Sirikt 2015 International Conference

27th – 29th May 2015

Sirikt 2015 International Conference - 27th – 29th May 2015

Motivating third-year pupils for creative writing and cooperative learning using the Story jumper programme

Mateja Chvatal, OŠ Domžale

Third year pupils have been increasingly reluctant to write in their notebooks. This year, I have therefore decided to start introducing them to IT in order to increase their motivation for all forms of writing. In my own experience as a teacher, pupils of this age are old enough to start getting acquainted with computers and IT as a learning aid and to start learning from one another. Story Jumper is a very colourful and attractive programme that provides almost limitless possibilities for verbal and visual expression. Pupils can choose among several image, scene and character templates, or create their own scenes from drawings, photographs and scanned images imported into the programme. A key benefit of using Story Jumper is that it allows linking various subjects (Slovene, Art, English) while at the same time promoting cooperation between pupils, daycare teacher and class teacher. In this sense, it is an extension of learning into the pupils’ after school, free time activities. The creative work and verbal expression was a source of joy and relaxation for the pupils, who designed interesting cartoons, illustrations of school activities, descriptions of their weekly schedules, concepts of books etc. These successes inspired the pupils with confidence.