Telling a Story...
...from the clouds
Writing is very important. Unfortunately students oſten dread writing in school. Te writing process can be overwhelming and difficult even for the most able students. We spend a long time teaching the types of writing and forms of writing, oſten sticking to essays and traditional stories as a form of expression. Yet, we know students have a lot to say and write about and the most important way to get students motivated to write is by using a real purpose or [imagination]. Web 2.0 storytelling picks up these new types of stories and runs with them, accelerating the pace of creation and participation while revealing new directions for narratives to flow. Trough the use of some collaborative tools such as Storybird, Story Jumper and PicLits, students can produce and share creative stories to spark the imagination.
storybird Storybird,
www.storybird.com, is a free online collaborative storytelling tool, which is ideal for creative writing in the Language Arts as well as other subjects. Students and teachers can create and collaborate by combining original artwork and text. Te final product can be watched on screen, played with like a toy, shared in an online library or printed with the world. Storybird can help to promote imagination, literacy, and self-confidence. It starts the digital storytelling process by giving students a choice of story theme that provides the forward motion for a story.
Teachers can create a free account and add a class of students with a user name and password automatically given for each student. Students can email their completed story to themselves or others, share their stories online with their classmates or on an interactive whiteboard and Storybirds can be embedded in a website or blog. Storybird is an easy tool to get students involved in creative writing lessons.
Tips: Storybird is currently in a Beta version. All features on Storybird are currently free. Storybird plans to keep story creation,
18 | Dr. Julia VanderMolen
reading, and sharing as free features. Premium (pay-for) features will be added.
Web Resources: •
www.storybird.ning.com/ •
http://kditzlerteacherresourcepage.wikispaces.com/Storybird
story jumper Story Jumper,
www.storyjumper.com, is a Web 2.0 site that allows students and teachers to create their own page turning, online storybook. You can make adventure stories, fairy tales, treasure maps, photo books, calendars and reports. Students in Middle and High School may write a book that teaches younger students about a topic. An example might be a book that explains what composite numbers are or the life cycle of the plant. Research has proven that students better comprehend material when they teach it to someone else. Whatever you can imagine, the cloud is the limit! Te site is easy to use and comes with a complete set of directions.
As a teacher you can setup your classes to access story jumper from home or from school. Te classroom edition provides an interface to: manage and review student work, enable kids to share stories
Fall 2011 | MACULJOURNAL
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