World Storytelling Day: 20 March 2019

A global celebration of the art of oral storytelling, World Storytelling Day encourages people to share stories and inspiration, and to learn from each other. Our recently updated MY:24 App is an ideal digital storytelling tool for students to explore on this day.

The free MY:24 App encourages young people to reflect critically on their own experiences, and to share a transformative day of their lives as a visual text. It was inspired by the factual TV series MY:24, in which young Australians reflect on the 24 hours which changed their lives forever.

The app allows students to create a mini-documentary through the use of basic templates and the in-built capabilities of an Apple iOS device. By following the prompts, users create a three-minute film that includes: a ‘diary cam’ introduction; an image montage with voiceover; a video re-enactment with filters; an interview with a family member or friend; and film credits.

The MY:24 App relates to a wide range of learning areas and capabilities in the Australian Curriculum, including English, Critical and Creative Thinking, Humanities and Social Sciences, Media Arts, and Personal and Social Capability. It encourages self-reflection through the exploration of students’ own culture and identity, and creating and publishing a digital text develops their ICT capability.

Relevant content descriptions for English include:

Year 5 – Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and sequenced content and multimodal elements. (ACELY1700)

Year 6 – Use a range of software, including word processing programs, learning new functions as required to create texts. (ACELY1717)

Year 7 – Use a range of software, including word processing programs, to confidently create, edit and publish written and multimodal texts. (ACELY1728)

Year 8 – Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that raise issues, report events and advance opinions, using deliberate language and textual choices, and including digital elements as appropriate. (ACELY1736)

For further ideas on using MY:24 in your classroom, download our freely available MY:24 Study Guide for English.