It is not uncommon to hear a student ask a friend, “Did you see my story last night?” Chances are, they are not talking about a published book of their life. Rather they are likely referring to their Snapchat or Instagram story in which they posted pictures and captions to let others in on their actions and thoughts. So, why not use this in the classroom?
By simply adjusting the page layout and adding a few text boxes, you can create templates in Google Slides that mirror those of the social media stories that students know so well. While students read a text or learn about new lands, they can add to their stories to show important events and concepts rather than just adding the information to a traditional slideshow.
Below are just a few ways this could be used in classrooms:
ELA: Have students assume the role of a character and “snap” or add to their “Insta-story” during conflicts, important plot events, or to show a lesson learned. Students can then comment and hashtag to show the feelings of the character during this event.
Social Studies: While learning about an ancient civilization or exploration of a new land, students can travel back in time to add to their stories to show and describe the battles, discoveries, architecture, or roles of the people.
Math: Students can personify a mathematical operation (+,-, x, ÷) and create a story in their perspective. Examples: Division is always separating people/things, addition can’t get enough, etc. Comments and hashtags can be used to really show the amount of work these operations go through daily.
Science: Students can create a story to show the scientific method of a lab that includes hashtags to show their understanding (or modifications made) of each step.
Music/Band/Choir: Students can create a story from the perspective of a composer or songwriter that shows the steps of the composition process. To take it a step further, students could add real videos to show how this is not a one-step process.
Art: Students could create a story of a gallery walk in which they add pictures and captions of different art movements or of a specific artist.
Living Skills: Students can create a story to show the steps of cooking a dish or meal. Students would start with images to show the planning/shopping stage all the way to the finished product!
There are so many ways the format of social media stories can be added into all classes to show understanding of a concept. Rather than assigning students to one more traditional slideshow, why not give them the opportunity to show their creative side in a “story?”
And, I promise they are very enjoyable to grade!