Overview
Telestory is an Mobile App designed to make building video stories easier. They phrase it this way “TeleStory is an augmented reality video camera that gets kids off the couch to perform and record their own TV shows through creative play.”
Essentially Telestory scaffolds students as they go through the creative process of telling a story via video. It has you select your music, the background, story type and then asks you to write up cue cards to read as you are recording.
Graphics are big, bold and obnoxious! Maybe that is a good thing. 😉
They were recently purchased by Google. Maybe this is part of a Google effort to move into the education space.
Concerns
For story telling fun, this app is great. As a classroom teacher, it has a more nuanced use. It does a nice job of scaffolding, but the focus is on big and bold graphics which may pull the kids away from the art of storytelling and more into the world of entertaining themselves.
Sample Uses
- Create a news broadcast
- Create a weather report
- Retell a story of something that happened
- A day in the life of someone story
Do I Plan to Use It?
I would like to use it to introduce the idea of storytelling via video. After they so a few of them in Telestory, then time to move on to another app that does not assist them quite as much. So it is a good stepping stone.
Commitment and Learning Curve
It is well designed, but using a mobile app like this is a medium learning curve. More so if you are looking to use this as a learning tool in the classroom. If it is an entertainment device for good fun, then the learning curve is lower.
Best for ES MS or HS?
Mostly ES, but you could use this in the MS, again, to demonstrate the steps it takes to tell a story.
Cost
Free!
Website Link
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
