A Scripture Digital Storytelling Prayer Experience

So you would like to do a Scripture Digital Storytelling Prayer Experience with your junior high or high school students?  Or you would like to involve the young adults or the adults in your RCIA group in a prayerful digital experience?

Here is a simple process for you:

1. Pick a reading from the USCCB daily readings.
2. Forward the link to your students or adults.  Invite them to print out the reading or they may prefer to read it on screen.
3. Invite them to find a quiet space where they can prayerfully read the Scripture of the chosen day.
4. Ask them to underline or highlight the phrases that are meaningful to them.
5. It may be helpful read the Scripture a second time, and to affirm the words, phrases, or sentences that have been underlined or highlighted.
6. Then invite them to develop a simple script with the phrases and then to choose photos that fit the text.  (Note: They may wish to take their own digital photo’s or they may want to search for Creative Commons Photo’s that are located at Copyright-Friendly and Copyleft (Mostly!) Images and Sound for Use in Media Projects and Web Pages, Blogs, Wikis, etc.
7. See example “Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion” script.
8. Choose a tool to create a video.  I like Animoto for two reasons.  One, it is possible to create a FREE account and then create FREE 30-second videos; and two, the PLUS fee version is very inexpensive at $5.00 per month or $30 per year (as of April 2011).  There are other options, including using Windows Live Moviemaker which is included with most PC’s and if you have access to a MAC, you can create your video using iMovie .
9. Other tools are described at Video Toolbox: 150+ Online Video Tools and Resources.

If you’re thinking, this is impossible to do in my parish setting, I invite you think creatively with this type of project.

Thinking creatively – “Outside the Box as they Say”

Here are several options for you to consider as you invite your participants to engage in praying with digital tools:

• A high percentage of your participants will have computer at home, invite them to get involved with completing the project at home.
• Perhaps those who do not have access to a home computer, can partner with someone in their class to work as a team to pray the Scripture together and then to create the video together
• Or perhaps your parish school has a computer lab.  Here is the moment to create a partnership with the school and the computer lab coordinator/teacher.  Often, if you have a clear idea of what you would like to do, the computer coordinator/teacher will assist you with the project
• Some of your participants will have an iPhone.  There is an Animoto App.  Go to the iTunes App store to download the free app! This will allow the student or adult to use their iPhone to take needed photos and then to use them in creating their video from their iPhone.

Animoto iPhone App

• Another iPhone App was just created for Vimeo. Now you can upload, watch, manage and even edit your videos right from your iPhone. This is just the beginning, so stay tuned for regular updates with feature improvements. For now, go download it from the app store!

Vimeo App

What can you do with the videos?

There are many ways to share these videos with your students, adults, and the larger parish.  The following are a few suggestions:

When you work with the Animoto website to create your video, you will notice that there are several options.

• Notice the various choices – share, embed, Download, and Export

• When you click on “Share” notice that you are able to share the video via
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Add to your eBlogger or WordPress blog accounts

• You will also notice that you can share your link with other Web 2.0 services.  All you need to do is to decide what services best fit your class and parish.

Here is a video example for you, Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion –

You can add comments to this video which will also show up on your Facebook account.

As you begin to imagine

Yes, there are a variety of ways of sharing the fruit of your prayer with those in your class, RCIA group, or parish.  And as we share, we continue to evangelize others with the gifts of our digital prayers.

I am currently reading Eugene Gan’s, Infinite Bandwidth: Encountering Christ in the Media. He captures in so many ways why we need to be creators of web content.  Here is what he says:

We “make” media that leads people to the truth when we use our blogs or Facebook pages not just to gossip or report on the more mundane aspects of our life, but to talk about what really matters to us and why.  Our blog can be a vehicle for articulating our struggles with the culture, our questions about the Faith, or our journey to God.  In online forums we can evangelize, and on social networking sites we can post interesting articles about faith or culture that can spark discussions among friends from various viewpoints.  Even posting pictures of our children on a social networking site can communicate some of the truth about Catholic family life.  In all those ways, our use of the social media reflects and promotes an understanding of truth.  

Next week’s post

As we celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 24th I will be celebrating Easter with friends.  I will post the next article on Wednesday, April 27.  Come join in the conversation that I will begin with NCEA workshop participants around the topic of being a  Digital Age Catechetical Leader.

Copyright ©2011 Caroline Cerveny