It’s always fun trying new things. For this week’s assignment, I took StoryJumper and Gliffy out for a spin.
StoryJumper is a fun way for students to write a children’s book. One of my favorite assignments in high school composition was writing a children’s book. It was a lot tougher than you’d think. I even illustrated it, which is saying something considering my artistic ability. Anyway, I thought it would be an interesting activity to have students in composition or next semester’s creative writing course write a children’s book, and this would be an option for those who, like me, are not artistically inclined. It would also be an interesting opportunity for students in my ELA courses to analyze, summarize, and rewrite classic stories as children’s stories. My sample book was the beginning of a rewrite of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” I chose that story because it really is very psychologically creepy, and probably not appropriate for little ones. It would be interesting to see how high school kids might reinvent the story as a creepy (but not too creepy) ghost story for kids while staying true to Poe’s original.
Gliffy is another fun one, although there are some drawbacks (the free version is very limited, for instance). I like that you can use it to collaborate on designs, and there are so many applications in ELA for analyzing literature.
Here’s a link to my prezi that discusses the pros and cons of each, and below, you’ll find a jpeg of my Gliffy analyzing some of the persuasive elements of Patrick Henry’s speech.
StoryJumper is a fun way for students to write a children’s book. One of my favorite assignments in high school composition was writing a children’s book. It was a lot tougher than you’d think. I even illustrated it, which is saying something considering my artistic ability. Anyway, I thought it would be an interesting activity to have students in composition or next semester’s creative writing course write a children’s book, and this would be an option for those who, like me, are not artistically inclined. It would also be an interesting opportunity for students in my ELA courses to analyze, summarize, and rewrite classic stories as children’s stories. My sample book was the beginning of a rewrite of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” I chose that story because it really is very psychologically creepy, and probably not appropriate for little ones. It would be interesting to see how high school kids might reinvent the story as a creepy (but not too creepy) ghost story for kids while staying true to Poe’s original.
Gliffy is another fun one, although there are some drawbacks (the free version is very limited, for instance). I like that you can use it to collaborate on designs, and there are so many applications in ELA for analyzing literature.
Here’s a link to my prezi that discusses the pros and cons of each, and below, you’ll find a jpeg of my Gliffy analyzing some of the persuasive elements of Patrick Henry’s speech.