My Life Odyssey – Empowering 5th Graders Through Storytelling

What makes us who we are? That’s the big question we posed to 5th graders in our latest project: My Life Odyssey. Armed with creativity and tech tools, students dove into a journey of self-discovery by selecting 5–10 pivotal life moments and turning them into powerful, reflective video stories.

From learning to ride a bike, to losing a beloved pet, to making a best friend at a new school—students got real. They crafted storyboards, wrote meaningful reflections, and used digital tools to record their personal narratives. It was magical to watch them take ownership of their stories, speak with pride, and share pieces of themselves.

tripod with black and whit efilmstrip behind it and a film reel propped against it's front right leg

Photo Credits: Ichda Alimul Khakim Khakim

Tech tools like WeVideo and Canva made their stories shine. The SEL impact? Huge. Students practiced empathy, identity, and voice. One student said, “I didn’t know my life had so many big moments.”

We started with an intro to the project by watching a few example projects. Then, we brainstormed ideas for our 5-10 moments. After that, we worked on our storyboard to put our moments in order. Maybe that was chronological order, but maybe it was the importance of the event, or maybe it was the impact that the moment had on their life. The end result––MAGIC!

Photo Credits: Aaron Sherman

This is what happens when creativity meets heart. Real connection. Real learning. Real impact.

I wish I could share their videos with you, but as I've written before, posting too much personal information about my students online would be too much, and I cannot do that. I lead by example, so there is no sharing of personally identifiable information like impactful moments in their lives spoken in their voices with their images.

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