Storybird: a Great Way to Train your Imagination

Getting started

Storybird is an awesome website that allows you to use images created by artists from around word to invent stories. In order to do so, you first need to register for free on the website. You can select the reason why you use Storybird: if you are an artist, a teacher, someone who uses it for fun, etc. When registered as a teacher, you can create a classroom and add you students. This does not require an email address for the student, as ot will be a “kids account”. You can create the accounts yourself from your own account. They can also register themselves without an email address if they check “Student” when registering. If you choose to make them register by themselves, they can join your classroom with the code provided on the teacher’s account.

How it works

Storybird has an incredible artwork bank. It has every style of you can imagine: paint, aquarelle, pastel, pencil drawing etc. You can search something in particular through the search bar, for example : I searched “Elephant” and 101 artwork with elephants, 66 longform books, 11405 picture books and 2 people appeared. Everything was related to elephants. When you click on a picture, it opens with all the related information. On the right hand of the screen, you have the name of the artist who created it, where they are from and some information about the original artwork. You also have the option to follow the artist. Below the picture, you have the all other works from this professional. If you want to use this picture, you can click on the lighting bolt icon situated in the middle if the picture and choose what you want to do between a longform book, a picture book and a poem.

When you open the image in the creating platform, you have the cover page of your book in the center,  surrounding it are all the other artworks from the artist. You can search through them by dragging them around. You can also drag any image from there to your book to change the picture or you can also do so by clicking the picture on your cover page or the icon on the top right of the picture. The longform book is more like a book with chapters where you can write long texts but add less pictures, and the picture book is where you can add pictures to every page but have less space for text. They both function the same way as described above.

For the poems, you have the picture you chose in the middle and surrounding it are random words. All you have to do to create your poem is drag to desired words on the picture. You cannot add your words. Since I found it odd not to be able to write my own words, I did some research. Here is what Storybird says about this :

“Storybird is about creative constraints. We purposefully trim away dozens of features to keep you focused and having fun as you write stories or make poems. So we don’t offer art uploads or text input for poems as a way to make the app surprising and inventive.  By imposing these constraints, your brain creates connections and ideas that you otherwise wouldn’t have. And that’s cool.”

You can refresh the words you have with the icon on the bottom right but that will also change the words you have added to your picture. You can also change the picture if for whatever reason you don’t like it anymore.

When you are done with your creation, you can save and quit if you didn’t finish your longform book or your picture book. You can also publish them when you are done. For poems, you can publish it privately or publicly on the website, there is no save button.

Storybird can also be used as a reading surface. You have access to every story that what publicly published, their are thousand of books and poems of any kind. you can browse them by category and read them for free. People can comment and “heart” books. The reading platform is very simple and ergonomic.

You can even get your books professionally printed. A hardcover starts at 29.99$ while a softcover is only 12.59$

While doing my research pertaining to the poems, I found the Help/FAQ page, where Storybird answers the most commonly asked questions, divided by subject, such as Memberships, making poems, Educator/students, parents, etc. This very useful page pretty much answers any question you can possibly have. It’s a very good resource for parents, teachers and students. It can also help you use Storybird to its full potential.

Use in ESL classroom

Storybird has so many potential, It would take me hours to write about everything you can do with it.For instance, you could do an Alphabet book with elementary school students. A picture for every letter of the alphabet and a small description of the chosen word. For example, Airplane for A, Banana’s for B, etc. For this, the Picture book would be chosen as it allows to add many pictures and short texts. It can also easily be used to teach new vocabulary in an ESL classroom for elementary school students. It could be a very interesting way to engage the students and make their vocabulary list more interesting to learn. Storybird could also be great for secondary school  ESL students to do writing compositions has it can engage their creative writing. Students could choose their own pictures to write on create a story around it. The whole class could also have the same image to write on. Volunteers could then read their story aloud. It could be very interesting to see what different ideas came up. Another great project with elementary school would be create a class story book. Each student would create a story in English, at the end, they are all gathered in the same book that they could publish and print. For the reading aspect, Storybird could be used on iPads for the reading period. Students can browse a story of the “picture book” type, as they are shorter, and can quickly read them during the allowed time. While reading some teacher reviews, I found a great idea published by Diane C. on Graphite.Org, she says: 

Some of my colleagues (4th grade teachers) are using it with their students. Each student has their own account. The teacher poses a challenge, students search for the artwork to meet that challenge, and then write the story.

I think it could make great homework, to propose a small challenge they have to complete during the week. Such as writing a short story about elephants, in the simple past. Or writing a story about an astronaut using puns. The possibilities and endless !

All in all, I find Storybird to be an amazing tool to use in class, I would definitely have no problem using it. I think many awesome projects can be created that engage children’s imagination, one of their greatest tool. I find it very versatile and simple to use. I strongly recommend Storybird.

Book Creator

WHAT IS BOOK CREATOR

Book Creator is an app available on the App Store designed by Red Jumper Limited  and is used to create simple, but beautiful eBooks, which can be shared with classmates or the world. Although it is very similar to Book Writer, which was the topic of my third blog, this new tool offers several different interesting features. Unfortunately, the full version of Book Creator is 7$, and the free one has substantively less options. Hence, this blog will review only the free version, so I will not be able to go in depth about all of the options offered by Book Creator. However, I strongly believe that the free version has more than enough content to satisfy the needs of an L2 classroom. The various and original tools are fun and entertaining for new language learners and galvanize creativity. However, a major disadvantage is that this app can only be used on the iPad, and not on the iPhone. Since I had exhausted my iPad’s battery by watching Grey’s Anatomy all day, I could not download the app on my iPhone and immediately start my blog.

This is the easy interactive interface of Book Creator.

WHAT DOES IT OFFER?

Book Creator offers a number of functions that are specifically tailored to suit a classroom’s needs. You can add text and photos, and even rotate the images to personify the book. The tactic screen of the iPad allows the users to manually place objects where they want. This allows students to express themselves and personifies the experience even more. Moreover, the user can even draw if he or she wants to. However, I have tried that option and noticed it is extremely difficult to draw with a finger. I am aware that there are special pencils designed for that purpose, but students will not have them in class, hence rendering this function useless. Another cool option that users can fool around with is the audio. If the iPad is connected  to iTunes and has an internet connection, one can add songs from his playlists directly to his book. I have tried out this function myself, and it works much better than with Book Writer. Furthermore, one the best tools that this app offers is its sharing functions. One can share his book electronically once completed, or even use the iCloud service to store all of his projects. That function is especially useful in a classroom, since the teacher can regroup all of his students work in one place instead of downloading each book individually. Additionally, if one wishes to use Book Creator for professional purposes, he can easily upload his book on the web or send it to iTunes by email with a click of a button. If the book is approved, it will be published and there for the whole world to see and buy.However, this type of eBook is not ideal for long novels, as it can get very repetitive, and the format does not support very big projects. Overall, all of these incredible tools allow for the creation of either a photo book, an audio book, a fairy tale, or a mix of all these!

HOW BOOK WRITER WORKS AND MY EXPERIENCE

Red Jumper Limited has managed to create a user-friendly app that also possesses complex features and interesting mechanics. The interface regroups all of the options, which is perfect for lower level students, since they will not have to search for the tools. According to several YouTube videos I watched, the customization options on the paid version are much more extensive, as you can even choose the format of your book. A downside is that the free version only allows you to create one book. This is less than ideal for students, as they have to erase their creations every time they start a new project. Nonetheless, the iCloud function allows them to store their books on their computers so they can look at them anytime.

Amanda Bidel, a Language Arts teacher and an App reviewer, mentions that “Book Creator for iPad is an amazingly easy-to-use digital book-making tool. With guidance, even kids in early elementary school grades can use this technology tool to produce and publish their own simple books or comics with images, videos, and audio. Readers can access published books via iBooks or other online sources, or books can be printed on paper. ” I do agree that this tool is mainly for elementary students, but even I, a University student, have had some much fun playing around with all of the interactive tools and creating my own story books. However, this is not to say that High School students will not appreciate, but the projects will have to be tweaked so they reach expectations.

The company that has created this app has even designed a YouTube channel specifically dedicated to Book Creator. They upload monthly tutorials that explain in depth how the app works, and shed light on the less known tools. Moreover, the administrators of the channel take the time to answer every comment on each of their videos. If one has a question or is unsure of how Book Creator works, they can ask a question, and will surely get an answer from them.

ESL CONTEXT AND OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Book Creator is perfect for the ESL classroom, since it enables students to use their imagination to write a fictional story, or helps them organize information in brainstorming session. This is particularly helpful for second language learners, since they can use their critical writing skills, and since they can share the books, students can read and review their peers’ project. Adam Foster, an elementary teacher, has written a guide on how to use Book Creator in the classroom. While I could only get my hands on the summary, the book discusses numerous ways the app can be implemented in the classroom. It also provides examples of student works, tutorials, advice, and so on. He also suggests that teachers’ use this app to create their lesson plans, since the interactive menu make it easy to structure and prepare activities.

iPad educators, an internet organization that shares the best tools of mobile technology, has ranked Book Creator has one of the most useful apps for teachers’ and students’ alike. They provide ten tips on how to use it effectively in a classroom. These range from scanning content to audio feedback. Students who have little experience with technology can easily work with this app and create according to their style. All of the tools allow for great variety.

Personally, I would use this app in my classroom, because I believe that writing and reading are the best way to learn a language. ESL learners often complain that they do not understand vocabulary, or do not write about subjects that interest them. Book Creator fixes all of that. Students can create their own story which undoubtedly will interest them and thus create an emotional bond. This will cause them to invest additional time in their projects, practice their writing skills extensively, and acquire more vocabulary. It is a win-win situation, and as suggested by Cormac Cahill, these types of activities can be turned into competitions, thus motivating students even more. He states that students are filled with pride when their stories are chosen and posted on the white board for everyone to see.

Overall, I would have to say that Book Creator is an essential app for teachers who have the appropriate resources in their classroom. It is obviously not every school that is fortunate enough to provide iPads to every students, but those who can afford it should definitely follow Adam Foster’s guide on how to maximize the use of this wonderful tool.

My Storybook: Kids will love it!

What is it?

My Storybook is an extremely easy to use website that allows you to create online books complete with text, images, and printing options.

What does it offer?

There is nothing complicated about My Storybook: what you see is what you get. You can start creating your book as soon as you get on the home page. You only need to register when you want to save your work or when you book is finished. Creating an account is easy and takes les than a minute. Afterwards, since My Storybook is free, you can create as many mini-books as you want and store them in your personal library. You can decide to share them on the net so that other users can see them, or to keep them private. You can also brownse the website’s library and check out the work done by others.

My experience

While exploring the website, I was extremely pleased to notice how easy it was to navigate. When you start to create your book, you have access to a quick tutorial that introduces you to all the creating features. As there are only four, the tutorial is not even necessary. However, when teaching students how to use the website, it might come in handy. The four features are “Items”, “Draw”, “Text” and “Scene”. The manipulations are minimal and straightforward.

With “Items”, you can add characters, objects and decorations. There are only two choices of characters, a boy or a girl. You can modify their appearance by playing with the basic features, such as eyes, hair, clothes, etc. However, you should not expect to be able to create any character you want. My Storybook offers very limited creating options. In elementary school, this feature would certainly be an asset, as it would help the students to stay focused on the task. However, it is always possible to dowload your own pictures and to use them in your book. With “Draw”, you can choose to use a pencil, a small brush, a big brush, a circle dragger or a square dragger. You can also choose your color and adapt the size of your drawing tool. Note that drawing a good picture requires dexterity and patience.With “Text”, you can choose your font style and your font size as well as a font color and a background color. Finally, with “Scene”, you can add a picture as a background to your story. Options include scenes from school, forest, buildings, and more. You can also download your own. When you create your story, there is a small “overview” of your book on the right side of the screen, so that you always know what were the previous pages. You also have the options of adding and deleting pages.

It should also be noted that the website’s appearence seems to be made for elementary children. The buttons are big, there are no adds overwhelming the eye, and the menu features only three options: New Storybook, Library and Signing Out.

Regarding the library section of the website, there are four categories: My Books, Features Stories, Classroom Resources and Community Storybooks.

Moreover, when students publish their stories, the teacher can collect the links to evaluate their work. Students can also share their work between each other using the same method. Collaborative work on one project is possible, although only one student can have access to the book at a time. Overall, it seems a better idea to have students create their books alone, and then to share them.

Teachers can also have acces to a blog, where they will find teaching strategies, Author of the Month contests, tips for creating great stories, and much more.

Use in ESL teaching

Although the tool seems more fitted for elementary school, there are definitely a few options for older students. For elementary school, students could be asked to create a summary of a reading or to compose and illustrate short poetry. That would be an interesting alternative to traditional writing tasks. Moreover, it might increase the students’ motivation and interest as they would be involved in a creative task. Associating the creation process with the final product would also help them to remember it later on.  Another thing they could be asked to do would be to create a revision tool for themselves and their peers. For example, they could revise the correct forms of the past tense and match their answers with pictures (such as walked, thought, sang, etc.). Students could also be challenged to create stories that include specific words, images, or any other constraint that contributes to their learning. As Mrs.Woods writes, “the possibilities are endless”. In agreement with that, Larry Ferlazzo considers My Storybook to be the best free online tool for creating books.

Highschool students could be asked to use their own pictures to narate a more complicated short story, to challenge themselves in creating a story without words, or to use it as a way of learning new vocabulary or concepts.

My opinion as a future ESL teacher

I am aware that many areas of the educational system could use some improvement. Because of that, I was most pleased to see that a survey was available for teachers to describe what they like about the website, what could be improved, and how they would use it in their classroom.

As a former student and a future teacher, I believe that reading and writing are an essencial part in the process of second (or foreign) language learning. I would definitely use My Storybook in ESL elementary classes. I would not use it in highscool because the website’s layout is too childish and does not offer enough options. However, the limited options would be great in an elementary class.

Moreover, I would feel comfortable teaching students how to use a website that I understand and that provides me with tips on how to help the learners to create the best work possible. I am sure that the students would feel more interested in writing and would be proud to show their work to their friends and parents.

LitLift: Make Writing a Passion

Change your ways of writing traditional papers with LitLift tool where students can enhance their creativity and practice their writing skills at the same time.

What is it?

LitLift is a writing software where one can write an online novel or story for free. With LitLift, you can start writing as a hobby or start a bestseller. This software helps you to write, organize, store and share your stories (if you want so). The goal of the website is to promote writing and have people find a passion in writing.

How does it work?

First, you will have to create an account by clicking on the sign up now icon and to fill in the required information or you can sign in with Facebook, Twitter and Google+. After you created your account, you can start writing. To write a book, just click on the “new book” icon on the right upper corner. You will have to give your book a title and a description in order to get started. Then, you will have the opportunity to add or to remove chapters, scenes, characters, settings and items. To add a chapter, you just have to click on your book(s) and click on the chapter icon and add one. You will have to give a name and a description of your chapter. To create a scene, you will have to add a name to it, a date and time and a body. To create a character, you have to tell his or her name, if he or she has a major or minor role in the novel or the story and a description of the character. You can add a random quirk or a random trait to your character. There are included features that you can modify or eliminate such as appearance, background, hobbies, mannerisms, education, occupation, family, ancestry, friends, questions and interviews. You can also create a random character by clicking on the icon “generate a random character” on the upper right corner. To add a setting to your story, you just have to say where it takes place and a description of it. Finally, to add items to your book or story, you just have to name it and give a description of it.

With LitLift, teachers can get their students involved in many different ways. Teachers can ask students to write a story about anything they want or about a specific topic related to something they saw in class. Students could also show it to the class and present it when it is completed. Students could peer-review their classmates’ stories and give and receive feedback on their work to improve their writing skill. Instead of using Microsoft Word to write a text, using a platform like LitLift may play a role in students’ motivation since it is specifically made for writing texts and story. Writing a story is a task that can be done individually, but also in teams. With LiftLit, one student could be responsible to write about characters, another one about scenes, etc. or they could all brainstorm together and write everything as a group. This will enhance group work and we all know that two or more heads are better than one.

My opinion as an ESL teacher

I strongly believe that having students write a story or a book is an awesome way to have them enhance their creativity and practice their C3. What I really enjoyed about this website is the endless possibilities to add as many characteristics as you want for your characters. I really like the character traits generator, which is really helpful for students who lack inspiration. You can organize everything very well with this platform from scenes to chapters as stated in the writerholic blog. Unfortunately, one problem, as mentioned inthe fifth dimension blog, is that you cannot add characters from previous books in a new book. For example, if your book has 40 characters and you decide to write the following of the first book, you will have to write down each character again. This is a complete waste of time and it becomes a major problem when you write several books with all the same characters. Furthermore, the website, in general, is pretty basic. It did not attract my eyes and I thought it did not look very modern and appropriate for students nowadays. However, overall I think the website is great and is pretty complete for students who want to get more involved in writing. This software would be appropriate and would be of a great use in ESL classrooms.

Dorothée Grenier

TESL student

Storybird: An Online Storytelling Community

Stories are part of a child’s development. Children learn new vocabulary words through bedtime stories read by their parents, develop their moral sense through fairytales without even noticing, read short stories and novels for certain classes before analyzing various aspects in depth, etc. Stories indeed are at the centre of young children’s language acquisition and development. So when Storybird was first introduced to me, I could not be more interested and excited. This website not only enables anyone to create an account and then write storybooks, long stories and even poetry which can be paired with illustrations from the Storybird gallery; you can have access to all published Storybird works and read them without having to log in. The pictures at the disposition of every Storybird writer are all produced by professional artists: this website hires artists to paint and draw illustrations for its users.

Storybird also has an educator function, which enables teachers to create private classrooms, host discussions, add assignments, review and grade students’ work, share creations and even raise funds by selling students’ stories in a book format. Your class’s stories will also be available to all of its students in a private library, and assignments handed-in will automatically be classified in both the class’s library and the assignment’s sub-library. Another tool, available for classroom management, enables students to collaborate with others, providing them with a list of classmates that are still looking for a partner. Classes can have an unlimited number of students and their accounts do not require them to have an e-mail; the teacher creates all of the students’ accounts and later hands them their code and temporary password. This way, class access is restricted yet easy to manage for elementary school pupils. The video aimed for educators using Storybird, issued by the creators of this application, summarizes all of the tools available and serves as a tutorial as well in order to master this application before introducing it to students.

Fostering Creativity

Educators using this tool all agree: Storybird helps students throughout the creative process and even provides a stating point to those having difficulties to find a subject. As classroom teacher Eric W. from West Ottawa High School mentions, “The pictures can inspire writers who aren’t sure where to take their tale, [but] are varied enough to provide room for creativity” (www.graphite.com). Illustrations thus foster creativity yet do not impose any subject or guideline to users. Writing a short story with images using Storybird could be a great alternative to the classic narrative assignment, this being more fun than writing one in class and offering a fun closure project to a unit about story elements as mentioned T.P., a technology teacher in New York (www.graphite.com). Students also seemed to be more engaged in the activity because it was different and new. Personally, I find this tool marvelous because it inspires students who are not necessarily into writing, whereas it provides high quality and unique illustrations that will surely enhance stronger students’ work. I adored the fact that I could make short story book to read to kids at work, during nap time, as well as to add images to the longer stories I write in my free time. As a future ESL educator, I plan on using this tool for the ending project of a narrative unit or even to create picture books containing all vocabulary words to learn every week. 

For all Grades

Another positive point about this tool is that Storybird can be used will all kinds of students, from kindergarden to college. Indeed, as previously mentioned, literature is part of every children’s development. A kindergarden or a first cycle elementary teacher could easily write short story books to read to their students. It is a fun way to integrate new vocabulary words in a personalized story, with content that attracts pupils attention. Another use of Storybird is to publish the final version of high schoolers’ modernization of a fairytale for example, which is a common project carried out with secondary three to five students. Classroom teacher Allison T also mentioned that she “used this for [her] Parenting & Child Development students to create books to teach about the importance of reading and books for children during the toddler years” (www.graphite.com), in college. Since the Bacc. for teaching English as a second language enables me to teach both elementary and high school students, I try to discover tools that fit all of my possible clientele. Storybird is a good one in my opinion, as it only provides a canvas for creating unique story books to either activate and trigger younger pupils’ creativity or even to provide a visual support for older students’ work. Children at the daycare I work for loved the workshop I built with Storybird. They were between four and eight years old, and they enjoyed brainstorming from the pictures I chose and then writing together a story. We made three teams and at the end, each team’s educator read the final products to the others. Children loved it and parents were surprised to learn that they could find the stories with the links shared on the school’s Facebook page. This is definitely an activity I would carry out in an ESL class later on.

Share Stories

A great point about Storybird is that you can share your stories on many social networks, as well as share the link to your latest creation with others. Technology and arts teacher T.P. also noted in a review about Storybird that “students did love publishing their finished work, sending links to share it with their families, and tagging stories with descriptive terms” (www.graphite.com). One can share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, or send a link to it via text message or e-mail. The possibilities are almost endless with this tool. I feel that the sharing option is very important these days since technology is becoming more present in the educational system. It also makes students’ work accessible to parents, which they like a lot. As I experienced with my kindergarden children, students were proud to show their story with their parents, and the latter were glad to keep trace of their child’s work. As a future ESL teacher, I place communication with parents in my top priorities. I think that involving parents in their child’s school life is crucial and a simple thing such as sharing a story made in class can have a great impact. Parents trust you and a long-term relationship can be developed through small details like this, helping if the student struggles more at school.

Some Issues

When exploring the many functions of Storybird, only two problems stood out: the impossibility to upload personal illustrations and to record one’s voice reading the story. Eric W (www.graphite.com) and  Breanna D (www.graphite.com), two English classroom teachers, supported my point of view through their personal reviews of the application. Indeed, I think that an upload function would benefit artistic students as they could build a story book from scratch and share it with their peers. As for the recording option, it would be of a great help to practice students’ pronunciation as well as to help students with special needs to better understand the story presented by the teacher. I intend to use Storybird in my second practicum to present vocabulary words in a new and fun way to elementary students, and having the words recorded combined to an illustration of the object would greatly help younger students. Learning words would never have been easier, since they would have a visual support and immediately learn how to pronounce it. However, the downfalls of Storybird are not major and thus the application is a must try for ESL teachers, as well as for every language teacher.

Agathe Poirier

StoryJumper: How to Become a Writer

What is StoryJumper?

StoryJumper is an online tool that helps you create your own books and publish them online for free. You can also decide to print the books you created yourself or to order a hard or soft cover version of your book at some extra charge.

According to Bobby Travis, “Storyjumper is an awesome way to encourage reading and imagination. “

In her review of the online tool, Polly Conway says that StoryJumper is a tool that helps kids create their own story from A to Z. She also states that it is really engaging and pedagogic, but also that it is easy for students to have some help during the creation process if ever they need it.

How does StoryJumper work?

StoryJumper is a well-designed website that provides you with tutorials and really helps you during the whole creation process. When you sign up, you can choose the option “I’m a teacher” and enter your school’s ZIP code in order to get student logins. This way, your students can have access to book creation on StoryJumper without having to register (which is awesome if you are working with students under the age of 13). Then, once your account is created, the website directs you to a tutorial that shows you the basics you need to know in order to easily create a book using this web tool.

On your “Home” page, you can see the books you created, suggested books that were created using StoryJumper, a book from a recently published author as well as the books that you like. This is mostly the place where you can find all what you are looking for. I you entered a school upon registration, you also have access to your dashboard and to the Write-a-thon Fundraiser. On the “Library” page, you can look at all the different books that were created and published with this website. Then, you have the “Help” page which directs you to the “Author’s Guide”. Finally, you have the “Prices” page where you can see the different options when it comes to printing your books

When you start creating your book, you can choose to either have a blank book or an animal book that provides you with animal pictures that are already put in the book for you. The creation process is really easy thanks to StoryJumper! You basically have an empty book that you can fill in with scenes or photos. Then you can add you text boxes, text bubbles or props. A lot of photos are already at your disposal on the website, put you can also decide to download your own photos.

Once your created and saved your book, you can see it on the website. A neat option is that you can have your book translated in more than 40 languages. I tried the translation option and what I wrote was well translated, if ever it is not, you even have the option of improving the translation.

StoryJumper in the ESL classroom

There are multiple ways to use StoryJumper in an ESL class. You can have your students write a short story individually and then put it in a book format with pictures using the online tool. You can also collect the poems your students did in a Poem Anthology that you will be able to print and distribute to your students. You can also have students work on different kinds of poems by creating their own book with various types of poems as well as poems analysis and you can also have them include some figurative language that they used at the end of the book.

“My students wrote historical fictions that took place during the colonial times. My students researched the time period and wrote many drafts to perfect their stories. Being able to publish their work into REAL books through StoryJumper was very exciting. My students were very proud of their work and they were thrilled to share their books with their peers and their families. The Write-a-thon was a great way to raise the money needed to purchase the books. Thank you StoryJumper!” Amy Barnard

StoryJumper can also be used in an ESL class as a fun visual support that can help you teach new notions (see this example on Poetry Lesson). You can of course create your own little story or try to find one that has already been made in the library section. Another fun way of using StoryJumper is to introduce a new theme (see this example on sports).You can include new vocabulary in a story or put different new concepts in you book to introduce the theme to your students. If you have younger students, you can also use this web tool to tell stories as a whole group. If you have a SMART Board, you can put the book big enough on the screen for everyone to see it and you can read them a story you made or one you found in the library.

As you can see, there are various ways of using this web tool in your classroom to get students’ interest in your projects or in your lessons. I think that if students have to write a story while knowing that they will have to create their own online book and that they will later have it hard or soft covered, that it will be a REAL book, they will be motivated and will try to do their best. Finally, by using the teacher dashboard, it is easy for teachers to review their students’ work and even send it to parents if they wish to.

Another important aspect of StoryJumper is that you can choose to pay if you want to have a hard or soft covered version of your book. However, it is not every parent that can afford the 15$ or 25$ to get their child’s book. StoryJumper created a nice fundraiser, the Write-a-thon Fundraiser, in order to help students collect money to buy a printed version of their book. Basically, students need to find people to sponsor their book. Each sponsor also receives a digital version of the student’s book. I think that this fundraiser is an efficient and easy way for students to get their books printed for  nothing or almost nothing, depending on how much money they collected with the help of their sponsors.

My opinion

I think that StoryJumper is a well-designed website that enables you, as a teacher, to create interesting projects. It sure is more motivating for students to write a story and to create a book using this online tool instead of only writing the story itself on paper. Moreover, the book creation process with StoryJumper is clearly faster than doing a book with paper and colouring pencils. I think that there are so many interesting ways to include StoryJumper in an ESL classroom. As a future ESL teacher, I would surely use this tool with one or more project when I’ll get the chance to do so. Finally, one thing I would recommend before using StoryJumper is that students should plan what their story will be and what text will be on which page before getting to the creation process with the online tool. If students already know what their story is, the only thing that they will have to do is to choose the different pictures, scenes and props to add to their book. This will make the creation process a lot easier and faster once they will have the computer in front of them.

Christine Poulin, future ESL teacher

Express YOUR Ideas with StoryJumper

What is StoryJumper?

John Yen and Peter Weck are the founders of StoryJumper in 2009. They believe

“StoryJumper is a leading education tech platform that makes it easy to publish your own children’s story book.”

StoryJumper is a website that allows children, students or teachers the possibility to create, illustrate, and publish online stories. Moreover, StoryJumper is one of the top-rated websites for story creation because it is easy to use. This platform is student friendly, since they have the chance to manage and edit their own work.

What does it offer?

StoryJumper offers various tools for story creation by all ages. It provides a simple interface that anyone could use, which makes it even more fun. There is no specific need to go on another internet page to browse for pictures because on the webpage itself, you could simply search with the graphic tools already offered. For instance, I wanted a picture of a castle; therefore, I typed it in the picture section and approximately 100 pictures of castles showed up in less than 30 seconds. It is a quick and understandable educational platform.

StoryJumper is a free website, where all the necessary tools are provided for any students or even yourself to create and to publish an amazing story. Everyone is able to print a small size copy for free. However, some publishing options are offered, for your story to be more like a real book. You can create a hardcover book for $24.95, to create a paper pack it is $12.95, and $1.95 for unlimited digital downloads of a book.

My Experience

First, when I visited the website, I created an account as a new user, but I was offered to sign-in as a normal user or as a teacher. I chose to sign up as a teacher to look at all the tools offered for a teacher. However, I was asked to enter my school zip code and my school’s name.

Afterwards, I had to create a password for my students to have access to my classroom. The virtual class remains open for 90minutes, but I can re-open a class whenever I want, since I am the host for my students’ page.

Second, a tutorial video is offered. I took the time to watch it, since I had no knowledge about this webpage. It showed step-by-step how to create a short story with many tools. Then I tried doing one myself, by adding pictures and texts. All your story pages are shown at the bottom of your work and it is available for you to move them around.

I found it really practical because, like in Google Drive, it has an auto save option. Therefore, every time I edited and changed something, it auto save, which is awesome for young students because they do not have to worry about saving their work. However, there is also a “save and close” option on the top right corner of the webpage. Once you are done and happy about your creation, you can simply print it out, save it online, and even share it via social media.

Application in ESL teaching

StoryJumper is a well-organized webpage and easy to use for teachers, as well as for students. Here is a guide for teachers to get an overview of how the platform works. It is detailed enough to follow the procedures step-by-step. To help teachers get a head start with Story Jumper, there is a worksheet that helps students plan out their writing process by staying on task. It is also easy for teachers to go back and look at their students’ work, since they have to accept it before publishing it online. It is safe because students’ work is supervised and must be approved by their teacher before posting it online.

StoryJumper is a good and practical webpage for ESL teachers because they can look at their students’ stories and observe their mistakes. Afterwards, teachers could cover some focus grammar points, on the students’ most frequent errors. With this story-writing platform, students can enrich and develop their writing skills more efficiently. Furthermore, it is useful for ESL teachers to demonstrate new subjects related to writing and language.

Personally, as an ESL teacher, I would use StoryJumper because students develop more  language skills when they practice. Also, learning comes with doing, therefore, involving technology into students’ learning only increases their knowledge.

For example, Cody Huseby uses Story Jumper with his 3^rd grade. Young students as in third grade can easily create fictional narrative stories, so imagine what 6 graders can do. This tool helps students promote their strengths and ideas into writing.

“My students wrote their fictional narratives using Story Jumper. They loved the illustration feature and the fact that they could include themselves in the story. We synced it up with Google Drive and many of the students completed their own illustrations or had their classmates take pictures of them to use in their story. The parent feedback was very positive. My students loved their Story Jumper books as keepsakes and got to show it off to the rest of their family.”

Nevertheless, younger students might need more help and guidance throughout the book creating process. In addition, StoryJumper only has a webpage, so students must create an account to be able to use it. Also, having younger students create an account can be more difficult and can end up by taking a lot of time.

I would recommend StoryJumper in ESL teaching because students can have fun creating their own stories while practicing their writing and language skills. For instance, my cooperating teacher in my first practicum used StoryJumper with her sixth grade intensive English. They spend a whole afternoon creating stories to practice their understanding of the language. Students really enjoyed the activity and did such a good job that my teacher chose a few stories and had them published in hardcovers. Elementary students adore this webpage.

-Jessica Kempf, TESL student

Blurb’s BookWright: Publish Your Own Book!

Blurb’s BookWright is a self-publishing platform used for creating books, magazines, ebooks and photo books. It is accessible to all levels, no matter your experience (or lack of) with such tools, and it allows users to print their book or save it as a PDF file once it is completed. Furthermore, using the platform is free of charge – fees only apply once you are done and wish to print your book. BookWright can be used offline and as an app.

How It Works:

First, you must go onto the Blurb website, create an account on BookWright and download the software onto your computer. Once you have opened the software, you have the option of clicking on “create” to start a new blank book or of building-on one of the templates already integrated in the platform.

Welcome to BookWright!

Next, you must choose your desired page format (size).

Selecting a page format.

You can then begin working on your book! Choose the layouts you want for each page and insert pictures and text as you wish. If you are online, pictures can be imported from Facebook or Instagram. They can also be uploaded directly from your computer.

With this same file, when you are done working on your layouts, have finalized your corrections and are satisfied with the final resul, you will have the possibility of printing the book (hard or soft cover), of creating a PDF file (which you can then print out by your own means) or of creating an ebook.

Creating a Photo Book.

You simply upload the book and it will automatically be saved in your Blurb account. You will be redirected to blurb.ca, where you will have the possibility of buying and selling your book in the chosen format.

My experience with BookWright:

I enjoyed my experience with BookWright. I found the platform very simple to use and when I needed help for the creation of my book, a lot of support was available (e.g. online tutorials, forums, instructions, user guides, etc). I have started creating a photo book for one of my past trips and I have no difficulty working with the different layouts and integrating text and pictures to my pages.

Blurb doesn’t provide the editorial services you’ll find at other publishing platforms, but it offers unmatched layout tools and support. – Denise Olsen

Like Denise Olsen mentions, Blurb does not offer editorial services like other self-publishing platforms such as lulu.com for example. If you choose to work with BookWright, make sure to pay close attention to spelling mistakes and to proofread your text several times before getting the final copy printed out. On the other hand, I found BookWrighter to be a lot more user-friendly than other platforms like lulu.com.

I cannot say what the final result will look like, but from the comments I have read, the quality of the pictures and of the final product are rather good.

I’m pretty impressed with the quality of the printing, I had shots from a variety of sources, that all came out OK, with some being better than expected and some a bit worse, but the full double page spreads […] looked great, so I know that it’s up to the task if the image starts out at a good resolution. – Ben Pascoe, Professional photographer

BookWright and ESL Teaching:

With a little money to spare, many interesting ESL projects can be built using BookWright.

One idea is to create a book with a collection of short stories written in English by the students. This would be a great idea for a writing activity. Each student would write a short fiction story and read it to the class in order to get some feedback. Next, they would correct and proofread their own texts and their classmates’. Once all the correcting is done, they could draw or find some pictures to go along with their stories. Depending on the grade level, and with the teacher’s help and clear instructions, each student could be reponsible for putting together their story on the platform and intergrating their text and pictures to the book. Once all the stories are put together, the book could be published and presented in the school library for example. This project could be carried-out with different classes and grade levels all at once and when all the books are published, a school activity could be organized in order to present each book to the other classes. After that, there could even be reading activities related to the students’ books.

A second idea for an ESL activity could be to have students do a research on a certain subject, in English, and create a magazine with all their articles. For example, the theme of the magazine could be “Cultures Around the World” and each student could find information and write an article about a specific culture. Just like in the previous activity, before the magazine is published, there would be a lot of auto-correction, peer review and proofreading.

There are many ways in which BookWright can be interesting for ESL teaching, particularly for writing activities, but also for reading. Of course the activities have to be planned in the school budget, because, though not very expensiv, there is a cost for all publications made with Blurb. The prices vary depending on the selected format and the quality of the paper, but they start at around 15$, which is affordable for a class project. Also, the students could order a copy for themseles if they wish to do so.

I would definitely consider using BookWright with my ESL classes because these types of projects would without a doubt arouse the students’ interest and motivation to participate. It would be a great way to get them to practice their reading, researching and writing skills.

 

 

 

 

My Story Book: YOUR (easy) story!

Think back to when you were a child. Your parents most probably read you bedtime stories, and it probably was your introduction to the great of world of books and novels. But what if one was able to create his or her own story book? Not only would it be a lot of fun, especially for children, but it could also be a great way to stimulate creativity and good writing skills. Just think how useful this hypothetical tool could be for language teachers. Too bad it doesn’t exist. Oh wait, it actually exists. My Story Book is a simple and easy way for everyone to become a story book author, and it’s free too! This application could be very useful in the ESL classroom, you just need to have a bit of imagination.

First of all, some might wonder why an ESL teacher should exploit story books. TeachingEnglish mentions a few relevant reasons:

• Working with illustrations provides a creative and artistic learning environment which children respond to

• A story book provides a child-centered universe where abstract concepts are symbolized within the text and images

• It provides an ideal context for literacy practice as well as linguistic acquisition

• Supporting visual literacy is important in order to help children take meaning from texts as well as develop aesthetic understanding

• Providing information through pictures is an important and fast developing method of communication in the global world

I  also think that story books can be particularly useful to teach second languages. Because most of them include images, it allows children to focus on the meaning of the story rather than the words themselves (unlike novels). Also, they are great for beginners, because they often have very simply vocabulary and stories. This is why applications such as My Story Book are great!

Furthermore, reading story books can have applications unrelated to literacy too. It has been proved countless times that reading improves academic skills, ESPECIALLY for children. The Writers Bureau also mentions that:

• Children who can read well are more likely to have higher confidence

• Reading can make children more relaxed

• Reading helps to develop a child’s imagination

• Children who read understand and accept their own feelings better

The Basics

When I first logged in on Mystorybook.com, I was immediately charmed by the minimalist, yet colorful interface. Every time you create a new story book, you have minimum four pages to fill: a front page, two story pages, and a cover page. On the left, you have four options of items and actions: items, draw, text and scene. The “items” options allow you to put characters or elements in your book. Even if there are only two options for characters(one boy and one girl), you can change the way they look, whether it is their hair, their skin color, the color of their clothes, etc. Some might say that the options are a bit limited, but it doesn’t really matter, since you can upload your own pictures anyway. The “draw” option lets the user draw on the pages using a brush or line dragger , so it makes one able to do basically anything he or she wants to (although it should be noted that drawing with a mouse is not particularly easy or intuitive). The “text” option makes it so you are able to write anything with different font and color options. It makes it super easy to have a colorful and good-looking story book. The last option, “scene”, allows you to choose different backgrounds for your story book, to make it look more “toonish”.

When you are done creating your story, you can share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus. Furthermore, you can download and publish your e-book for 5 dollars. It is an option, but if you create more than one book, it can get expensive very quickly. As such, you can simply use the website’s interface to present books, although you will need an internet connection to do so. It is really up to the reader!

Uses for ESL teaching

With all of these options, one can imagine an endless array of possibilities and purposes for this application, especially when it comes to ESL teaching. One of the most obvious uses for ESL teachers would be to teach literacy skills. Often, teachers want to present story-book classics to their students, but maybe they fear that the students will not understand the text or think it’s boring. Using My Story Book, I would have two solutions to that problem. My first idea would be to re-create the story using the application, but with colorful visuals. I would keep the original text, as having visuals would make the stories easier to understand, and perhaps one could also take advantage of the situation to review reading strategies. My other idea would be to read and analyze the original stories in class, and then ask students to do their own takes on the stories using the application. Of course, there would be guidelines, but this would stimulate the student’s creativity, and they would be free to add fun little jokes or even make fun of the original story. These kind of activities would be great for Grade 1 or 2 students! For example, the students at the University of Wales in the Education degree used the application with great success:

As a future ESL teacher, I must say that I can already see another great way to use it (and my personal favorite). I would ask students to create a short story revolving around one of their classmates. The catch would be that they would not choose their classmate, they would have to draw a name in a bowl. Then, in their story, they would have to include details such as the person’s favorite color, their favorite food, their qualities, etc. I think this would be a great activity for class-building, and perhaps students would make new friends too! This kind of activity would be perfect for 3rd or 4th grade students.

Another great way to use this application would be ask students to explain what value is important to them, and why. For example, a student could create a story book on why it is important to accept others just the way they are, with examples about some of his or her friends. An ESL teacher could also use this kind of activity to create debates, such as asking students “What does equality mean to you?”, and having them create a story-book on this question. This would be a good activity for 5th and 6th graders. I tried to test out the application by creating a story that would fit in this project, as you can see below:

Conclusion

Overall, My Story Book is a great tool for ESL teachers. It allows both teachers and students to use their creativity and literacy skills in multiple ways. Furthermore, it is very simple to use, making it a great site for kids (and perhaps for teachers who are not so great with technology too). As a future ESL teacher, I would use it, but only with primary students; secondary students may see this kind of application as very childish and one-note, as the graphics are very “cartoon-ish”. Since I am planning on becoming a primary ESL teacher, I will most definitely bookmark this site, and I recommend you do so too!

By Michael Gagnon,

BEALS student at Laval University

StoryJumper: An Incredible Way to be known as a Writer

What is it?

According to Peter Weck and John Yen, the founders of the website,

“StoryJumper is a leading education tech platform that makes it easy for you to publish your own children’s story book.”

Individuals, from children to parents, can create their own story book as well as discovering some interesting books for children. StoryJumper is currently the number one rated site for making storybooks because of its easy and understandable set of tools for parents, children and authors to write and illustrate short stories for young children.

In addition, the owners of the website created a platform for schools entitled StoryJumper Classroom Edition, where teachers and students can share their creation with the class. The platform is also designed to manage and review students’ work, and it  offers strong privacy control as well. Other than that, the two websites have the same options and tools.

What does it offer?

StoryJumper, which was launched in 2009, allows writers to create “[…] adventure stories, fairy tales, treasure maps, photo books, and calendars.” Therefore, StoryJumper has a lot of possible templates and options for all users’ needs.

As it is presented on the log in page of StoryJumper, education is very important for the developers of the site since it allows teachers to have their own platform by simply checking the box that says “I am a teacher and I want to use StoryJumper in the classroom with my students”. Then, the teacher has to enter the school postal code and the school name. After creating the class’ account, the teacher has to create a class by entering a class name, a password for all students to access the site, the duration of the class/activity, and the total of students. Afterwards, the teacher is now ready to give his/her class.

After entering in StoryJumper, a tutorial video appears on the front page presenting all the steps to create your story book, which, in my opinion, is very essential to start with the website. Teachers can distribute handouts to provide directions to their students as how to work with StoryJumper at school and at home. For this reason, teachers do not have to explain step-by-step the process to create a story book and  save time as well. Subsequent to watching the video or reading the instruction, the users are now ready to create their own story book for kids. To begin, choose a type of text box to write the story of your book; you can change your text box font type, color and size. Then, you can add a character by simply clicking on props and typing in the research bar the name of your character; many categories will be offered to you. You can copy your character, drag it to other pages, and delete it. You can as well upload your own pictures by clicking on photos at the bottom left corner of the page, and use it as a scene background or prop. After choosing your picture, click on it and drag it to the page.

After choosing a character and pictures, you can add a scene, other characters and text to your page. The order of the pages can also be changed by dragging them around on the scenes slide; they can also be added to your story, deleted or copied.

Then, after creating the pages of your story, go on the blue page of your book, which is the front page, and modify it. First, create a title to your book, then, write the author’s name at the bottom of the page. Second, chose a color for your front page. Props, scenes and text can be added to your front page as well.

When you finish editing your story book, click on save and close at the top right corner of the page so that you can review your book, add more changes, share it with others and with the website’s library, and print your book. StoryJumper can also be used to read and discover some books. If you do not want or do not have the time to create a book, the website suggests some books that you can read instead of creating one.

My experience

To begin, StoryJumper is a very simple and well-organized website; the students are not overwhelmed with too many options and the steps to create their storybook are already ordered so that the creation of the book is enjoyable and easy. Furthermore, the fact that a video tutorial appears on the front page when students’ first enter their homepage is really essential and useful. For this reason, students will already have in mind what are the special tools and how to use them, they will not pass a lot of time trying to comprehend the website.

Throughout my observation, I was testing the tool with a student point of view since I could not enter as a teacher because it required a class ID, which I did not have. However, most of the users have access to the same options and tools on the website. hOWEVER, teachers have the possibility to access and review their students’ story book before publishing it.

Moreover, a lot of possible templates are offered in StoryJumper that suit a lot of students’ desired themes for their tales. For instance, a student can first tell a story about a safari, then go on the website and be sure to find some characters and scenes that are related to his tale, which is also a benefit presented in Bobby Travis’ article.

I recommend to use StoryJumper with young children since older students can find this website not challenging at all because it does not require a lot of skills and understanding to use StoryJumper. Thus, it will be more acceptable for young children because there is a lot of advice. Thus, children will never have to rely on themselves when they are stuck from inspiration. Finally, StoryJumper lets students create and publish their own illustrated stories, and improves students’ creativity and technology skills.

Use in ESL teaching

As previously mentioned, there are a lot of possibilities offered to students and teachers on StoryJumper. For instance, Emma Gillepsie, an English teacher from elementary school, said that “[she] use[s] StoryJumper every year to publish student poetry anthologies. The students publish one poem every two weeks and use graphics saved from web searches and clip art to enhance their books.[…] At the end of the year we share one favorite poem at our annual Poet’s Tea. The students, administration, and families all LOVE this project and its end result.” Therefore, StoryJumper can be used for other things than only for writing stories and tales, and they will all be equally appreciated.

In my opinion, ESL teachers can use StoryJumper to develop and evaluate students’ English writing competency. By asking students to create a story on a regular basis, the teachers have the possibility to evaluate and observe students’ writing skills development. They can notice grammar errors, vocabulary errors, syntax errors, and cognates. For this reason, ESL teachers are more aware of the recurrent writing errors that their students do and can correct them during class. Moreover, ESL teachers can evaluate and develop students’ English reading skills by asking students to read books that are from other students or those that are published on the website’s library.

Furthermore, ESL teachers can use this tool to present new subjects, topics or the course plan in an innovative and creative way in English since the website is only presented in this language.

Some of the negative points of StoryJumper are that the website does not allow students to use their oral English. For this reason, they more or less practice their English oral competency; they focus more on their ability to write in English. Thus, the website can add a voice recorder where students could record themselves reading their own book. Also, StoryJumper should not be used with more advanced English learners because I consider it too childish. The tools are too simple and there is not a lot of place for improvement regarding the skills that advanced L2 students already have. Therefore, this website has a restricted audience, which are mostly students from elementary school to high school.

All in all, I recommend this application for ESL teachers because StoryJumper encourages students to exercise and develop their English reading and writing skills. The application also makes the presentation of a new subject more interesting and more attractive to the eyes. Thus, students will be more inclined to listen while the ESL teacher is talking, and, at the same time, they will improve their ability to listen to people in English. Finally, ESL teachers really benefit from the tools offered on the website, especially for the observation of students’ work and development, and for the presentation of class’ subjects.

Storybird: A Simple Way to Explore Students’ Creativity

What is StoryBird?

According to storybird.com:

Storybird lets anyone make visual stories in seconds. We curate artwork from illustrators and animators around the world and inspire writers of any age to turn those images into fresh stories. It’s a simple idea that has attracted millions of writers, readers, and artists to our platform. Families and friends, teachers and students, and amateurs and professionals have created more than 5 million stories—making Storybird one of the world’s largest storytelling communities.

I have recently discovered a new online social platform called  Storybird. This is an awesome platform that allows students, teachers, writers and artists (basically anyone) to create and read  art-inspired stories easily. People using this platform can either create stories or discover other users’ stories. The use of Storybird is quite easy to grasp. Storybird generates the pictures for you, you only have to add some text or to drag and drop words on the pictures. There are three story formats that Storybird offers to its users: Picture book, Poem and Longform book.

How does it work?

The use of Storybird is quite simple for teachers, as well as for students . Teachers have to create a page, on which they can have different groups. These groups will appear on the left side of the page. You can also create stories that your students will be able to read. These stories will be published in the class’ library. In order to give access to this class library to your students, you can either give them the class access code or create an account for them. Storybird allows educators to create a secure and safe virtual classroom because the students’ stories are not public; only teachers and classmates can view others’ stories. Teachers can also create assignments including a due date, clear instructions and media, as shown in the picture below:

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Teachers can grade (by giving a letter or a number) their students’ stories and they can give them awards. Teachers can give rewards to the best stories of the class. Teachers can also moderate comments on their students’ stories by turning on the comment moderation. Students can also comment and read their peer’s work; this is something students would like to do, in my opinion. I like this aspect of Storybird because, by giving each other feedback, students learn how to critique others’ work. 

On the top of the page, you can see some sections called Studio, Create, Read and Shop. You can have your students read imaginative stories that other users have created. Since the stories on Storybird all have been verified by  the website itself, you can be sure that these stories will be appropriate for your students . In the ‘’Create’’ section, you and your students can create stories. The Studio section includes all your assignments, stories, etc.

As I mentionned above, students can create their own stories and they can publish them into the class’ library.  Students can either write their story alone or in teams. Indeed, pupils can work collaboratively while writing their story (just like Googledocs).

If some parents want some hard copies of their child’s story, they can do so by using the ‘’Fundraiser’’ option. 30% of the money will go to the teacher for the classroom’s needs

How could we use Storybird in ESL classrooms?

Storybird could be integrated either at the high school level or at the elementary level. Since children like hearing stories, ESL teachers at the primary level can create stories and read them afterwards to their students. As for the teachers of higher level, they can have their students create imaginative stories on Storybird. As Stephen Davis, a middle school English teacher, mentioned, it allows students to express their abstract thoughts:

Storybird can help students bring abstract thoughts in their mind to life and adds a dynamic, digital component to traditional storyboards.Without requiring any artistic ability, students drag and drop characters and images onto a digital storyboard. Students are inspired by the themes and artwork available on Storybird: abstract thoughts and emotions students could not express easily come to the surface.A concrete visual representation of their abstract thoughts can now be transformed into wonderful writing.

I completely agree with him, because as a future ESL teacher, I think that sometimes it can be hard for students to express their thoughts since they have to use their second language to do so. Storybird can overcome this difficulty because students can easily add images, words and characters that are in conjunction with their emotions. ESL teachers at the high school level could also read a classic story (e.g. The Red Riding Hood), and then tell their students to summarize or to rewrite the story using Storybird. They can also have students guess and write the end of a novel or a movie by using this platform.

As mentioned in this article,given that you can work collaboratively on Storybird, a remote collaboration for story writing could be done between different schools around the globe. I really enjoy this idea because every student has a unique writing style and if different styles are put together, a story can simply get better and more creative.This is a great way for teachers to show their students how collaboration can be profitable in life. Doing this kind of project would also enhance students’ teamwork skills.

Another advantage of using Storybird is that the platform is completely free for teachers. Isn’t it beautiful? By using Storybird, students foster their creativity, their critical thinking and their interest in literacy. Indeed, this platform is genuinely useful in terms of having students increase their interest in writing and reading tasks. Students will become motivated to write stories using this website because it involves technology and social media. It is really encouraging for students to see their stories come to life.  There are multiple reasons for teachers to use Storybird; it just makes everything more enjoyable! ESL teachers can also ask their students to write a story in the past or in the future to evaluate their understanding of these two verb tenses. In sum, teachers can use this platform either to spice up their assignments, their lessons or their evaluations. That’s great!

Finally, if you want to show your students how Storybird works, this tutorial can be really helpful. 

My Experience

When I first signed up on Storybird, I really liked the platform because it was easy to use. I also think that it is easy enough to use for students who are at the primary level. As I earlier mentioned in my article, there are three available formats that you can choose for your story creation: the picture book, the poem format and the longform book. My favorite one was the picture pook that looks like this: 

The picture book was the one I prefered the most because there is a whole bunch of images you can choose from the library. Students would really enjoy using this format because it can be motivating to see their work come to reality. I don’t really like the poem format because you can only only drag and drop words on an image. I personally think it is a little bit boring as you can observe on the picture below:

The longform book is also easy and enjoyable. You just have to choose images from the platform and add text below them. Once you have finished writing your story, you can include a summary that will appear on the side of your story. You can also add tags and select a target audience. You have also the option of buying your story as an Ebook or a PDF ($2.99 each). Your longfrom book will look like this:

The fact that parents can buy their child’s books is also interesting because it can be really motivating to see their work come to reality. By seeing their story in a print copy, students can see their potential and, therefore, gain confidence in their writing skills. Some students lack of confidence when it comes to creating artsy projects because they underestimate their abilities. Storybird can solve this problem since students do not have to create their images, but only have to write their story.

I enthusiastically endorse teachers who use Storybird since I am a person who likes creative writing.  In my opinion, students do not have enough opportunity to explore their creativity; this is why I would use this platform. From all the tools I have discovered so far, this is my favorite one.  I think that Story Bird would  greatly help students develop their interest in literacy. Students who have a hard time when it comes to doing a writing task would enjoy using Storybird. The fact that students write their own stories drawing their inspiration on a picture can be a source of motivation also.

A slight concern that I have is that students cannot fully explore their creativity since they do not have to create their picture or their image; they take it from someone else’s portfolio. I do not think that it is a big deal, but I think that Storybird should implement a way that students could  add their personal images or pictures. Moreover, I don’t really like the fact that teachers can give rewards to the best story, because it can lead to a competitive atmosphere in the class.

All in all, I think that Storybird is an entertaining way to motivate students of all ages. Having your students writing such stories does not feel academic at all. Quite the opposite, they will feel like they are doing something fun. Storybird is simple and enjoyable to use; what a nice combination we have here! According to me, it is worth exploring it in language classrooms!

Alexandra Jacques

TESL – Laval University