TextingStory in the Classroom

So last week, I made this tongue in cheek video all about the struggles of dating a teacher using the app TextingStory:


I have been thinking about how to use this FREE app in the classroom. Here are a few ideas I have:

  • It is a great way to teach how to punctuate direct speech. Similar to this idea I blogged a while ago (click here.) The app will help children visualise that the words spoken including the punctuation goes inside the speech bubble, so they must remember to put the words and punctuation in our inverted commas. You also see that we start a new line whenever a new character speaks. 
  • The addition of emojis 😃 can also then help the development of adverbial phrases for the reporting clause.
  • You can have a conversation between two characters to show shifts in formality. 
  • The app can be used to have a simple conversation in another language such as French or Spanish to enhance your MFL lessons.
  • As you can see from the example above, the app allows you to think out a text without actually sending it. This could be a great way to show how two historical figures communicated by saying one thing but meaning something else. 
  • The above idea also lends itself to conversations between two characters from a story. Romeo and Juliet, Mr Stink and Sophie, Michael and Skellig for example. 
  • You could even create your own story through texting between two characters.
  • You could ask the children to produce awareness videos about cyberbullying.
  • Create knock knock or other wordplay jokes.
  • Or similar to the idea above, allow the children to make a video about their life. When your parents ask you to clean your room for example. 
  • A teacher could create a conversation to present a maths challenge or word problem.
  • Using a song such as Justin Bieber's Let me Love you, you can tell the story of the song through a text conversation. 

I would love to hear how you guys use the app so please do comment and let me know!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Lovely Poem for Your Leavers Assembly

Image
I am always asked to put a little video together for our Year 6 show and end of year assembly. Each year, I always include a special poem that I finish the end of year video with. It is called Leaving School by Jade Hughes and it is beautiful: We've now left school, It's how the story ends, Tears of happiness is what we recommend,   It's what we say, But there's always a little pain, Because once you've left, It's not the same,   You could walk through school and you would see, Your friends who have grown up incredibly, But now you've gone, It's not the same, As you may never see them again,   Your friends who have grown up right beside you, Who have helped you through your daily strife, Will go ahead and leave behind them, You who wants the same old life,   But you can not live your life in the past, Hoping that the same memories will last, You have to move on and just be glad, That leaving has made you so sad, As this just shows that...
Keep reading

Using Disney Films for Geography!

Image
Last week I came across a tweet sharing this picture: I thought it would be a brilliant way for children to learn about the location of different countries around the world.  Before we looked at the map, I asked the class to list as many animated Disney films (excluding Pixar) as they could think of. We shared some of our ideas and discussed the origins of some of these stories. Some were books, others fairy tales, legends or folk tales.  This gave us a link with Literacy to discuss different types of stories, how most films are derived from written texts and also looking at some famous authors. We also talked about whether they could remember where in the world the film was set.  I then shared the map with the children and gave them time to look and see whether they knew any of the countries themselves. They had to make estimated guesses as to where they thought each film was set. After they had had a go at trying the name all the countries, they t...
Keep reading

Teaching Direct Speech Punctuation using the iPhone text messaging!

Image
Teaching direct speech is always a tricky aspect, there is so much to remember and very few useful visual pictures that clearly help children know what and how to use speech punctuation properly. Lets look at some of the tips to remember: The words that are spoken have to go within the speech marks. Any punctuation needs to also go inside the speech marks. A reporting clause, who and how they said it can go before, middle or end. A comma follows the reporting clause at the beginning. You need to start a new line when a new character speaks.  I think that is most of them?? I have heard of endless different ways to try and get children to remember these tips - keeping the sheeps in the pen  or speech mark sandwich  which are a couple of examples however they do not have any visual help for tips such as starting on a new line, which is something some of my children find hardest to remember.  I decided to use a different approach, to help cover the...
Keep reading