Make Your Lessons Memorable with the Texting Story App By: Sarah Burton

Make your lessons memorable with the free ipad app, Texting Story. This digital tool is a great way to get your students thinking, creating and writing while using technology in the classroom.

Are you constantly trying to jazz up your lessons and engage your students? I know I am always on the hunt for new, innovative ideas to bring to the classroom that will excite learners of all levels.

Several years ago Catherine Reed from Brown Bag Teacher wrote a blog post entitled Using Fake Texts to Connect with and Engage Students. As soon as I saw her ideas, I lit up! Today's students would be all over her activities. After all, I saw my students WANT TO LEARN when I used my Making Inferences with Text Messages Task Cards that are in the shape of an iPhone as well as my ConTEXT Clues worksheets. That's right, I DO have printable products in my TpT Store. 💁 I strongly believe that classrooms need to have a balance of digital activities as well as paper/utensil activities.

ANYWAY...Catherine mentions how teachers can use the iFake Text Generator for:

Morning Meeting Messages
Reading Journals
Introduce/Review Vocabulary

So fun!

After seeing Catherine's post, I did a lesson with a 2nd grade class who used the iFakeText Generator to write a conversation between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as if they were alive today. They LOVED it. It required A LOT of thinking for those 2nd graders to weave in as much information as possible but it ended up being a wonderful activity.

Texting exchange between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln using the digital tool, iFake Text Generator

iFakeText Generator Example

THEN..last week..I saw a Facebook post from TechChef4u that was advertising the FREE app, Texting Story. Once again, I lit up!

Not only does this app generate text messages, it turns your work into a text conversation MOVIE. Check it out:

If you are interested in creating a conversation that plays continuously so you don't have to keep pressing play, upload the saved video into the app GifToaster and turn it into a GIF that you can embed in a Google Doc/Slide, blog or website! Here is an example (the only issue is that you don't get to hear the cool texting sounds when it is turned into a gif)

This app is so easy to use and very intuitive. You can even upload pictures for each character as well as send images and emojis🙌 in the texts.

Under Settings you can add your two names, select their text color, add a profile image as well as choose some other options:

Note: It documents your every move. If you type a word/phrase and then delete to add something different, it will show up. The Clear Story button under Edit Story needs to be pressed if you want to start all over.

Students would have a ball using this tool in the classroom and it would truly make your lessons memorable. What are some other ways we could use this with students?

Comments

Preventing Cheating on Schoology: By Amanda Cross

Hello Friends! So I am going to spend the next few Tuesday's showing you ways to control cheating on Schoology. It is not a fix all and won't prevent it but it sure does slow it down and make it more difficult to cheat. The first thing I always do when administering a test or quiz on Schoology is check my settings! The picture below shows several settings that I use to help with cheating. Randomize Order: I always randomize the questions as much as possible. So that no one person is on the same question at the same time. I also tell students this so that maybe they will think " I can't look at my neighbor because they will have a different question." Resumable: I always set resumable to NO on a test or quiz because if they go out of schoology it will not let them back into that test and they will have to come see me to be let back in. Then I can ask them why they got out of the test/quiz. Now with this setting you will have...

Using Screen Shots with Schoology By: Amanda Cross

So last week Daniel showed you how to screen shot from your computer. So how can you use it in Schoology? If there is a photo, chart, graph, equation, or maybe a paragraph/story you don't want to retype. You can screenshot it and use those items in a test, quiz, assignment, or even an announcement. In Schoology when you create a test, quiz, assignment, or announcement there is an option to insert a picture: At the top in the toolbar click on the Insert Content button: Then click on image/media to insert a photo. Then click on attach file and upload your image. Sometimes the image comes through really large but you can always click on the image and slide it in to make it smaller or larger depending on what you need. I use this feature all the time in creating a test/quiz for math or science. I find the question I would like to use and then just screenshot and insert it in. ...

Using a Stylus Pen on a Computer Trackpad

5th/6th Tip: Sarah Burton As a part of our technology program, I will be sending you tech tips every Tuesday. They will range in complexity and purpose, but I promise to only send you ideas that I think are worth your time. This week’s tip comes from the blog The Techie Teacher and involves using an iPad stylus on your computer trackpad. I played around with it last night and found that it was very helpful when it comes to drawing or writing a signature on the computer. http://www.thetechieteacher.net/2017/08/using-stylus-pen-on-computer-trackpad.html Using a Stylus Pen on a Computer Trackpad A few weeks ago I learned that stylus pens also work on computer trackpads. How did I not know this? As soon as I made this discovery, I grabbed my 99 cent iPad stylus pen, opened Google Autodraw and tested it out on both my MacBook and Chromebook. It worked like a charm! I posted the image on the left to both ...

Tech Tip Tuesdays

Search This Blog