Digital Storytelling Tools

Hello everyone, this week I would like to show you some digital resources to create stories and comics in class. There are several free tools that you can use with your students, but I would like to focus on just two, which are Storybird and DomoAnimate. Moreover, at the end of the post I will add a short list with other digital tools that I have been testing.

First of all, I would like to highlight that telling stories is a powerful way to communicate with others. Besides, if we combine this with a suitable digital tool the result is an amazing learning experience in which the student get involve with a higher degree of motivation. Furthermore, it has many benefits for the students such as:

• It Develops creativity, critical thinking and problem solving abilities.
• It encourages writing and emotional literacy at the time that they express their feelings.
• They are challenging to use High Order Thinking Skills in order to create their stories.
• It develops their decision-making and their communicative skills.
• It helps the student to reflect their acquisition of knowledge and promotes independent learning.

These are just some of the benefits of promoting this practice in the classroom. Besides, as I said before there are many free tools to create digital stories for educational purposes, for example:

•    Storybird:

It is a fantastic tool to foster the students to write not only stories, but also poetry. I discover this resource thanks to my teacher Raquel, and I was amazed since the first time that I visit the website. It consists on make up your own books, and includes a huge variety of illustrations that you can use. In fact, these draws can be perfect to contextualize you poems or stories, or even to find the inspiration to start your book. 

Apart of that you can also share you creations and printed. It also includes the possibility for teacher to create a task or assignment online, and the students are able to finish it at home or wherever they are because the interface is compatible for tablets and smartphones. As far as I’m concerned, it is the most intuitive to use and also the results are simply amazing.

•    DomoAnimate:

It is not as artistic as the previous tool, but it provides students much more freedom and flexibility at the time to create their stories. Furthermore, It is has two options:

1. Create a slideshows, in which you can upload some random pictures related to something that you work in class and children should create the story from it. Another way to work with this option is to let the children freedom to invent a story and then helps them to find the pictures to illustrate it.
2. Domo Animation Studio, which in my opinion it is the more creative option. It has a library of backgrounds, characters, music and random animation effects to create your video story.

As I said at the beginning of the post, here you have the link of some of the digital tools for teacher that I like most:

• ZimmerTwins, similar to Domo Animate.

• Piclist, you choose a picture and create a sentence or a quote to accompany the image.

• Animoto, you can combine images, songs and text in a video, but the free version is only 30 second videos.

• Zooburst, to create 3D popup books (check the video in my post about technology).

• MakeBeliefsComix, to create stories out of comic strips. It is very easy to use in class.

• Comicmaster, it is a bit more complete than the previous one.

 If you want more information about digital tools, please do not hesitate to contact me.

See you in the next post!!!

Poetry in Class, Leaving Aside the Stereotypes.

Hello everyone, this week I would like to stand out this literary genre avoiding the stereotypes that are behind it. During the last middle group session, we have been working about poetry and how to change the perception of the student towards this genre. Besides, Raquel show as the point of view of some students about poetry and that is in what I would like to focus on.

First of all, we should think about what kinds of clichés are behind the poetry and the people that read it or write it. Usually, most of the people, and including the children, tend to think that it is a genre for women, which is not true because there are several well-known poets that are men and nothing is exclusively for men or women. Another cliché is that poetry has to use an unusual language. Which is also not true, because you do not have to use a specific language for a poem, you just have to transmit something through it. Moreover, related to the rime and the length of the verse, it is not necessary to write with a perfect punctuation or the most imaginative rhyming.

 

Accordingly, poetry is a way to explore your feeling, your concerns, your interests and also a way to show the world around you from your own perspective. Furthermore, if you promote this genre in class, the students will be able to leave aside all the stereotypes and clichés mentioned before, as well as to improve their confident to use the language to express themselves, even if it is in a second language. But, how can we work it in class?.

• A practical application:

As a first approach we can use the Haiku, which is a Japanese poetry. It is a style in which a poem should have 17 syllables maximum divided in 3 verses, and normally it is about nature. I consider it perfect to start to work this genre in class. For instance, before start you can make a brainstorming about the rainy weather, how it sounds, how you feel these days, and so on. After that, you will provide them some modelling, through which you are going to create one Haiku using words that came up with the brainstorming. You will also provide some literacy support, give them structures and key words to use in their Haiku. Then you can divide the class into tree homogeneous parts (A, B and C), the students in the “part A” are going to write one verse, each, with five syllables about the rainy weather. The “part B” is going to write one verse with seven, and the “part C” with five syllables. When they finished, you will create groups of tree with one member of each part in order to create their Haiku, and finally they will read it aloud in class.

Through this simple activity you can introduce the poetry into the class in a funny and easy way, leaving aside any kind of prejudices.

To conclude, just say that, as far as I’m concerned, it is extremely important to work this genre in a primary class because it is a great resource to work many aspects of the language literacy as well as the imagination playing with the words. I would like to finish the post with this poem called "A Poem is a Little Path"(take it from http://www.gigglepoetry.com):

                                      A poem is a little path
                                      That leads you through the trees.
                                      It takes you to the cliffs and shores,
                                      To anywhere you please.
                                      Follow it and trust your way
                                      With mind and heart as one,
                                      And when the journey's over,
                                      You'll find you've just begun.

                              See you in the next post!!