Website review by Mieke VanderBorght, Common Sense Education | Updated April 2022
BoomWriter
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BoomWriter

Collaborative writing platform has the potential to motivate

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Learning rating
See full review
Community rating
Based on 6 reviews
Privacy rating
69%| Warning Expert evaluation by Common Sense
Grades
3–8
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Communication & Collaboration, Creativity
Great for
Media Literacy, Creating Media
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Website
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Take a look inside

7 images
Students write, publish, and get feedback.
Teachers choose from three assignment types.
Each writing project includes how-to videos and a clear step-by-step overview.
For the Story Book, teachers choose to write their own first chapter, or use one from the archives.
Teachers set the parameters for number of chapters, words per chapter, and number of days to write.
Student view with assignments, chat function, and a calendar.
Students can earn Boomer Bucks to develop their Boomer avatar.

Pros: Students build on the work of others.

Cons: Voting turn off students who struggle with writing. Thankfully, this is optional.

Bottom Line: There's creativity possibility in this tool's unique brand of collaborative and competitive writing, but teachers should take care to keep things positive.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

BoomWriter offers a bit of guidance to help teachers get started. Each of the three project types starts with a brief overview of the writing process. There are also writing prompts to help students get writing. Teachers can use those prompts or create their own. Craft assignments to introduce writing techniques (similes and metaphors, figurative language, dialogue, etc.) and encourage students to use them in their own writing. And, teachers can use vocabulary lists from any subject to give students a chance to use newly learned words.

Writing projects can support units on different subjects. In social studies, students could write historical fiction to explore past events, or have students respond to a story start pulled from a well-known book that challenges students to rewrite the rest. In science classes, teachers could use the open-ended tool to have students create study guides of key terms and concepts. Writing can happen individually or in pairs/small groups. Students can create books as a whole class, or teachers can break the class into two and have students compare the path each group took to develop the same story start. This could even happen between classrooms.

If your students really take to BoomWriter, you might look into the Writing Bee and seasonal events, which offer opportunities to collaborate with other writers across the country and popular authors.

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Standards:

BoomWriter is a web-based writing platform that focuses on getting students to collaborate, both as writers and readers. Teachers can assign three types of writing projects: Story Book, Student Journal, and Other. StoryBook allows students to co-author their own books. Teachers provide a "story start" -- essentially a first chapter -- and students write a follow-up chapter, submitting them for teacher approval. Meanwhile, other students vote anonymously on approved chapters; only the winning chapter's author is revealed, and their chapter is then added onto the story. From there, students go back to the drawing board, write versions of chapter three, submit for approval, and vote again. The process repeats until the book is finished. Student Journal gives students a space where they can submit articles on a regular basis for as long as the assignment stays open. And Other is an open-ended tool that lets teachers create an assignment for any subject. In all writing types, there's an option to provide a list of vocabulary words that students must use in context in their writing. Note that teachers can turn the voting feature on or off and can send work back to students for revision.

Teachers, students, and anyone with a unique code can visit the site to read completed books and even buy hard copies. Extras include Boomer Bucks that students earn for submitting chapters; they'll use these to buy accessories for their Boomer, or avatar. There's also a community writing competition called Writing Bee as well as seasonal events, some with famous authors.

BoomWriter gets students to take a more active role in the creative process. They'll feel proud to see a finished novel that they helped write. Some of the story starts are better written -- and more appealing -- than others, but teachers can also write their own. How much students learn with BoomWriter will depend heavily on teachers' scaffolding of the experience: what kind of help, guidance, and feedback they give on students' writing, and how well they tie story building into existing writing lessons. The three different writing options give teachers flexibility to set the best context for writing. The open-ended option helps BoomWriter fit non-ELA subjects .

Student voting brings some friendly competition to the experience. This can encourage some, but could discourage others. Teachers should scaffold the process carefully, especially for students who don't feel they're strong writers, as well as for ELLs and any other students with writing difficulties. The Boomer avatar design may appeal to some, but their big round heads and fanged teeth could come across as strange. The Boomer Bucks marketplace system is a distraction that seems out of place and belies the site's sophistication. Teachers should also be ready to manage expectations for purchasing the finished book as a class, or disparities among students if some parents decide to buy the book and others don't.

Overall Rating
Engagement

Students will have fun co-creating stories. Anonymous peer competition and "publishing" finished books will motivate some, though not all -- especially those less confident with writing.

Pedagogy

Students can stretch their creative muscles with inventive additions to a variety of stories. They'll learn about story arcs and practice writing skills and vocab. Deeper learning will depend on implementation.

Support

The teacher side is user-friendly; step-by-step guides and how-to videos help. The site could do more to instruct students in story development. The exercise isn't as accessible for ELLs and others with writing difficulties.

Common Sense reviewer
Mieke VanderBorght Researcher
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Key Standards Supported

Reading Literature

  • RL.4.2

    Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

  • RL.5.2

    Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

Writing

  • W.3.4

    With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.3.5

    With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

  • W.3.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.3.3b

    Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

  • W.3.3d

    Provide a sense of closure.

  • W.4.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.4.5

    With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

  • W.4.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

  • W.4.3b

    Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

  • W.4.3e

    Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

  • W.5.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.5.5

    With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

  • W.5.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

  • W.5.3b

    Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

  • W.5.3c

    Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events.

  • W.5.3d

    Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.

  • W.5.3e

    Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

  • W.6.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.6.5

    With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

  • W.6.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

  • W.6.3b

    Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

  • W.6.3c

    Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.

  • W.6.3d

    Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to convey experiences and events.

  • W.6.3e

    Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

  • W.7.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.7.5

    With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.7.3b

    Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

  • W.7.3c

    Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.

  • W.7.3d

    Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.

  • W.7.3e

    Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.

  • W.8.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.8.5

    With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.8.3b

    Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

  • W.8.3c

    Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events.

  • W.8.3d

    Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.

  • W.8.3e

    Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.

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Community Rating

(See all 6 reviews) (6 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Linda W. , Technology coordinator
Technology coordinator
Wareham Middle School
Wareham, United States
BoomWriter works well in a computer lab setting where all students can participate at one time.
I was looking for a tool that would quickly engage students in the writing process and add a little competition to the mix. BoomWriter offers both. You are able to select a pre-written prompts for students and then select the number of chapters that students will write. Students found it very engaging and loved the voting process because it allowed then to read what other students had written. It also encouraged them to become more flexible because when a chapter was declared a winner, students needed t ...
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Data Safety
How safe is this product?
Unclear whether this product supports interactions between trusted users.
Personal information can be not displayed publicly.
User-created content is not filtered for personal information before being made publicly visible.
Data Rights
What rights do I have to the data?
Users can create or upload content.
Processes to access or review user data are available.
Processes to modify data are available for authorized users.
Ads & Tracking
Are there advertisements or tracking?
Unclear whether personal information are shared for third-party marketing.
Unclear whether this product displays traditional or contextual advertisements.
Unclear whether this product displays personalised advertising.

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