughts and ideas clearly when story telling.
Student will be able to choose visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide details and ideas
to the story.
Student will converse and collaborate with peers and teacher about story in small group and discuss
story in whole group.
Technology resources and materials:
1 laptop or desktop computer
projector and screen
internet access
Procedures:
Motivation/engagement:
For a center this week during small group, we will be writing stories together. Lets start by
creating a story as a class. (Turn on projector to show website). Hmmm, what could I write about
today? (Call on students with ideas then conduct a search. If students selected pig, search for pigs).
Okay, we want to write about pigs. Lets start by searching for pigs. (Pull up pictures and allow
students to select one.

Now I have pigs. What story could I write about these pigs?
Call on students to tell story or if students are not understanding start the story then call on students
to add or change the story.
Begin writing story. Example: There were three brother pigs. The oldest brother was very serious, the
middle pig was very worried and the youngest pig was always sleepy
Write one page about the pigs. Then experiment with another topic on the next page (1 page per
short story).
When done reread the story to the class. Explain that during centers they will have the opportunity
to write their own story with a partner.
Begin with an introduction to focus students' attention. This should reference prior knowledge, and,
if appropriate, may serve as a pre-assessment.
Developmental activity:
During centers, 2-3 students at a time will meet with teacher to create story. First students will need
to search for a topic they are interested in. Next, students will begin telling a story about the picture
they chose together. If students are not collaborating equally, teacher will help facilitate taking
turns. Periodically teacher will read back what students have written and allow for students to add,
edit, or delete material to make writing better.
Closure:
After 2-3 days of the center teacher will read book of short stories students have created to the
class. Students can make comments and suggests in regards to short stories.

Accommodation, Modifications and Differentiations for Learners:
Because the majority of my students are ELLs, this is a tool to get students talking and storytelling
for a purpose. For students who are not yet speaking English, I would allow them to describe a story
in Spanish and do my best to transcribe it into Google Translate so that students could understand
the story. Also transcribing some of the stories in English into Spanish could be beneficial for learners
who are not yet proficient enough to understand the English without a lot of pictures and support.

Extension/Enrichment:
Allowing students access to this website to practice making stories on their own would be an
extension activity for home or on the computers after students have completed the story. Printing
the stories into a class book would help make sure the value of the work held past the process.
Instructional handout/procedures for students:



Student assessment/evaluation:
I will assess students on ability to interact, collaborate and publish with peers using the website and
ability to create original works via formative assessment. Formative assessment will be observational
in nature with a spreadsheet recording notes after each group of 2-3 students creates story with
assistance.
Students ability to express thoughts and ideas clearly will be measured on 6 point scale.
Collaboration about story will also be assessed on 6 point scale. Proficiency would be ranked from 1-
5, with 6 being exceeds, 4-5 meets, 2-3 approaching, and 1 emerging. Score would be determined
ability to express them clearly and stay on topic. If students were able to contribute on topic
information that related to the picture and drew off of their peers ideas they would receive a 5. If
they struggled to contribute to peers ideas but maintained all other requirements student would
receive a 4, and so on.
Student samples:
I experimented with several students in my class. Here were a couple samples (names were
removed for privacy) These are not forests specific: