I reviewed the storytelling tool Storybird. It is a program that uses art to inspire writing.
The website prompts new users to create an account. You can login as an individual or as an educator. I chose educator - this option allows you to share your account with your students. You are prompted to put in your class information and then your class list. There are several options that you can chose for putting in a class list. I skipped this since I wasn't actually using associating a class with this project.
You can use Storybird to create assignments for students. It is a simple format of naming and describing the activity. You can upload media to describe the activity. You set the parameters and the due date and the activity is ready to go.
The website doesn't really come with a tutorial or directions but is easy to navigate all the same. I first read a few stories under the read tab to see what was out there. Then I decided to write my own story. It takes you to the artwork page where you can choose to scroll through or pick different tags to look at the art. When you find a picture you like, you can choose that piece of artwork. You have three options for writing - long form, which is multi chapters, picture which is shorter, or poem. I did a picture book first and then a poem second.
<iframe width="400" height="400" src="//storybird.com/poetry/poem/ayg8a5r678/embed/" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen seamless scrolling="no"></iframe>
<iframe width="436" height="272" src="//storybird.com/books/a-magical-night-16/embed/?token=tafrdwrucv" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen seamless scrolling="no"></iframe>
These are not free for all writing activities. The picture book provided you the pictures available from the artist that you originally chose and you craft a story around it. The poem provided a set of pre-selected words for the art chosen. If you do not like the words you can request new words or select new art.
This is a fun site that is very simple to use, I could definitely see myself using this with younger children. The words and even the punctuation are available in the poem option. Younger children would be able to navigate this site with minimal help. Storybird would be a great site to use to incorporate digital media into the writing process.
There is also a very nice You Tube tutorial that explains Story bird, as well.
I've got uploading videos but I still can't seem to manage to embed other media from other sites...the links work, though!
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