Looking for an easy way to encourage youngsters to write about a variety of different topics? Users simply choose an image to write about from a large selection of beautiful photographs and then compose original opinion pieces and narratives.
Additional Tags
App Overview
From the Home Page:
- Search for something particular in a category
- Browse 19 provided categories or choose a custom category created by you
- Go to a random prompt
- View a file of all of your Write Abouts
- Create your own category and prompt
- Access settings
- Read the information page, which includes the rationale for the app and contact information
- Tap the music note to turn the sound on and off
How to Write About:
- Once you've chosen a category, choose an image within that category to write about
- The photo will enlarge and a prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen
- If you'd like, change the level of difficulty and other settings by tapping on the wrench; there are three different levels for each prompt
- Tap the speaker icon to hear the prompt read out loud
- Touch the pencil to begin writing; this will prompt the writer to input a title and author and will then open up a new screen
- The new screen places the image on one side, a piece of lined paper on the other, and the prompt along the bottom
- Compose your response
- Save or share your work
Sharing Options:
- If you tap Save/Publish, the writing saves into My Write Abouts, accessible from the home page
- Share by e-mail
- Save to camera roll
Features:
- Flip through enlarged images and prompts in a category by tapping the arrow buttons
- Create your own prompt using your own picture or choose a preloaded image by touching the camera icon on the image screen
- Turn text prompts, voice prompts, and spell check on and off
- Choose a prompt level
- Set a default to address for e-mail to ensure that your pupils are sending their work only to you; this is accessible from the settings menu
Instructional Ideas
Choose a prompt as a class and spend time writing together. Share responses with a partner and then as a whole class. There are so many writing prompts included, you could do this every day!
If you have personal tablets or a cart, send learners off to choose their own topic and write about it. They can send you their work when they are complete. This way, you won't have piles of papers to sift through and all writers will be responsible to turn something in at the end of the activity.
Allow individuals or small groups to create their own prompts. Brainstorm ideas as a class and allow members to take pictures about compose prompts on the tablet. Other students can access this work when they use the app for writing.
Classroom Considerations
All writing happens on your device. When you e-mail, Write About This sends your work as a PDF, which means editing options are limited. If you want class members to keep working on and editing the work they start on this app, they will need to be able to return to it or write their response on a separate sheet of paper or Word processor.
Be careful with the "create your own" option. Monitor classroom use of this feature for appropriateness.
Pros
- Includes many beautiful images
- Three levels of prompts provide built-in differentiation
- Users have a choice in what they write, and all topics are appropriate for the classroom
Cons
- None