observation 4
Story Jumper
I appreciate Ashley's understanding and flexibility to let me go into another story experience with them.
So this time it is story jumper. kids told me that they had finished part of their stories on it and they enjoyed it. They began quickly and as i just found out that it is limited to laptop for create a story, it's pretty easy even for new learners.
Children focused on go on finishing their story. There were lots of technical problems (delete, adding, how to save) and again spelling and typing skills. One girl came to me and ask for special help for finding those letters. She was left far behind than others and she explained it was because she lost all of them without saving so she had to rewrite. Well, she lost it again and i reminded her to click saving.
No children came to ask questions about writing. They were confident and had ideas about what to write. Then many misspellings at this stage but one boy came up with the word with a little bit hint from mine. It was always a joy to watch kids could make progress.
As each book has about 17 pages, i did not have chance to read a whole one yet, even though some boys and girls offered to read their stories to me. I had to go away to help and felt sorry that i could not be there for sharing.
Ok, the story jumper gave me the impression of making a photo book online. Ashely had her ratinoale for using this one instead of story bird for it provides more pictures and versions for her students. The illustrations are definitely better quality on story bird. However, i was thinking of the possibility of having the drawings of the kids mixed with whatever he chooses to have in the website or app. It is like a combination of illustrations. In this way, i suppose this story jumper is for lower grades.
Another thing i would argue is for the typing skills. It is a pain watching them to take time to find the letters. It would save so much time for editing or writing or organization but now it has to be spend on finding where the letter is! I would still think that kids should be provided for the training of the typing skills at an early age!
I agree with the idea that kids need keyboarding skills. It is painful to watch them "hunt and peck." I know our media specialist has used All the Write Type with our 4th graders, and it makes a big difference.
ReplyDeleteIs that an app or website?
ReplyDeleteShuling,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Ashley's first graders had a similar experience to my second graders! The students loved publishing their writing and adding photos, but it was very time consuming. Some people in our class had the idea to have them work during workstations or at home, so they have enough time. If I used storyjumper again, I will probably try to have them use it other times in addition to writing, so they have a better product.
It's interesting to hear about the challenging parts of implementing new types of technology. No matter how much you prepare, things like forgetting to save and keyboarding challenges will be there. As teacher and students have more practice, these initial challenges should start to diminish.
ReplyDelete