I find myself often
overwhelmed by all the amazing options I have for incorporating technology in
to my classroom. But the biggest thing I often think about it which tool will
be the easiest and quickest for my kids to learn to use and which tool will
foster collaboration and engagement.
An awesome and
exciting digital tool that can be used to enhance literacy is Storybird.
Storybird is a digital story making tool that allows users to choose from many
unique illustrations to build digital books. After students create digital
stories, they are able to share their work in a safe and private classroom
library. Other students can then read and comment on stories written by their
classmates. So Storybird not only provides creative outlets to enhance reading
and writing, but it fosters collaboration among students and the teacher.
Teachers can create assignments or just offer Storybird as a free-play option.
Teachers can also monitor and give feedback to students in the
privacy-protected digital classroom environment. Even reluctant readers and writers
can be encouraged and inspired when they are able to see what other students in
the class are creating. Students can use it at home and share their creations
with family. Storybird can be used on any device and best of all, it is free
for teachers!
Some educational needs that Storybird can address
are writing narratives with real or imaginary events and practicing using
descriptive details and good sequencing in their writing. Storybird can also
support learning of reading skills such as character, plot, setting, and theme.
Storybird can be used with any age and any academic ability. Check out this link to a public story on Storybird. Has anybody used
Storybird with their class?
What an awesome tool. I have not heard or used this tool before, but I am going to encourage some of our HS teachers to use it this year. I think it would be very neat in a foreign language classroom. Also, I really like that you can create a private classroom so students can still share their stories, but are in a controlled environment. It is also a great way to showcase student work to parents. Great tool!
ReplyDeleteNice find!!! I may have to ask you to remind me of the name of this one if I can't remember. I have not heard of it either- but I have an endless list of ideas (okay maybe not endless) running through my head! So cool!!! Sounds VERY user friendly! Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to check this out too!! I would love for students to use this at home with their parents to create their star of the week presentation!! How fun!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
This looks like a really fun, effective tool for literacy instruction! I wonder how it would work in the high school classroom? Sometimes I hesitate to use "animated" options because the students think it is for the younger kids, but then I think about how fun it would be for them to turn one of their "boring stories" (as they tend to put it) into an animated storybook. I know I would have enjoyed a project like this when I was in school. This could be an option for covering content, as you said--plot, setting, theme, characters, etc. Thanks for telling us about this one!
ReplyDelete