The challenge
Chicagoland’s English teacher, college adjunct, and instructional coach, Steph Sukow, emphasizes the importance of amplifying student voice via digital storytelling. A big believer that “creativity is intelligence having fun,” Steph honors CASL and SEL strategies to promote student creativity in every assignment.
One of the most important frameworks Steph brings to her high school students is valuing the creative process over the product. Creating a structure around assignments first — brainstorming and storyboarding, collaborating on student-assigned roles, and then video creation — fuels empowered learning experiences. Steph’s framework helps students overcome passive learning and fears of failure as it pertains to achieving particular outcomes.
Additionally, Steph shares the impact of WeVideo’s Assignment Ideas Library for “one-take wonder” assignments that save time via ready-made templates without sacrificing content quality. For those newer to video creation or digital storytelling, Steph names the organization process to be challenging, at first. This is where she uses WeVideo to simplify and streamline workflows.
The solution
Steph names digital storytelling as a vast, accessible, and creative method that empowers every student. Whether for learners who struggle with writing or young learners who don’t have written vocabulary yet, digital storytelling can meet every learner exactly where they are.
Using WeVideo, Steph nurtures endless opportunities for student engagement through podcasts, GIFs, nonverbal videos, blogs, commercials, graphic novels, multimedia stories, and more. Steph’s students use WeVideo to:
- Record podcasts: WeVideo’s recording and narration features make it easy to tell and share stories directly within the platform.
- Maximize ready-made templates: Steph mentions how students can customize templates, create visuals or search for visuals, and compile assets to personalize assignments.
- Sync with Padlet, Google Classroom, and other EdTech tools: WeVideo’s seamless integration and compatibility makes it easy to personalize and streamline the learning experience.
The results
Steph concludes that creating a culture of storytelling creates safety among students and amplifies engagement overall. Having a greater audience (beyond just the teacher, for example) improves motivation. Steph explains, “...Our students, when they’re motivated and when they’re inspired, they will spend hours perfecting something.”
Overall, Steph’s use of WeVideo to encourage digital storytelling has the following impact:
- Enhances student voice and choice
- Amplifies engagement
- Promotes creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication
- Empowers students to take charge of their own learning
Key takeaways
Steph offers the following encouragements to educators:
- Use digital storytelling: Use it to unite, especially during times of challenge and uncertainty
- Start small: Focus on “one story, one student, one voice”
- Nurture the creative process over the end result
Hear the full story
Watch Steph share her approach to digital storytelling with one-hit wonder assignments and critical tips, first recorded at WeVideo’s first ever annual conference, ENGAGE 2025:
Practical strategies for educators
- Keep lessons short and sweet: Create mini digital storytelling units using one day for brainstorming, one for scripting, and one for creating to capture and maintain engagement.
- Co-create assignments and rubrics with students: Facilitate, but gather student input. Give them the opportunities to show you their creativity.
- Embrace your inner storyteller: Steph states, “We are all storytellers.” Use stories of vulnerability to unite students, communities, and educators across the board.