Below is the link to my Storybird that I created, along with multiple pictures of the website that I took throughout my exploration.
Shel Silverstein Poem
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Week 4 Storybird
This week, I decided to explore the technological tool called Storybird. Last semester, while student teaching in Waseca, I had overheard another 4th grade teacher discuss using Storybird in her lessons and how successful it was. Knowing that 4th grade students typically have a hard time being engaged in many reading and language arts lessons, I was intrigued to find out more about Storybird and why it was such a successful and beneficial tool. I found out that this website is very easy to navigate for teachers and allows them to create accounts for each of their students as well. I really enjoyed this aspect of being able to create the student accounts because I have found that it is very time consuming to try to have students create accounts on their own. After creating accounts, teachers can create their own books to share with students, or they can have students create books as well to share with the class, parents, community, and more. I found this to be an extremely fun and interactive spin on doing projects such as book reports or creating your own short stories. For my project, I decided to use the poem The Voice by Shel Silverstein. The reason I chose to create my own Storybird using this poem was because I think it is a powerful poem for 4th graders. I noticed many students this age struggle knowing what is right or wrong, who they should or should not be friends with, how they should or should not act, and more. This is just one reason why Storybird is so great, because it allows teachers to approach these and other topics in a much more engaging, personalized, and interactive manner. Also, Storybird allows the users to choose from a wide range of illustrations that they provide which is also nice because it allows the user to choose the appropriate picture to go along with the story they create. I highly recommend using Storybird in classrooms of all ages because there are so many possibilities for creation among both teachers and students that will help students become more engaged in their learning.
Below is the link to my Storybird that I created, along with multiple pictures of the website that I took throughout my exploration.
Shel Silverstein Poem
Below is the link to my Storybird that I created, along with multiple pictures of the website that I took throughout my exploration.
Shel Silverstein Poem
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Great information about Storybird, Alesha! I explored the online creation tool Storyboard that allows for digital storytelling in a graphic-novel type of format. As I was reading this, I couldn't help but compare the two. I think Storybird sounds like a great resource for the classroom! I like that teachers are able to create the students' accounts, share, and have access to them! That is one feature that Storyboard does not have, but could greatly enhance for easy classroom use! Thanks for the information, I'll have to check this one out!
ReplyDeleteMikayla, I have not heard of Storyboard before, but am interested in exploring it and seeing the similarities and differences between these two sites!
DeleteAlesha
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool and simple way to get students involved with literacy in classrooms with digital tools available! I loved your project as it looked like a professional children's book from the library! It's nice that you are able to set up students accounts for them so that they are ready to go and read on Storybird. Do you think Storybird would be useful to creating content in other disciplines such as Science, Social Studies, or Mathematics? I'll save the link to Storybird for future reference. Thank you!
Yes! I think Storybird allows for endless uses and options for creativity. Although I think science and social studies would be easier topics to use in Storybird, I believe math could be incorporated as well. Using Storybird in math would require students to be more creative and possibly force them outside of their "comfort" zone, but as a teacher, I think that is a great thing to do to allow students to take ownership of their learning and test their own limits! :)
DeleteAlesha,
ReplyDeleteI have never hear of Shorebird before I read your reflection! This site seems like a very cool site to keep students engaged in the course material. In kindergarten we use sight word readers all the time and I think that this would be cool for the students to be able to use and participate with. I love how you explain that the students made individual accounts and they can create stories as well. This would be great for students to be able to express themselves in a safe environment as well! Thank you for sharing this with us! Great work!
Maren, I think this website would be great in helping kindergartners with sight words! It is very interactive for both teachers and students so you could differentiate your lessons within Storybird based on the needs of your students' ages and levels of ability!
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