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Tikatok: Imagine a story. Create a book. Inspire a kid!
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Good morning all,Why are we here? Do you wonder sometimes? According to Steven Wolk’s article, “Joy in School,” (which is awesome, a must read) in the September issue of Educational Leadership, we are here to teach children to love learning. It’s as simple as that!
How can technology help kids develop a love of learning, reading, writing, and more? Let me count the ways … :-) No seriously, great teachers have always helped children develop those passions, those of us immersed in the world of technology get it done with the assistance of tools like Tikatok.com, a terrific writing / publishing service for kids.
Let me begin with the end in mind. Check out this picture, from Tikatok’s website. Look at the joy in this child’s eyes and the pride on her face. Tikatok makes it easy for kids to write, illustrate and publish their own books. Would you be interested in results like this with your students? Of course!Ok ok ok, it’s just a website where kids create books, right? Technically that’s true, but first, read Tikatok in Education and check out the philosophy that drives this organization. Truly inspiring. These people “get it.” They absolutely understand that technology isn’t about technology but the connections it fosters between us, and our responsibilities as teachers to help make that happen in school. Their site makes that possible on many levels.
Tikatok’s website says “Tikatok™ is where kids channel their imagination into stories – and publish those stories into books for you to share and treasure with friends and family.” It’s all about the story. And the art. And the sharing, online (free!) or in printed books (which are, unfortunately, a bit expensive, in my view).
Let’s take a look at an example, Comet Sleeps in a Tent, by user “ttmae.”
Click the ‘fullscreen’ link above and let that story take up your entire monitor. Look at the details in the pictures and the words on in the story. It’s easy to imagine “ttmae” working furiously at his or her desk, creating those images, writing the words to the story. Ordinarily, their end product might end up proudly displayed in school or perhaps hung on the fridge at home. Now, it can be shared online, or even professionally printed and kept forever!
I’ve signed up for this site and hope you will, too. The Teacher Registration Form makes it easy to create accounts for your students (though mine went blank after I requested 125 accounts for my 2nd graders as a test.) I can’t wait to see what my kids do with this tool. Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about inspiring them, unleashing their creativity, helping them develop their love of learning. That’s why I’m here!
Hope this helps,
-kj-
Published on September 25, 2008 · Filed under: Musings;
6 Responses to “Tikatok: Imagine a story. Create a book. Inspire a kid!”
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Kevin: Once again, thanks for coming up with a fantastic resource! I’m sending this on to all of my teachers as we look for ways to students to get the chance to write across the curriculum. We are always looking for ways to give students the opportunity to create a project in a way that suits their own best way of learning and this adds another dimension to the growing list of project outcomes!
Also, thanks for the link to the article from Educational Leadership…I’m meeting with a group of educators in the next month and I can see this becoming a central theme of our discussions…(along with technology, of course!)
Keep up the great work!Michele Stansley
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Hi Michele!
Thanks for reading, glad you found my post useful!
That Ed Leadership article rocks … which of the “11 joys” most resonate with you? For me, it’s JOY 1: Find the Pleasure in Learning. I think we could virtually eliminate the necessity for formal professional development if schools simply recruited teachers who truly, honestly, deeply, love learning! Why? Because they teach themselves! I know I do! :-)
-kj-
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Michele Stansley said on September 25th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Preaching to the choir on that one…sharing the article with my staff/administration as well. I’ve spent the last two summers teaching at a local college in the area of professional development with technology and it always seems amazing to me that the teachers that come every summer are always so enthusiastic and full of excitement (aka “joy”) after just finishing up a school year and so ready to tackle a new year. I am fortunate to work with several teachers who have such joy for teaching. It is awesome! Life-long learners…proud to be one!
Michele -
This is Neal, Community Director at Tikatok. Thank you so much for your generous review, and for taking the time to really delve deeper into the philosophy of the site. It made me truly proud of what we’ve done so far. But there is much more to do, as clearly evidenced by the bug that gave you that blank page after registering. I wanted to let you and your readers know that it is now fixed, and to thank you for bringing it to our attention.
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Maureen Schoenberger said on November 3rd, 2009 at 11:27 am
Love this site! The kids can access it at home and finish their writing projects and are so motivated. We wrote halloween stories and it went so well!
One recent problem–what happened to the teacher dashboard? In the past we could create a teacher account and then set up a class under the same username and password , but a recent change has practically eliminated the teacher section. Instead of studnets it is now add your child. What is going on? Why the change? It was perfectly set up for teachers and using it in the classroom–with a parental letter, I don’t know why they changed this feature. Now I have to add each individual “Child” as my own kids. I also could not find any contact information to ask these questions. Maybe Neal is listening and will be able to answer these questions.
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Hi Maureen,
I’m happy to say that we are working on bringing back the teacher program on Tikatok. Please stay tuned!
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