BoomWriter is a web-based collaborative and competitive writing tool that offers students a unique way to co-author a book. Teachers give students a "story start" and they write follow-up chapters and can vote on their favorite chapters. The winning chapter is posted and students can compete once again until the book is finished. All the writing and class management tools are available for free, or teachers can upgrade to the pro-version to add progress-tracking and rubrics.
BoomWriter is a tool that allows students to utilize the benefits of technology in the classroom for a diverse writing experience. Students can create, share and collaborate on their writing. Voting boosts confidence and allows students to read what their classmates have written for a shared learning experience. Students can receive comments from peers.
Students can create books as a whole class, or teachers can do a Think-Pair-Share and have students compare the path they took.
Teachers can use writing prompts to support units on different subjects or based on a lesson they are teaching. For example, after teaching a mini lesson on narrative writing and introducing the criteria for narrative writing, give the students a prompt to practice these skills.
Teachers report and increase in motivation when students have the opportunity to revise their work given peer feedback (Lapp, Shea, & Wolsey, 2010, p.188). BoomWriter gives students the chance to review and vote on each other's work, allowing for peer feedback.
Students are considered motivated when they appear to be engaged in the tasks and activities (Boscolo & Gelati, 2019, p. 51). Giving authentic writing tasks involves students and helps them to enjoy writing (Behizadeh, 2014; Rodesiler & Kelley, 2017, p.56). BoomWriter motivates by actively engaging students by making them part of the story-writing process. BoomWriter is an authentic experience because students are able to choose the path they take with the prompt.
Brief writes and prompt writing provide the opportunity to practice a specific writing skill conected to what they are learning. Teachers can use a rubric or Curriculum Based Measurement checking on length, spelling, grammar and semantics (Wilson, 2019, p.341). BoomWriter gets students to write using starter prompts where the teacher can grade using a rubric using the Pro version and progress-track as well.
Graham, S., MacArthur, C. A., & Hebert, M. (2019). Best practices in writing instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.
Elementary School Writing Apps and Websites. (2018, August 8). Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/top- picks/elementary-school-writing-apps-and-websites