It took me a while to decide what to write about today. I scoured lists of websites and apps, played on GeoGuesser, and looked through some science websites. I landed on a website and creation tool that teachers can use to engage young student writers. I tried out Boom Writer. As a former creative writing major now turned librarian graduate student, I am pretty excited about it.
Teachers can use Boom Writer to assign writing prompts to their classes. They can name their classes, and keep track of multiple classes. After creating classes, teachers can send students (and parents) their login information. From there, the teacher can begin assigning prompts for students to respond to.
There are three options on Boom Writer. First, teachers can post the first chapter of a story. There are some pre-written selections to choose from. You can choose from 3 levels of writing: basic, intermediate, or advanced, depending on your class’ age group. Or you can write your own beginning, basing the story on what you know your students are interested in. I decided to write my own first chapter. It went something like this:
Ben hated Halloween. He hated the scary costumes, the jack-o-lanterns that seemed to be laughing, and the scary movies on TV. He liked the candy. That was the only reason he put a sheet over his head with two eye-holes, grabbed a pillow case, and headed out with his little sister. But, he had forgotten the worst part of Halloween. The worst part of Halloween was the old haunted house on the end of the street. No one trick or treated near it.
Until today.
Ben and his sister approached the old house and knocked on the door. It creaked open like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. His sister looked up at him. No one had opened the door. The door knob didn’t even twist.
“Do we go inside?” His sister asked.
Using Boom Writer, a teacher can write instructions for students to write the next few chapters. They can place a word limit and a deadline for students. In large classes, students can see each other’s entries and vote on their favorites. The top entry will be the next chapter. After completing a whole book, there’s an option to purchase a physical book copy of what the students have created (of course there’s a fee). It’s easy to customize the assignment to your classroom needs. Since this is a haunted house story, I asked students to include a chapter with three action verbs and two adjectives to really set the scene. But for advanced students, maybe teachers ask them to add dialogue that’s formatted correctly, or write a new chapter with a cliffhanger. The fact that students are in charge of the story is a very cool option for students to engage with writing. This will create a community of writers that can bounce ideas off of each other and grow their skills as they read each other’s writing.
Students can also keep personal journals on this site that no one else can see. These can be used as exit tickets, reflection tools, mindful activities, or activities that inspire students to write. I created a prompt for students to write three goals they have for the week. But there are so many prompts you can create. A teacher can see what students write and provide feedback as well. I can see this being a great tool to build self-regulation skills and to build a relationship between the teacher and the student. Journals are quite common in classrooms and this could be a good option for teachers that want to try a digital journal.
There is also an option to assign general writing assignments. You can prompt students to write a poem, an informative essay or paragraph, or a piece of creative writing. This will keep all the student’s in writing place, and help the teacher monitor their progress over time. Teachers can provide vocabulary that the students might need to know, and set deadlines that work for them. This part may not be as exciting, because teachers are already finding ways to assign these prompts to students without Boom Writer. Plus, not every student is going to have computer access at home if these are assigned as homework. But, for students that are 1:1 in classrooms, this could be interesting.
I found this website incredibly easy to navigate. There are no ads, but there are some places where the site will ask you to try out their premium account. Yet overall, you can create new assignments with the touch of a button. The site always includes small question marks that users can click for help and more information. There’s also a downloadable PDF that gives step by step instructions to help you design the best assignments for your class. There is always help where you need it on this site.
Librarians could also easily share this website with their colleagues and instruct them in using it. For ELA or creative writing teachers, this could help students engage with writing prompts and create their own stories. Maybe each month, students complete their own short stories based on what they’re learning. Maybe science teachers use it so students can reflect on the labs they’ve completed, or connect concepts from one unit to the next. Maybe social studies teachers have students write responses to prompts about document based questions. Or students can write a story about a character that’s living in the time period and place they’re learning about.
In elementary libraries, students can answer prompts or create their own poems that correspond with lessons or read-alouds. They may also keep a library journal to reflect on what they’ve learned. In both elementary and secondary libraries, this could be a good space for students to keep an inquiry journal. Students can keep logs of their keyword searches, their brainstorming pages, and their reflection notes. If the librarian has a writing club, perhaps they can use this to have students peer review each other’s writing. This can help students build communication skills and sharpen their writing skills. There are so many interesting avenues for Boom Writers to explore.
Gabrielle Weiss Blog 