10+ Tech Projects for ILA

One of the things I love to do with my teachers is find an add-on project that is technology-based for their lessons. And when it comes to Integrated Language Arts, there are a plethora of ways for students to express their understanding of a topic.

Here are just 10 of my favorites (and  a bonus +1)

1. Movie Trailers - I generally have students pick their favorite book and make a movie trailer for it. When they finish the trailer, they make a sign with the book jacket and a QR Code that is hung outside the library. (iMovie, Animoto, Adobe Spark Video, PhotoStory, WeVideo)

2. Comic Strip - students choose a scene from a book and create a comic strip (6-panel). (Powtoon, Google Slide, StoryboardThat)

3. Infographic - a poster that highlights one or more characters: features quotes, character traits; ideas are endless. (Canva, Adobe Spark, Glogster)

QR Code for Book Trailer

4. Reader Theater - scene/summary of a book or my favorite: assigning parts and having the students act them out and create sound effects. (Audacity, Garage Band)

5. Podcast - interview a character from a book (Audacity, GarageBand)

6. Brochure - character/place as a tourist tri-fold (Google Slides, Power Point, Publisher)

7. Fake Social Media - conversations using fake social media templates, this can be done digitally or on paper (ClassTools: Twitter, Fakebook templates)

8. Wanted Poster - create posters for the antagonist or other characters (Canva, Adobe Spark Page, Slides)

Google Slides Comic Strip Panel

9. Webpage - showcase understanding of characters, plot, theme (Adobe Spark website, Google Sites)

10. Stop Animation - recreate a scene from novel study using stop motion. My favorite so far has been from the book Wonder. (Lego Animation iOS app, Google Slides, HeronAnimation )

BONUS: BigHugeLabs -- create Trading Cards, Movie Posters, Magazine Covers, and Cubes to showcase characters, theme, and summaries 


What are your favorite resources or tools for integrating technology into your lessons?

Disclaimer: There are no affiliate links on this page - I make no profit from recommendations

Digital Storytelling with Story Jumper

One of the most interesting parts of my job is trying out new technology and resources for my teachers. I love experimenting with different tools and finding ways to use them in lessons. I also enjoy watching my students use a new resource and make it their own.

One of the surprise hit picks this year was StoryJumper. StoryJumper is a digital storytelling website that allows you to write, illustrate and create a digital book. The site provides prompts and illustrations or allows you to create your own from scratch. 

According to the website: "StoryJumper is a site that gives teachers, students, parents, and authors a fun set of intuitive tools for writing and illustrating stories. Our goal is to inspire anyone that's ever wanted to write an illustrated story to get started!"

In our cross-curricular project with ILA, Art, Media Center & Technology, 6th grade students created a retelling of the classic fairy tales. They rewrote a chosen fairy tale and illustrated each page, then scanned each illustration as a .JPG file so they could upload the pictures into StoryJumper.

Once completed, StoryJumper compiles the text and pictures into a story book, which can then be viewed or shared digitally as well as ordered in various options of paperback, hardcover or digital versions.


The kids did a fantastic job with the project - and their final books were awesome. They learned that writing and editing went hand in hand - even if it was hard work - it was well worth the end result. 
Our school ordered a copy of each book for our library and we had a book signing with the students when they were delivered. 


I'm sure there are a multitude of ideas and uses for this website - our students were truly engaged for this.  Teachers can sign up and use it for free.