Audio Digital Storytelling

The stories linked below were developed by 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers as part of the Teaching American History Grant in Clark County School District (Las Vegas, Nevada). Their assignment was to script a digital story using a R-A-F-T (Role-Audience-Format-Topic) strategy, record it with an iTalk attachment to their video iPods, and edit/embellish their stories using Audacity. Their topic had to relate to the Civil War era and had to be suitable for use in an intermediate level classroom.

Feel free to review the assignment expectations and module blog (including links to the lectures and class slideshows). In preparation for this assignment, students read a content book about the Civil War and completed a book review using the following R-A-F-T strategy:

• Role: KNPR Book Reviewer
• Audience: KNPR Listeners
• Format: 1-3 minute audio book review
• Topic: The assigned text
  

KNPR Book Reviewer Samples:

• Monica Modesitt's Review of Simpson's America's Civil War
• Kristi Palen's Review of Simpson's America's Civil War
• Michael Tomorsky's Review of Simpson's America's Civil War
• Kimberly Anthony's Review of Gienapp's Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America
  

Civil War Digital Story Sample and Reviews:

• Neil Greenlagh's Lincoln's Pen
• Feedback by Gail Sabbs
  
• Saving a Tree by Nohemi Arias
  
• Civil War Nurse's Tales by Verena Bryan, Ashley Keller, and Tracy Mouslon
• New York City Draft Riots — On-the-Street Interviews by Randi Stover
  
• Civil War Digital Stories by the Fifth Grade Students in Mr. James Johnson's Class
• Memories of a Civil War Cannon by Christina Darrington
• Sarah Emma Edmonds as Franklin Thompson: A Civil War Spy by Marie Dattero
  
• Civil War Veteran's Claims by Heather Rampton (Note: This story includes a video)
• Civil War POWs by Michael Kuennen
• John Clem: Civil War Drummer Boy by Tina Tenenholtz
• Two Hills in Ghettysburg by Jeremiah Norman
• Gail Sabbs' Civil War Letters
• Feedback by Lisa Franks
• Feedback by Neil Greenlagh
  

Audacity, a free, open-source audio editing application, is available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. The program works well for students editing self-recorded audio clips.

This two-page tutorial provides an excellent overview tools within Audacity. It was provided by Craig Cuddihy of VEGAS PBS.

This slideshow was developed by Craig Cuddihy of VEGAS PBS to train teachers in the use of Audacity, an audio editing program available for free on both PC and Macintosh platforms.