Welcome+to+Our+Digital+Stories

This project came out of a connection between two schools - one in Italy and one in New Jersey, USA. This was a year long project and the students began by getting to know each other through emails and a questionnaire that we posted on a wiki using Google forms. After they knew a little bit about each other, the students in Italy, using the same wiki, composed the first paragraph of our story, setting the scene for all that will follow. My students then read and proofread their paragraph (Since English is a second language for our Italian friends) and made any grammatical/spelling corrections needed. The kids would brainstorm in class to determine what was going to happen next. They then composed the next paragraph of the story. This exchange continued until school was almost over and we had to find the culprit. What was great is how the story took different twists and turns as the students added information, much like a true mystery story does. Once the story was complete, we set up a Skype session to videoconference about our project.

To see that story, CLICK HERE We just recently completed a story that involved 3 schools: St. Helena, Paris France, and the Czech Republic. Here is the story that resulted from that collaboration: @FINDING ME

The projects have evolved into including multiple schools. Recently we have added collaborative writing within each class to brainstorm ideas for the stories. For more ideas on how to start, go HERE.

We are planning on adding illustrations this year to our stories.

If you are interested in doing a similar project, let me know at mrsmartinusa@gmail.com. I will try to set you up with another school to begin.

Enjoy!

Linda Martin