Creator: utellstory.com | visit site
Grade Range: K - 11
UtellStory is a multimedia storytelling and sharing community. Easily create and share stories with audio, image, video, and words. Create an account using email information or login with Facebook to begin. Upload slide(s) from your computer, create a text slide, or insert YouTube or Vimeo video links. Free accounts may make up to 24 slides. Arrange slides in your preferred order after upload. Add background audio or change background style. Record your own audio for each slide or choose from existing mp3 files on your computer. Insert when finished. Audio in the free version is up to 30 seconds per slide. Preview and make changes as desired. Save to your account and return if not finished. When complete, choose from publish as a story or publish as a topic. Publish as a topic allows others to share and add to the story. Share your story using your custom URL, embed it into your website or blog using the code provided, or share it using social media buttons provided. This site could be used with all ages. However, with younger students, an adult would need to offer a lot of support. At the time of this review, all of the stories on the homepage were "kid-appropriate." However, be sure to preview before you share! The educator tools for managing student registrations are not free.
In the Classroom
UtellStory is a great way to enhance students’ learning to create and share short stories about things that they photograph. Have students take pictures during field trips to use in a UtellStory report about what they saw and learned on the trip. Photograph steps of a science experiment. Or have students search for Creative Commons and Public Domain images to use as part of an audio slideshow biography about a notable person in history or tell the story of the water cycle or other process. Try using 4 Free Photos, <a href="/single.cfm?id=15776">reviewed here</a>, or Compfight, <a href="/single.cfm?id=10280">reviewed here</a>, to find free images. Create a UtellStory to use for review of classroom topics or to demonstrate how to perform different steps in a math problem. Have students enhance their learning and create UtellStory presentations by using the multimedia features demonstrating learning in any subject area such as Civil War Events, different characteristics of animals, etc. Create a UtellStory for your elementary classroom: upload a picture that each student has drawn and have students narrate the picture in their own words.
At Home
Challenge your preteen or teen to create their own story with audio, words, images, and more. This would be a great site to create a multimedia project for school or at home. Have your student create a digital story rather than a traditional book report. Create a digital story for a family member (near or far). Email a faraway family member a digital storybook of photos (with the kids voices, of course).
Tags
digital storytelling, images, multimedia, slides,
Subjects
Art, English, Language Arts, Math, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Social Studies, Study Skills, TeachersFirst Edge, Writing,