In my last exploration of web 2.0 applications, I visited storybird.com. I let my students create books in class and many went home and created their own accounts. A few days later, one of my students told me about a site that she found. She began asking to show me the web site in the morning then the day got busy and we never had time. Later after the kids were gone, I found a note on my desk with the web address…now that’s initiative. The site that she was so excited about was kerpoof.com and it really is worth a fuss!
Not only can you create, print and share books but you can also make movies and produce original artwork. Within the domain of creative writing there are endless choices of colorful, fun characters, settings, themes, fonts and gadgets galore.
This site allows much more than collaborative storytelling, it allows collaborative creativity. Not only is kerpoof.com fantastically kid-friendly but it is also wonderfully teacher-friendly. The site allows me to create lesson plans, track progress across content areas and give virtual awards for progress. Beyond those features, there are teacher tutorials available that will help me to maximize my use of the application. And if all of that weren’t enough, kerpoof.com allows me to specify the teaching standards on national and state levels and will organize activities based on those specific standards for my grade level! Kerpoof allows multimedia sharing worldwide. I can expand student connectivity to my own classroom or to other classrooms around the world. The possibilities are endless. This promotional add has been brought to you by the insistence of one 4th grade student in Austin, Texas and me.
What a great student! If only all of them had that same mix of respect and assertiveness. I love the idea of the student as the creator, too. I think it's a better and more accurate gauge of what they learned, compared to the typical test.
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