Using a variety of digital tools to create multimodal texts is an important way to increase student engagement and motivation with emergent bilinguals. In a previous post (October 24), I described ways to create multimodal texts with emergent bilinguals using iPads and laptops. Using digital tools allows emergent bilinguals choice when expressing their knowledge. Creating multimodal texts using a variety of modes will increase motivation by allowing emergent bilinguals to see themselves as “...active creators and distributors of knowledge” (Johnson, 2014, p. 12). The purpose of this blog post is to evaluate three digital resources for creating multimodal texts with emergent bilinguals in promoting creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and comprehension. The three digital applications reviewed are StoryboardThat, Book Creator, and Chatterpix.
StoryboardThat is a website for students to create digital storyboards. I discovered this tool since the district I work for made it available on our Clever accounts. It is free for “light usage” and is compatible with Google Classroom for importing class rosters. Teachers can assign storyboards to their students after they are imported into the application. Once a student opens the storyboard, three cells are automatically displayed. If more cells are needed, they can be easily added. There are a wide variety of scenes, characters, and other graphics for students to choose from to communicate different ideas. Pictures can be uploaded to use if needed.
This program is easy and engaging to use. In my previous diverse kindergarten classroom, I had students use this tool on iPads and Chromebooks. I found students' stories became more complex as they explored the wide variety of available graphics. However, this can also be a drawback. Students can become so immersed in different graphics that the meaning of their story loses clarity. Although students were not able to collaborate in real time on each other's storyboards, they were inspired to collaborate with each other on what they were creating. StoryboardThat does not have a way to include videos, voice recordings, or a read aloud feature. Created storyboards can be downloaded and shared. Although it is easy to use, accessing the website on a laptop seems to be more user friendly than on an iPad. See Figure 1 for an example of StoryboardThat. Figure 2 contains a completed storyboard example.
Book Creator is another website for creating stories. There is a free version available in which there is one library with a limit of 40 books. This application also has resources for teachers to create different multimodal texts types from pre-k through high school. This application supports creativity and critical thinking by having different modes for students to express ideas through text, images, audio, and video. Students are able to collaborate and create books in real time. Although the real time collaboration is part of the paid version, there is a free 90 day trial. However, a drawback for this application is the limit on the free version. A goal for my classroom is to use this tool during the second semester of school. This application seems easy for students to navigate.
The books created on this application also have some of the same features as print books. For example, when pages are “turned”, they flip like reading a paper book. Book Creator supports emergent bilinguals by having the option to have a book read aloud. There is a virtual assistant and 27 languages to support the read aloud feature. This application is available on iPads or laptops.
Chatterpix Kids is an app available for iPads and Google Play. This app allows students to upload an image and then manipulate the image to talk using their voice recording. This app is free but only available on iPads. This app supports creativity by allowing students to use images and their own voices to communicate knowledge. Although there is not real time collaboration available when using this app, students can still collaborate by sharing ideas when creating their Chatterpix. One drawback is the voice recordings on this app are only allowed to be 30 seconds long. Click here to see an example of Chatterpix Kids.
I will be using Chatterpix Kids in my implementation plan as the final artifact on our exploration of sharks. Students will make their Chatterpix based on the information we gather about sharks. This will foster critical thinking since they will have to decide on what picture to use, where to place the speaking part of the picture, and the facts to present in their voice recording.
The three applications outlined in this blog support emergent bilinguals in multimodal writing. Each one of the applications allows for students to be the communicator of their knowledge by using different modes to share information. Creating multimodal texts using digital tools allows emergent bilinguals to be active participants in expressing their knowledge by representing meaning through images, videos, and voice recordings.
Figure 1 StoryboardThat.
Johnson, D. (2014). Reading, writing, and literacy 2.0: Teaching with online texts, tools and
resources. Teachers College Press.
Really clear descriptions. thanks for the links.
ReplyDelete