...However, even if you
follow all these tips, students may not always share your enthusiasm for writing.
This is the time when you have to employ some other means to get them
interested! I call these “My contemporary Muses”, because they inspire my
students to write! Here are some web tools I am using for my writing
activities:
·
Storybird.com: This must be the most popular web tool for story
writing at the moment. Students can
choose a set of pictures and write their stories based on these. I can
personally guarantee that even the most reluctant to participate get excited
with this! The art is so wonderful and there is not one student who will not be
interested in turning picture prompts into a story. Recently, I have discovered
that there is also the option of a class account and students can be registered
with one email, but with a different username and password each. There is also
the Educator’s Blog, where teachers can find many ideas, tips and lesson
plans on how to use Storybird in class.
In addition, there is a class password for parents who wish to check out the
class’s stories.
·
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/: Another exciting tool, easy to use that gives
students the option to create a two-, three- or four- pannel comic. You can
save or print the final product. There are ideas for stories, if you don’t have
a topic. There are hundreds of printable templates to print, write and colour!
And something I find extremely useful is that there is a section for students
with special needs! The only drawback is that you cannot go back to your work
and edit it after you save it.
·
https://penzu.com/: This is a free online diary and journal,with the
option of PenzuClassroom as well, where you can grade or leave a comment on an
entry. You can also create and send assignments to students.
·
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/: This is a fun engine with 4 story starters themes
adventure, fantasy, sci-fi and scrambler, where you can pick your grade (K-6th)
and spin four wheels to get a story starter! For example: “Write a news article
about an android who lives in a crater.” Then you can choose a format for your
story a notebook, a letter, a newspaper or a postcard, you can even include a
drawing and…you can start writing. After you finish you can print or download
your story.
·
http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx: This is a tool that uses words and photos to inspire
students to write. You just use a picture you like and drag and drop words from
a list or freestyle to accompany it with a small text.
·
https://www.tricider.com/: It is a really useful and simple tool for
brainstorming or voting that is very popular for debates. You can ask a
question, collect answers and votes of the best ideas or answers. There is a
special section for education.
·
https://www.futureme.org/: This is a tool that students can use to write a
letter to their future self, choose the date to be delivered, choose if they
want it to be private or public (but anonymous),even choose to add a picture.
It is a good idea to use it as part of setting learning goals and finding out
if you have achieved them at a given time.
·
https://www.google.com/intl/el_gr/forms/about/: Students can use this to create forms, questionnaires,
quizzes, evaluation forms or surveys. The interesting part is that they can
collect the answers in the form of percentages or pie charts.
Of course the web tools
that can be used for writing are many and more of them are created every day. However,
these are the ones I keep in my web-tool kit, which I try to update as often as
I can.
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