EDUC 2220- Educational Technology Lesson Plan Template

Storybird Project

Haley Kaylor

Middle School English as a Second Language

Common Core Standards:

6-8.1 Construct meaning from literary text through grade-appropriate reading.

6-8.2 Participate in grade-appropriate written exchanges responding to peer, audience, or reader comments
and questions.
6-8.3 Speak and write about grade-appropriate complex literary texts and topics.
6-8.6 Analyze and critique the arguments of others in writing.
6-8.7 Adapt language choices to purpose, task, and audience when writing.

Lesson Summary:

Students will spend several days writing their own short story and putting it together through Storybird. After
they are done, they will read each other's stories, choose three to comment on, and respond to comments on
their own story.

Estimated Duration:

Lesson is estimated to require four 40 minute class periods: one helping students develop and outline their
short story, one showing them how to use Storybird, one allowing them to work on their Storybird in class to
answer possible questions and let them get the hang of it supervised, and one for them to comment on other
stories and respond to their own.

Commentary:

I expect students will have to be urged to use new and more complex language in their stories. A day between
when they finish their story outline and when they start their Storybird can allow me to read over the stories
and encourage them to use more exciting word choices and sentence structures.
Due to the age of the students, there may be some trouble with students not using age-appropriate material in
their stories or comments. This can easily be overseen from the teacher's Storybird, since it has the options to
not post stories or comments until I have approved them. This means classes that don't have this problem can
have that setting turned off.
The best approach would be to encourage creativity and communication between students. It is even possible
for the outline work to be done in small groups, before the actual Storybird is done separately.

Instructional Procedures:

Day 1:
First 10 minutes: Short Powerpoint via projector to remind them of the structure of a short story, conflict,
motivation, and how to make a story outline.
Next 20 minutes: Break into small groups. Each group is given a tablet and uses a random word generator app
to brainstorm story ideas.
Last 10 minutes: Students work alone to begin outlining their short story (to be finished at home).

Day 2:

First 20 minutes: Students are given an overview via projector of Storybird and how it works.

Last 20 minutes: Students log into their pre-created Storybird accounts (either on desktop computer or on
laptops) and select the assignment to begin setting up their story.

Day 3:
Full 40 minutes: Students work in-class on their Storybird (via desktop or laptop), working to complete the
assignment. Time is used to answer any questions they have with the assignment, issues they run into with the
Storybird program, or other assistance. The Storybird project will likely be finished at home, unless they
complete it in class.

Day 4:

First 30 minutes: Students read other students' stories and choose three to comment on. Comments should be
insightful and provide useful feedback.

Last 10 minutes: Students respond to the feedback their story has received.

Pre-Assessment:
This project will immediately proceed a book report-style project, where students spend several weeks reading,
assessing, and presenting a short novel in class. The project focuses on being able to identify key elements and
structure of a story by their English terms (protagonist, antagonist, conflict, climax, etc.) which will be
necessary to use when students create their own story.
The project also lets students practice insightful review-based language that they will now be able to use to
comment on other students' stories.
Scoring Guidelines:
 Scoring will be based on their overall score with the book report project. A 90% or higher shows that
the student has a great understanding of constructing and analyzing stories in English, and would be
able to handle the Storybird project at an accelerated pace. An 89-60% shows sufficient understanding
of the material, and expects the normal pace. A 59% or below shows the student is having difficulty
grasping narratives in English and may need a slower pace.

Post-Assessment:
Final stories will be graded based on correct grammar, sentence structure, spelling, clarity of story, and
complexity. Comments and comment responses will be graded based on participation.

Scoring Guidelines:
Project will be graded out of 50 points: 40 for the student's story, 5 for comments, 5 for comment
responses. Extra weight is given to the project itself due to the amount of work and difficulty involved.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Accelerated students: May be expected to create longer stories with more complex words, as well as longer
comments on other students' stories with better insight.
Remedial students: May be assigned shorter assignments such as creating picture books. Can use simpler
ideas or pre-made plot cards with suggested words and phrases.

Extension
https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-short-stories/
https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story-ideas/

Homework Options and Home Connections

Students will be completing their story outline at home. They could use a touchpad to make a "web" outline of
their ideas, or even draw their own pictures to use in the story.
They will also likely be doing some of the Storybird work themselves at home. They will need a computer
with an internet connection to do so. By exploring all the options the program offers at home, they might
come up with new and more exciting ideas for their story.

Interdisciplinary Connections
The project can also work with Social Studies if students decide to write a story about a character, setting, or
issue from a foreign place. The way other students will be reading and commenting on the work will help
share cross-cultural understanding which can be further pursued.
The project can also work with Historical studies, since a student can write a story that takes place in a past
date and time, or features a real historical figure. The research into making their story accurate will not only
teach them new information about the history of the setting or person, but teach them more historical language
for English.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers Computer, internet access, projector, Microsoft Powerpoint

For students Tablets, laptop or desktop, internet access

Key Vocabulary
Storybird

dialogue
critique
browser
upload

Additional Notes