Renaissance Life

Ms. Palmer's Shakespeare class used digital storytelling as the culminating project for a unit that also required research papers exploring the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. To provide a clear context for Shakespeare's work, and to gain a better understanding of what it must have been like to live during Shakespearean times, the students' research papers focused on some of the people, events, and practices that defined Renaissance life.

To develop their digital stories (short films), participants worked in pairs, first collaborating to convert their research papers into scripts they would record as voiceover tracks. Next, they sourced relevant digital imagery to illustrate specific details and perspectives concerning their chosen topics. Finally, they created titles, worked with transitions, chose music to set the appropriate tone, and experimented with special effects to complete their films.