As a teacher, it is important we have a variety of high-quality, student-centered, educational apps at our finger tips (literally). In my personal experience, it seems the older I get, the more children are enthralled with technology. They love using it, they are excited to use, and most the time they can use it better than I can. ;)
Today, I wanted to share an app with you that I have come across called, Our Story. I am going to break my review of it into 5 main topics: accessibility, compatibility, purpose of the app, how to use the app, and possible uses for the classroom.
Accessibility
The Our Story app can be downloaded for FREE (music to our ears) from the iTunes app store. Usually we don't have much of a budget for apps in the classroom, so when an app is free it automatically make it THAT much better!
Compatibility
This app is compatible with iPads and as of right now, it needs iOS 6.0 or later. This is great news for those of us who have access to iPads, not so great news for those of us who don't! If you have chrome books or other laptops available, I would recommend finding a similar alternative. I have tried but so far haven't had any luck.
Purpose
The purpose of this app is to provide students with a new, or alternative way, to express their ideas and get their thoughts published. Our Story is a different way of creating or building a story, rather than the 'old-fashion' way of writing on paper using a pencil. It allows students to be as creative, imaginative, and unique as they wish as they create digital stories.
How to Use
I will start with a disclaimer: Our Story is EXTREMELY easy to use! I spent twenty minutes creating my own story over a trip I took this summer and in that twenty minutes I had thirteen pages, six of them accompanied with voice recordings and the rest with typed sentences. Honestly, the most time consuming part is deciding which pictures to use!
1. Choose your pictures
The first step in creating a digital story in Our Story is selecting your images. You can choose to import them from your camera roll, or you can snap new pictures from the app. As you select your pictures, you organize them in the order you like along the bottom of the screen.
2. Insert text or voice
The second step is adding wording to your image. To do this you simply click on the picture you wish to annotate. From there you can simply tap to add your desired text or you can select the mic icon if you wish to record your voice to add to the picture. Once you are satisfied with that picture
3. Publish your work!
Our Story makes it easy to publish your work, just hit the green button with an arrow at the top of the page! You can share it in a Dropbox, email, or on iTunes.
Classroom Ideas
To wrap up my post for this week, I want to share just a couple ideas I had for using this app in your classroom.
Click HERE to visit the Our Story site in iTunes
1. Weekly newsletter
With different modifications I believe this could be suitable for any grade level but I vision in working best in a fourth or fifth grade room (primary grades would need more teacher involvement). My thought is to have a couple designated students each week to be in charge of the classroom's weekly letter (rotating the students each week so everyone has a turn). The students would have to take pictures throughout the week of the different activities done in class and then compile them in Our Story to add written descriptions or audio explaining the different activities that happened.
I think parents would love this variance of a newsletter because it would give them the chance to see their child's classroom, through their child's eyes rather than the teachers. It would also be beneficial to students because it would be an extended writing assignment that gives them an extra special responsibility in the classroom their assigned week. It would allow them to collaborate in a partnership or small group, give them the feeling of ownership and responsibility, and the opportunity to display their work with a larger audience.
2. Personal Dictionary
Again, this is an idea that could work at any grade level. Instead of the traditional, here is a word now write a definition. Students could use Our Story to create digital dictionaries. They would have to find an image that helped them remember the word and then write their definition or record themselves say the definition. I believe this would be a great alternative from pencil and paper because it could be more geared towards each learning styles. You can reach the visual learners with the images and the auditory learners with the recording. If students prefer to see the written words they can choose that option as well.
I would love to hear what ideas you have for integrating Our Story into your classroom; please share your ideas in the comments below! :)
