FRS Story Starters

Review by Christian Saddler

Fee or Free: $1.99

Story Tellers is a wonderful story telling application that provides the who, why, what, where and when for a story that can then be used to create a full story.  The app allows the user to choose which of the five W's are supplied leaving any number of them out allowing for a number of creative choices.  It also will provide all five, giving as much or as little structure as desired.

The app does not allow for writing within it's features so any story writing would need to be done with pen and paper or on a word processor, but if it's simply an idea slot machine your looking for, this is a really good one.

The app also allows for repeated shuffling, as well as a lock feature, that will keep those W's that are locked while shuffling others.  This can be very helpful, when certain elements don't easily blend for beginning story tellers whose imaginations are not yet ready to make giant leaps.

One draw back is that the app does not appear in any search I did for my iPad but only on my desktop computer, limiting its use in the classroom setting to larger PC's rather than slimmer lower cost options.

Rating: 4/5

Postcard

Review by Daniel Ballinger

Price: $1.99

The Postcard app is user friendly and easy to use.  You can up load images, chose from a liberty of images in the app or draw your own image.  For written text, a person simple types what they want to say and hits return.  I like the typing feature because it is easy to read and allows you the normal features of Microsoft word like changing fonts or text size.

A postcard or a series of postcards is a unique way to develop student understanding of a concept while engaging a student to think critically about the material.  So send a postcard or have a student or children create their own and send it to you.

As a Social Studies teacher I find myself having students engage in a variety of projects and in class activities. The first assignment I had students complete was to create a series of postcards from soldiers on Sherman’s March to the Sea during the Civil War. The idea was that the soldiers would write home about what the experience was like, what they saw and how they felt. This type of activity is something the Postcard app can be used for.

Story Lines

Review by Kathleen Czap

Price: Free

When you launch the app, it brings you to the home page.  It explains that Story Line “starts with someone picking a well known quote or figure of speech. A friend illustrates the phrase as best they can. A third friend titles that pictures, a fourth illustrates the title and so on.”

There are tabbed post it graphics on the bottom to create a story line. When you select “create”, there are two options: you can link to your Facebook to play with friends or you can Pass-N-Play, which would allow kids to pass with friends. As a teacher, I have students use the pass-n-play mode. You can chose the size of the story. It can be three, five, seven or nine links in length.

The first slide has yellow lined paper and allows you to type 140 characters, much like a tweet. The creator is prompted to enter a famous quote or saying. There is a fortune cookie that provides suggestions, but, the fortune cookie has very complex quotations so I recommend kids make up their own or use something provided by an adult.

Once the quote or saying is typed or selected from the fortune cookie, the next player illustrates the saying or quote. The following player would illustrate the picture and so on. As a digital storytelling tool, it allows for a student to create a title and book cover, illustrations and captions.

Likes: Allows for creativity and exploration with famous sayings.

Dislikes: The fortune cookie does not have “child friendly quotations”. You have to sign each link or page of the story.  You can only draw with black ink for illustrating

Recommended Age: 12+

Overall Rating: B-

Cartoon Studio

Review by Eileen Ferrari

Cost: Free

*Upgrade $0.99

 

Grade Level:  4th-7th

 

Overview:  Cartoon Studio 

 

Kids can make a cartoon / comic in a creative way.  Fairly easy to use - students can import characters for the cartoon with the ones provided, import photos of family/friends/themselves or an easy search on Google (celebrities, sports figures, etc.)  You can choose what to write in each bubble & you can choose your own background (indoor/outdoor).  This would be a great way for students to take background pictures of anything they want using the camera option on the iPad; you would get to see what children are interested in.  I think even students who don’t particularly like cartoons or have little interest in making them will have fun with this one.

 

Ideas for classroom use:  This would be a great way for kids who love to draw or are interested in comics to become excited in creating a digital story project/activity.

-Kids could come up with jokes

-Creating character conflicts in books/stories/movies they are learning about

-Kids could create scenarios for bullying, conflict resolution, communicating with others, etc.

 

PROS:  

-Great option for those students who love comics & cartoons

-Students can create pictures of characters & backgrounds - imported from camera or google also

-Pro version is only $0.99

-Options to send cartoon through e-mail, blog, facebook, etc.

 

 CONS:  

-Only 3 cells - unless you upgrade to the pro version

-Limits use of your own characters unless you upgrade

-Ads at the top --> cupid.com popped up as my ad with a picture of a teen looking for a boyfriend.  Probably not a great thing for the students to have to look at when they are creating comics/cartoons.

 

Upgrade:  $0.99 for Cartoon Studio Pro

-no ads

-create more than 3 cells

-loads more characters

-loads more backgrounds

-delete & insert cells

*Art packs are available with more backgrounds/characters

Storyrobe

Review by Gracieli Lisboa

Price: $0.99

Storyrobe is an user-friendly application that enables you to create a digital story in 3 steps. The first step is the selection of images, and it gives the option to choose a picture from your album, use your iPad to take new ones or record a video, or even use a story that Storyrobe users share. After you putthe images that will be used in order, it is time to press record and start the narration. There is also one control to select the next image, therefore they will go along with your narration perfectly. After recording, there is the option to edit your story or publish on YouTube or for others users to see.

This is a very intuitive app and makes digital storytelling an easier task. The drawbacks however are that (1) each story needs to be limited to 3 minutes, (2) if you use another user's story, your narration will be over when that story is over, (3) if published, your story will be available for others to see even if you delete it in your iPad, and (4) the app closes unexpectedly a couple of times. But, overall, it is a nice application that can be used to create simple and fast stories.

Dragon Dictation

Review by Gordon Davis

Price: Free

As a free and easy-to-use tool, Dragon Dictation makes for a quick app that students could use during their digital story creation.

This app is drenched with practicality. As a quick way to dictate thoughts, students can use it to quickly jot down a recap of their progress which they could then email or submit electronically to an instructor. Did a group member miss class because of the swine flu? You need not worry with the Dragon Dictation app as students can quickly and conveniently share updates with simple recordings. 

If there are any setbacks to this app, it would be around the microphone translation which requires a snails pace to be entirely accurate. Otherwise, a moderate pace can result in some unexpected syntax and cause confusion.

As a classroom tool, the Dragon Dictation will help to establish communication between group members and instructors. It's low price (free) makes it all the more attractive.

Story Wheel

Review by Melinda Smiles

Price: Free

Rating: 5/5 stars

Story Wheel is a great digital storytelling application for the iPad or iPhone. The basic version of this fun and educational app is free and is great for all ages. Once you have downloaded the app, simple tap “create a story” and choose a theme. Although the “story teller” theme is free, additional themes including space, knights and princesses, and pirates, cost an additional $0.99 each.

Once you have chosen a theme, you can add 1-4 players. Once you have chosen your players, the story wheel will appear on the screen. The player one will spin the wheel to get a picture. Player one then thinks of something to say, taps the “record” button, and has up to 30 seconds to record a narration. If player one is happy with what he/she recorded, click “next player” to move on. If he/she is not happy with the narration, there is an option to redo the recording. Keep spinning and recording for up to 12 pictures. Once your story is complete, tap “done.” You now have the option to add a title and save your story. Afterward you can listen to your complete story with the animated images from the wheel playing on the screen. All saved stories are saved on the main page of the app under the section “listen to stories.”

Pros:

- Great way for kids to practice the art of storytelling by adding a beginning, middle and end

- Improves oral language skills

- Since you are recording and listening to your own voice, it is a fun way to teach kids to tell stories with fluency and expression

- The free version is robust and will provide hours of fun

- The additional themes are inexpensive

- No objectionable material- appropriate for young kids and classrooms

- Promotes creativity and imaginative play

- Encourages collaboration when creating a group story

Cons:

- Once you’ve spun the wheel, you cannot skip a picture; you are stuck with your spin