Getting Creative During the Testing Season

Hurrah spring is here! The weather turns warmer, the grass is growing, and unfortunately the anxiety in classrooms is growing too...it is TESTING SEASON! Those high stakes tests are fast approaching and teachers everywhere are preparing. Part of the preparation is planning learning activities during the weeks of testing. We want learning to continue learning but want to keep any homework to a minimum. Perhaps you should use this time to try something new in your classroom. Engage your students natural creativity and let them create! A variety of technology resources for creating are available to you and your students.

Storybird - www.storybird.com

Your students have been working on their writing skills all year. Storybird provides a great opportunity to put those skills to the test. With Storybird, students can create their own books with wonderful illustrations. No artistic talent is needed! Just select the art work you want to use and begin writing. Once completed, your students' stories can be posted online to share with the world. Students also have the option to buy a printed copy of their book.

A variety of skills can be integrated into a Storybird project such as:

• Descriptive language
• Sentence structure
• Plot
• Setting
• theme
• and more!

If you are interested, check out the video below for setup instructions!

Photo Story

Photo Story from Microsoft is one of those "oldie but goodie" resources that teachers still love. With an easy to use interface, Photo Story can be used by students at just about any grade level. Students can locate their images and save them to a folder. This also provides a great opportunity to discuss digital citizenship when citing sources. Then students upload them into Photo Story, add their narrations, tweak the motion, and add music. That is it! Photo Story can be used in any subject area and at any level. To increase the students' audience, upload the finished products to the teacher website, YouTube, SchoolTube, or any other video hosting site. 

Students could create a movie in Photo Story to:

• create book trailers
• create documentaries
• create persuasive videos
• demonstrate a concept
• summarize a story or historical event

Want to give it a try? Check out the video below.

 

Make Beliefs Comix

A really fun website that has several curricular connections is www.makebeliefscomix.com and it is definitely worth checking out. With no sign in required, students of all ages can create comics using an assorted of backgrounds, characters, and props. Curricular applications range from simple vocabulary and storytelling to creating political cartoons. The website also contains links to teaching ideas and specific lesson plans. If you want to learn more, check out the tutorial video below.

These resources could be used all year long but maybe this time of year is a good place to try it for the first time. Let students create and show you what they know and are able to do!

Do you have a favorite resource that your students use? Please share that resource here or tweet me @itechbob.