One of our techers has been using this to support some creative writing in his class. After setting out some specific success criteria for a generic story and a revisit of his class's VCOP editing tool, groups of students used one of our school's new Ipads individualy to sketch and write their stories.
You don't have to be an artist to make a great illustration using scribble press, choosing the 'key visual' for your page makes the writier think about what the 'main idea' of the story could be. Many illustrations remonded me of Spike Milligan's drawings and those by various members of his family in his classic stories.
For me the value of this project was widespread. The teacher's focus was on certain aspects of using the VCOP for openings and vocabulary, but so many other facets of writing came out while this project took shape. The language was fantastic and the story telling excellent as each page represented another part of the narrative (character, setting, problems, resolutions etc...). The creativity of ideas was allowed to flow, drafting and editing became simultanious as children were able to edit on the go out check in next session and make adjustments.Another benefit was on the sharing ability of the app. Each story can convert into an ibook and/or be emailed. A powerpoint was made to share in school assembly.
I particurly liked the potential to support reluctant writers, the process had a story board element to it and the use of 'scribbles' supported sequencing and the crafting of a plot to the finish. Although this could be done on a word doc, the instant creation factor of the app and the easy sharing aspect of the ipad made the ipad and app great tools to support writing.
These students were in year 5 but this app can be used across the age range and we are looking forward to develop the process and improve it to harness the writing powers of our students. The possibility for peer editing is exciting as devices can be easily handed to a buddy.
Check it out, we loved using this app and are keen to expand on this pilot project throughout the school !
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