My StoryMaker

My StoryMaker is a site by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. I heard about this in passing and was intrigued, so decided to give it a shot. I'm glad that I did.

MSM, is a great site for young readers/storytellers. The user selects the characters, props, scenery, and supplies all the text. Also, you choose how the story goes w/ preset effects such as emotions and actions.

Once the story is done you can either print it out via a PDF or save it online to view as a PDF. I only wish they had some kind of export feature that allows you to download it or post it as a .mov file. I had to use Screen Flow to make my sample "interactive".

Below is my sample short story I created...



Create your own story by clicking here.

Myths and Legends

Myths & Legends or ML as I call them is such a great resource for teachers/students. It is ideal for English/history. Basically, ML is a place where students can create their own myth or Legend and then post it online. Creating the Myth is very easy and not only can you upload your own pictures (or choose from their stock footage), you can record your own voice to narrate your story.

What makes ML so great is the "submissions" of stories before they get posted online. All stories have to be approved by a moderator/teacher before they can be posted. This totally eliminates anything inappropriate from occurring on their site. Actually, if you are doing this in Windows you can download your story and share it that way.

The only "gray" area I have is about their comment feature. I'm not sure if there is a built in filter or if comments have to be approved before they get posted. I have an email into them regarding this aspect.

For more info click here.

Below is an example of a Myth & Legend I created...

Alice Storytelling

Alice Storytelling is a spin-off of Alice.org. Alice is a user friendly application for Mac/Linux/Windows used to create 3D-animations/games. Think of it as a more advanced version of Scratch. They both need to be downloaded to use and both teach programming skills. However, w/ Scratch you can actually upload your game to their site to share w/ others.

Alice Storytelling is a bit different. It is designed specifically for Middle School and does not have any of the game components. It is for creating a digital-3D story and either printing out a story-board by creating screen-shots, or by creating an actual movie.

Below is a short example of a story...



For more info on Alice Storytelling click here.