This Is Me! Empowering children to talk about their learning through digital story

The transition from pre-school to Kindergarten is an important part of a child’s learning journey. In the early childhood setting children develop interests, knowledge and learning preferences that often remain unknown in the early days of Kindergarten. We argue that from this young age children can identify and articulate learning preferences as they use their literate practices to communicate their preferences, aspirations and reflections. Digital Stories are short, personal, multimedia presentations created through image (from still and/or video cameras), which are then edited on a computer with video editing software to include a spoken narrative. In this paper we share a project where a cohort of children in transition from pre-school to Kindergarten developed personal digital stories introducing themselves and their learning preferences and interests to their future Kindergarten teacher. Learning events and practices as identified by the children will be shared as we investigate their language choices throughout these experiences. Our analysis reveals implications and makes recommendations for those working with children in the early years of schooling. In presenting the paper we will share examples, the process of construction and our reflections on the children’s use of language.