Once you create a free account, you can begin creating your story. There are story templates that you can choose from to help students start their story. Anything that is already on a template (pictures or words) can be changed to whatever the student likes. This Web 2.0 tool also keeps a collection of the stories you have created so that you can revisit them. Stories that are created can be published for a reasonable price. Students and teachers can also browse and read stories that have been created by others. Finally, the site has a help tab. Under this tab, students will find step-by-step directions on how to create a story and a book.
What a great tool for the classroom! This would be a great way for students to create stories as a class, in a small group, or individually. Students will feel the excitement of creating a story of their own. Students would also be able to share the story with their classmates and family. Families would have to option to purchase a published copy of their student's book if they wanted. Teachers could also purchase stories that the class wrote together. I can see this being a great way to get students excited about writing and publishing stories/books! This Web 2.0 tool could be used during a whole group writing lesson to discuss parts of a story or as a tool for individual writing time. Students would be engaged with the fun pictures and scenes they can create in their books.
Last year my school subscribed to a company that did something very similar, but it was all on paper. Students received a packet full of blank pages where they had to write their story in pen and draw pictures in markers. From a teacher's stand-point, this was a great teaching tool for students to get excited about writing. On the other hand it was also a major headache. Students would smear the marker on their pictures and make mistakes with their pens and constantly need white-out. When submitting the packet, the teacher had to make sure that all the pages were in the correct order and that there were no mistakes because they would be published as they were. Story Jumper is the perfect alternative to this! Everything is done on the computer; no white-out and not marker smearing! Story Jumper makes it easy for students to be creative and helps them get excited about writing.
Screenshots taken from: http://www.storyjumper.com/
I really enjoyed your review of Story Jumper. As a school counselor I am always looking for new and innovative ways to engage the individuals and small groups I am working with.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your reviews I immediately thought of one particular young man who loves to create stories. We are trying to get him to create at designated times versus during instructional time in the classroom. This type of program could be just the motivation that this young man needs to focus in class. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful resource.
I look forward to reading more of your posts and seeing what else you discover on your journey.
Wow, story jumper seems really neat. This has been a dream of mind for years to incorporate book making into my art classroom. I had heard that there are websites out there to serve as platforms for this, but I have never seen one that provides designs and templates to choose from for building the structure. Does this tool also allow for direct upload of artwork? Do you know if you can edit the backgrounds and characters artistically or are you just stuck with what they give you? Either way, I can think of a lot of great applications in my classroom. I think that it would not only be great for appealing to multiple intelligences, but also making a ton of cross curricular connections!
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you reviewed this site. I found a link to Storyjumper from Kidyos.com, but I have not had time to explore it. I see now, after reading your wonderful review, that it can be a valuable site to bring into the classroom. The impact of a child creating his/her own story goes way beyond our standards based instruction. I remember when my cousin brought home his very own published book in fourth grade. He was actually behind in reading and writing up until that point. But after he received his hard bound copy, a fire lit in him that I had never seen before. Years later, he turned out to be very successful in school. Every year I have students who create their own little stories on their own at home, then bring them in to share with the class. With this resource, I can get all of my students involved and we could create a class story. What a wonderful motivation to get students inspired about reading and stories! Thank you for sharing this wonderful tool with us.