How Can Teachers Use It?
Instead of assigning standard story starters, use the app to give students the opportunity to choose their own creative topics. You can use the app as a daily exercise, devoting a few minutes during each class. or require that students write for a set period of time as part of their homework. While students have control over the app's timer, you might want to encourage students to increase their time as their skills improve. This could help them improve their writing stamina, and might also translate to other writing skills, beyond creative storytelling.
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What's It Like?
Upon opening Writing Challenge, students are presented with a giant orange start button -- the app wastes no time getting them engaged. Suggestions come in the form of settings, conflicts, vocabulary words, or unique lines of dialogue that may help writers start a story. For example, settings might include "in a jail" or "on a distant planet," while the conflict could be "suffers a serious accident," or "receives a threatening message." Other ideas offered might include vocabulary words like "malicious," "smoker," "horseman" or "peanut" as well as specific lines of dialogue.
After the prompt ideas are listed, students write on the selected prompt for a set amount of time and, when the time is up, select another idea to add to the story. They can stop after a few rounds or keep their stories going for pages.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Writing Challenge relies on it's timer feature to help incite ideas on the spot, which can be just what some kids need when trying to write a story. While enthusiastic writers can choose longer time limits to further develop an idea, shorter time limits might help encourage reluctant writers to simply write a little bit at a time. In either case, the timer helps give each prompt a sense of urgency, encouraging kids to simply get their ideas down on paper.
Writing Challenge can be a solid way to get students started in the writing process. As they add steps, students can move beyond formulaic stories and traditional plot patterns, developing highly creative narratives. Writing Challenge's goal is to help kids get started, and it does this well. However, as students are likely to write beyond a story's beginning, the app might benefit from extensions to help guide students further in the process. Information and tips on plot structure, narrative arc, or even the process of revision could make for nice additions.
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Students can choose a scenario or opt to see another.
Time limits help students develop writing stamina.
A countdown clock tells students how much time they have left.
After writing about the first scenario, students choose another to add to the story.
Students can write about multiple scenarios and keep track of them within the app.
