'Listen to My Story and You Will Know Me': Digital Stories as Student-Centered Collaborative Projects

This article explores the power of English language learners' digital stories as student-centered projects and offers practical suggestions for language teachers interested in trying digital storytelling. The article explains pedagogical practices and digital storytelling in the context of contemporary scholarship on inclusive pedagogy, communities of practice, and multiliteracies. As students develop and produce their stories, they not only choose topics, visual images, and musical materials that are meaningful and of genuine interest to them, they also collaborate with other students and friends and family in the United States and in their home countries. Using examples of students' digital stories, journal entries, final essays, and interviews, the classroom is discussed as a community of practice where various domains of expertise are recognized and shared. Based on three semesters of research and practice, the authors suggest that an engaged language classroom community can develop as students learn to negotiate new digital terrain and gain valuable multiliteracy skills through the creation of their own digital stories. The steps in classroom digital storytelling and resources for teachers are included.