Storyboarding

Storyboarding 101: Turning Concepts into Visual Forms
Lin Huff-Corzine
University of Central Florida
http://www.ibiblio.org/ism/articles/huffcorzine.html

This article is written by a professor at UCF. Professor Huff-Corzine describes how she uses storyboarding in her classroom as a tool for learning. She believes that storyboards serve as powerful tools for learning more about one's self, as well as for organizing stories to be shared with larger audiences in auditory formats. Storyboarding is the use of a series of pictures in separate frames to outline or brainstorm ideas about how to tell a story. By using this format, students are encouraged to analyze events more critically and be able to develop, evaluate, and explain these events with greater detail. Students do not have to be artistic to create storyboards, it simply serves as a tool for them to map out their thoughts and ideas. Professor Huff-Corzine uses storyboarding in her classroom to help students recall and express experiences that have shaped their self-identities. "The experience of drawing rather than writing often serves surprisingly well to cue people in to many childhood memories." She gives them the option to share their storyboards with the class or not, whatever they feel comfortable with, because this exercise is ultimately for themselves. To begin with many students are worried that they won't have enough memories to fill the sheet of paper, but in they end they find that they run out of room. Once something triggers their thoughts, the memories come streaming in. Through this exercise, not only do the students learn alot about themselves, but they also get to know a little bit about their peers. Whether they felt they had learned more about themselves or others, students generally enjoy the exercise and find it a worthwhile reflective endeavor. Similar to cave drawings and even Walt Disney, by using storyboards, students are able to visually map out the key scenes of their stories and place them in sequential order using group discussion. Once the students have finished their storyboard, filling it with all the details, they can then use it as a guide to begin writing how their visual story will be told. I never really new how much I use storyboards! I guess I have never really thought about it too much. I love to to doodle, so when I am trying to learn a process that I need to memorize, I will sketch it out. I am a visual learner so when it comes time to take a test, I can remember my drawing and it refreshes my memory. I used it alot when I was in speech too. I always created a storyboard using poster boards. Not only did it help me out with remembering my speech, but it also was more visually stimulating for my audience. I think storyboarding is not only a great way for students to express their thoughts and ideas, but also to help them organize them. I agree with Confucius, " a picture is worth a thousand words."

Here is a video on youtube about storyboards and how they are useful in the classroom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWPjjoOFIu8