Interested? Karen Ditzler and I set up a collaborative Storybird project with a small group of students from Mrs. Plever's class in PA and a small group of students from my class in NY. It was an amazing month of co-authoring a story using Storybird and Skype to connect.
innovative? We've enjoyed connecting with numerous other classrooms this school year. More recently, I've been able to find connections for my students to work collaboratively in small groups. It enables them to have more active participation in the project and me to act as the guide to encourage deeper conversations. So, I was looking for someone to connect my reading group D with - Mattison, Matthew, Zachary, and Tiffany. Karen was able to organize students from Mrs. Plever's class to join us.
First, we connected with Skype. The students on both "ends" of the camera were excited to meet those who would be writing the story with them. Karen shared her screen with us and we talked about what set of illustrations we should use for inspiration for our story. The students finally agreed that Andy McNally's set included a good mix of characters and background design that would spark conversations while writing the book.
Next, Mrs. Plever's group along with Mrs. Ditzler wrote the first two pages and then we "switched turns." When you switch turns using Storybird you are able to write a note to your co-author and it sends them an email notifying them that it's their time to write.
After that, my group added two more pages with different illustrations from the set by Andy McNallly created and continued the story. We switched back and forth so each group had three turns.
Finally, it was time to wrap of the story and write a conclusion. During our video Skype call, the students took turns reading the pages of the story each group had written and all worked together to choose the final illustrations and how the story would end. The title was added, the story was published, tweets of the student success were shared, and then the experience just continued to create lasting impressions....
IMPACT? Here are a collection of the tweets surrounding the fantastic Friday
It's neat to have someone re-tweet what your students have accomplished. So, thank you @Storybird and @Nat_Mich! I'm so proud of the student authors in my group and how they were creative, especially behind the scenes and off camera, but it's encouraging to them to see other educators who respond to their work that's posted on Twitter. The groups worked together to write an amazing story or as @Storybird put it, a "tale about ice cream and love!" Next, the illustrator, Andy McNally, gave a RT! Then we started receiving email notices that educators were commenting on the Storybird website (see below the storybook). Last, an educator sent me a Direct Message wanting more information on the project! It was a fanastic Friday.
Impressed? The students were in awe at this point and I'll admit so was I. The illustrator's comment was very detailed in it's praise for the student authors. We turned this into a class moment and I briefly shared with the rest of the class the amazing things that were happening as a result of the small group of students in our classroom. One student said, "I wish I was in that group!" We've been in contact with the illustrator via email. So, now we are gooking forward to an orginal drawing by Andy McNally arriving in the mail!
We will use Andy McNally's artwork as continued inspiration in our classroom to carry on on our learning adventure in room 40 while incorporating technology, writing, and collaboration into our curriculum!
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