Using Toontastic to Write Short Stories

Toontastic has surprised me with its potential to inspire students' narrative writing. Teaching writing is never an easy task, and any resources that will help me not only teach the process more effectively, but actually make it more enjoyable for students, is invaluable. Although I rarely ask students to write fictional stories because the pressure to prepare students for standardized tests demands that we focus on expository and narrative essay writing, I had to reconsider my approach after hearing children's author Matt Glover's presentation at the Arkansas Reading Recovery Conference in Hot Springs last October. Glover emphasized the importance of training students to have more independence in choosing topics and stressed that when students improve writing in any mode, such as creative writing, they will improve in the modes that are required on standardized tests as well. In other words, if students can practice the writing process and improve their writing style in short stories, we will see them improve in all their writing.

With this in mind, I asked students to brainstorm an idea for a short story using the Toontastic app, which allows them to choose a setting and characters or to create their own. After selecting a setting and characters, students begin recording their animation and their narration by moving the characters and telling the story. Most students choose not to record their voices, so instead, they will tell their story to the class when they present the completed animation. When they are satisfied with the animation of a scene, the app allows them to choose a music track that fits the mood of the scene (see Mood below). At this point, the scene is complete, and the students repeat the process to animate the next event. One of the advantages of Toontastic is that it moves students through a story arc, a visual representation of plot, including the rising action, climax, and resolution (see Interactive Story Arc below). 

Mood

Interactive Story Arc

As students are planning their story, they complete the the plot chart I upload onto our class fusion page. This requires students to describe the setting, characters, conflict, mood, and events with great detail; they must also choose at least five words from their vocabulary folder that they will include in their writing.

This ensures that they are doing more than just animating the scenes or being too distracted by using the app's many intriguing options, such as changing the colors of characters or drawing an elaborate setting. I give students one class period to decide on the basic plot and characters, and then they must submit a completed plot chart and typed short story before making additional changes to their animation; otherwise, it is tempting to work on the animation indefinitely without doing any writing. 


When they have finished their Toontastic animation, they present their stories to the class, reading the story first, then showing the cartoon that can be projected onto a Smart board or Promethean board.

Completed Animation

Variations: Because students can create their own settings and characters, the possible variations of stories are endless. Teachers could ask students to re-tell a fairy tale or an alternative ending for a story they have read recently. Once students have written their stories, teachers could use this as an opportunity to focus on revising style.
Modifications: ESL and other students who need modifications will benefit from the app's clear visual representation of plot sequence. Students could be paired to create the animation and then write a story, with reduced requirements, independently.