Narrable      

I still haven't processed all that I learned at FETC last week, but one of my favorite new tools so far can help any teacher and student to make audio an easy and exciting part of learning is Narrable.com. Their mantra on their website is "Everything is a story!" I also believe that is true. Stories are art and add beauty to conversations, studies and teaching. Even if you are not a good storyteller, some of your students are. Give them the opportunity to preserve their tales. According to their website, "Narrable uses storytelling through images and narrations to engage students and to draw out important higher order thinking skills." The ease of use gives students and teacher a platform like none I've seen previously. Digital storytelling combines all the essential skills of storytelling around the campfire or in the town square, but adds the element of a much wider audience. Students are more apt to edit their work when it's digital because it's easy. This leads to a high quality product because the students who have a potential global audience will inherently want to design work that others will enjoy. Narrable.com offers a unique platform that is engaging, aesthetic, simple and brilliant. Please share this tool with as many teachers as you can. That's the fun part.

I may sound like a broken record, but I am a huge advocate for recording student voices in all arenas. Recording is more powerful than images to me and then when you can combine voice and images you have a real impact. Narrable.com gives us a very clean and simple interface for recording online, calling in by phone or uploading your own recording. I like to encourage teachers to have their students record their stories after they have written them because the passion shines through loudly when you hear their written word in their own voice. If you have some great audio stories, please share on Twitter @seddonk or by email: tuesdayswithkaren@gmail.com

How do you get started with Narrable.com. Like most programs, you create an account and you get limited use for FREE. They do have an education area where teachers are free and an unlimited amount of narrables for $5 a month. I recorded two verses for you as a sample of what a Narrable recording looks and sounds like.

https://tinyurl.com/tuesdays-narrable1

https://tinyurl.com/tuesdays-narrable2

According to Jason Uhler, "Stories are how we remember." Students will be more engaged in a classroom that weaves storytelling into the fiber of its content. I would like to encourage you to use the power of audio to help your students remember content. It's a WIN- WIN for everyone.

Visit www.narrable.com for more information. They have a terrific support area. You can even call in your questions. Now that's novel these days.

"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."

ipadio   

LiveBinders 

Doceri 

NASA's Image Gallery 

Popplet 

Zoey's Room
Finance in the Classroom
Fotopedia 

The Common Good Forecaster  

Google Earth 

UJAM 

Symbaloo.edu 

Google Science Fair 

Stossel in the Classroom
Word Sift 

Lee Kolbert