Practice writing in the classroom with Carnigie's MyStory Maker

My Carnigie's story maker is an excellent tool that can be used for teaching creative writing to your students. With this tool, students will be able to create a story in minutes, with animation if desired, and then share their story with somebody else or even create a print out.  My Carnigie Story Maker is extremely user friendly and students can get started within minutes and won't need much training to do so.  Students will be able to get their creative juices flowing as they practice their English Language skills and if you happen to be a Foreign Language teacher, this site would be great for your students as well.

Tutorial

1.  Go to the following link:  http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm

2.  Click on the "Click to Begin" in the middle of the book image.  Once you have a story you can access it by typing in a code that will be provided at the bottom of the book image.

3.  Your students will now write their names in the book.  Click the "OK" button.

4.  Your students will now pick a character from the "Character" list.

5.  They will now set a general plot for the story.  For my story I chose the "Make Friends" option.

6.  Now you can select another main character for your story.

7.  Now that your story premise is set up, click the "OK" button that should now be visible.

8.  You can either view the instructions or you can click on the "Start Story" option to get writing.

9.  At the bottom of the page is where you can create the written portion of your story.

10.  If you click on one of your characters, you will see new options appear at the top left corner of your screen.  With these you can animate, add facial expressions, and have your characters interact with each other.

11.  if you want to move to the next page just click the green arrow at the bottom of each part of your story. Also have your character use many of the objects.  You can change your setting as well as add setting objects.  Your students will have a ton of fun designing their stories using the built in objects and animation capability.

12.  Once you are done with your story you can click the preview button which will show you what your book would look like and if you are satisfied just click the "End" button.

13.  The Story Maker will now start publishing your book.

14.  Your students will now have the ability to view their story from this next screen.  Note that they should write down their "Magic code" if they want to gain access to their stories again.  You can also print their stories in full color to make magnificent printed books.  Your students will be able to email their stories home using the "Share" button.  Finally you can create PDF versions of your story so that you can use them for years to come or highlight the best work of your students over time.