Digital storytelling:extending the potential for struggling writers

Sylvester, Ruth, and Wendy-lou Greenidge. "Digital storytelling: extending the potential for struggling writers: digital technologies can motivate struggling writers and scaffold understanding of traditional literacy." The Reading Teacher 63.4 (Dec 2009): 284(12). Educators 200 Collection. Gale. San Diego Public Library. 6 Apr. 2010

Summary: The authors show case studies which connect the process of digital storytelling to motivating students who are struggling writers. They describe cases where students who don't like to revise and edit their work, find more motivation to do so if confronted with the possibility of a larger audience viewing their work, as well as those students who struggle to add detail in their writing who are motivated to once they go through storyboarding their story. They find as well that students who view themselves as struggling, end up showing in their digital stories competency in writing skills. They set their findings around the basis that students are experiencing multiliteracies: visual, media, technological and information in addition to traditional literacy. Their study concludes that through new media literacies, struggling students can become more motivated writers using the digital storytelling model.
Reflection:
The difference from this article and their top reference article, which I annotated earlier by Banaszewski, is that this study is much more sterile. The case studies are worth reading, yet the motivation factor was much more apparent in the work of Banaszewski because he spoke from the heart, from direct experience, and had student voices apparent in the writing. He explains the process and reflects upon it, whereas the research in this article is presented in less personal manner. The findings show an interesting connection between motivating writers and digital storytelling which interests me as I pursue my own questions.
Quotes:
"Creating digital stories invites students to employ old and new literacies, and through the process of creating a movie they erect, explore, and exhibit other literacies."

" When a digital story is composed to be viewed by others, it promotes the writer's awareness of audience, purpose, and form, and awareness not always demonstrated by less capable writers."

"Digital storytelling has the capacity to not only motivate struggling writers as they experience the enjoyment of creating stories enhanced by multimedia, but also to reposition themselves from struggling writers to competent writers."