Upper Division students created an evening of oral and digital storytelling. The student performances and projections, taken together, 'sang the song' or told the story of immigration in America as seen through the eyes of immigrants today.

The oral storytelling component of this project is comprised of a series of first person narrative monologues. These are immigration stories constructed from both personal interviews and students' own creative writing. Students presented their monologues in a dramatic fashion on exhibition night.

The monologues were supplemented by a digital storytelling component, which is an interactive art piece based on the story of the immigrant the student interviewed. The final piece was projected on the walls of the theater space the night of the performance to serve as a dynamic "set".

As a whole, these performances served as an artifact for the many immigrant cultures that exist in the Bay Area at this point in time. When combined as one piece, the detailed, individual stories comprise a revealing document: The Immigrant's Song.

The activites for this project are organized into:
Interview Process
Monologue Writing Process
The Exhibition (Performance Night)

 

Subject Area(s): Digital Design, Language Arts, Social Studies

 

Teaching Days to Complete: 6 weeks

 

Keywords  What's this?

immigration, joy luck club, amy tan, monologue, oral history, interview, american dream, creative writing

 

Outcomes  What's this?

 

21st Century Leadership Skills  What's this?

Communicate Effectively and Persuasively, Express Creatively

 

Graduation Portfolio Tasks  What's this?

Creative Expression, Multimedia Project, Public Speaking

 

"I Might Get Somewhere" Oral Histories of Immigration and Migration
Gathered, recorded, and edited by students at Balboa HS and 826 Valencia We used examples from this book to show studen...

 

"Twilight Los Angeles" by Anne Devere Smith
We used clips from this production to show students examples of first person narratives. There is also free curriculum ...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/stageo...

 

"The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
We read this book as we worked on the exhibition. We also learned about immigration history and patterns in America....