Creating Stories in the Social Studies Classroom

By Stockton University student Diana Roberts

Storyjumper is designed to let children to create and publish their own illustrated stories. The program is designed to accommodate experienced writers, as well as beginners. Once children have created a story, they can either publish it, share it, keep it private or have it bound into an actual book (for a fee). The Classroom Edition for teachers includes a separate dashboard and a handful of helpful features and ideas for lessons. Storyjumper has an easy to use interface that incorporates a drag and drop system. Children have the option to select many of the kid-friendly illustrations and graphics, or upload their own artwork or images to incorporate into their book. Images and text can be manipulated in size, and customized in various different ways, in order to create a truly unique storybook. I would use Storyjumper to create a secure virtual classroom and have my students create storybooks that they can share with their families. Some of the specific projects I might focus on as a social studies teacher would be to have students create an illustrated biography of a historical figure, talk about a historical event from a fictional character's point of view, or tell a story about what we might learn from a past event. Below are some links on how other teachers use Storyjumper: http://fearlesstech4teachers.blogspot.com/2012/04/jump-start-writing-process-with.html https://igorgoren.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/igor-tries-out-storyjumper/ http://www.julianagoldwater.com/story-jumper.html