Digital Writing For Classrooms: WriteAbout - WOW

"A COMMUNITY WHERE STUDENTS ENGAGE IN HIGH-INTEREST WRITING FOR AN AUTHENTIC AUDIENCE AND TEACHERS HELP STUDENTS GROW THROUGH THE ENTIRE WRITING PROCESS"

The School-IT listserve (Steve Webster-SB) posted a question about student blogging - "What are you using for blogging these days? "This was my "hopeful' response- because it is new -I can't say I've used it for years, months or days- but I'm "all in" - I think they've thought of everything.

Write About - WriteAbout.com - a new social writing platform created by educators

Watch Cofounder Brad Wilson talk about how to shift away from talking about technology itself and instead, to talk about writing -an Ignite Talk at the Michigan Reading Assoc.

https://youtu.be/wpN2409YL38

John Spencer http://www.spencerideas.org/  another cofounder see minute 5:30 on his TEDx Tallk https://youtu.be/F-Wm0glaZ7E

• Kids can join groups within the WriteAbout community- they can post and submit to a group so that kids with the same interests can read and comment - connecting readers and writers with similar interests.
• Students can record audio messages - teachers can leave in-text comments, private comments and audio messages.
• There are 1000s? of visual & audio writing "ideas" - "Write About was built to be a part of the writing process in classrooms, helping students find an audience and teachers give personalized feedback. Social publishing and writing pedagogy are part of the same conversation, and these resources and lessons will help your class make the transition to digital writing!" **See ideas->ideas by genre
• Everything is safe; all can be moderated by the teacher. No student email accounts
• Outsiders can comment safely without being members (all guest comments are moderated by the teacher). Post to the world - a group-  or only the class- you decide
• There are options for schools or districts who are looking for a writing and publishing platform - classroom options are not expensive

AND - IF you are participating in The Global Read Aloud - FREE Classroom PLUS membership for the year - built-in GROUPS & audience already there.

https://youtu.be/wecn3wb3zzs    short video about Write About

They know the rules: Students under the age of 13? Please ensure you have attained appropriate parental consent to use an online learning tool and for students to publish work online.

*You need permission for ANY site where under 13's are publishing

(Download a sample parent letter and learn more about our privacy policy. View privacy layers for student posts.)

OK - if you made it this far - Wow! This was originally meant as a quick response to a listserve question from Steve Webster in S Burlington - "What are you using for blogging these days?"

Maybe it was because I was looking for the same thing- an authentic writing experience for students- I guess I am going "All In" - nothing to lose- lots of great resources created by educators who inspired me. - FYI - I am a believer in in all things GAFE - I don't think I have ever been a fan of "pay for" platforms- but it is just too hard to create something as big as this and make it free -I THINK this is something worth trying. If you have any thoughts or decide to dive in - I would love to hear about it.

Thanks,

Kari

inklewriter - create interactive stories

inkle is looking to bring interactive stories to the classroom, and give teachers free and simple get-stuck-right-in software to use with their students. From within a web-browser, the inklewriter will let students make and play interactive stories with no programming required.http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/education/
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Figurative Language Lessons and Activities

Figurative Language lessons from Vocabulary Spelling City

Reinforce your students' understanding of figurative language with VocabularySpellingCity's figurative language lessons, interactive games, printable worksheets, and powerpoint presentations. Learning figurative language gives students at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels the ability to transform their pencils into paintbrushes, as they paint a picture with their words. VocabularySpellingCity can give your students this gift by providing figurative language lessons and exercises that will establish an understanding of the main types of figurative language.

Flat Stanley App

Several teachers and students at SCS have participated in the Flat Stanley project in the past. Now there's an app for that. Activity generally it consists of sending a flat, paper Stanley through snail mail with the goal of getting his picture and story with others around the world.  Flat Stanley helps students learn about travel, while discovering different cultures to develop a love for reading.  With this new app, students can learn about the world through the eyes of Stanley in a way never before possible. Students can create their own Flat Stanley (or Flat Stella), they can change Stanely’s features and clothes and even give him a name and bio before sending him out into the world.  Students can share photos through email, Twitter and Flatter World within the app.   In Flatter World, new Flat Stanleys have been spotted. If students take enough pictures, they can unlock the new Flat Stanleys to take photos with.
The Flat Stanley app is COPPA compliant, which means that it is happily usable for kids under the age of 13.  An approval crew monitors and approves images shared through the app for an extra layer of safety for students.

"The End of Multiple Choice? The Quest To Create Accurate Robot Essay Graders
When kids have "10,000 keystroke days," data miners will be able to extract countless observations about students. http://www.fastcoexist.com/node/1679134

Mmmm...