The Great Thanksgiving Listen is an initiative that is encouraging and empowering students to create an oral history of the United States by recording interviews with their elders using the free Story Corps app. And while the program requires students be over 13 to publish their work using this specific app, the curricular ideas (check out the toolkit at the bottom of this page) can be modified and used by students of all ages. Discover more in this quick 1 minute video.

The best way to learn more about this movement is to listen to some the heartwarming, and sometimes heartbreaking, stories. Below is a video of one animated story, as well as a link to many of the stories Story Corps has captured over the years. You can sort the stories by collection (i.e. justice, military, parenthood, etc.), date, and more.

Check out the toolkit and podcast below. There are many great resources that you can put to use right away.

It's time to spruce up your family history project with the use of Google's Tour Builder. Tour Builder allows you to create interactive digital stories by bringing together Google Earth maps, photos, and videos. Discover the power of this tool by watching the brief introductory video and viewing the sample tour project below (the example is not family history related).

Imagine using Tour Builder to map out historical events or settings in historical fiction books.

Learn how to use Tour Builder in your classroom by watching the video below.

Below are two sets of directions to help you get started. There are step-by-step directions for you and a student handout for your students.

Task cards are a great way to support your students in adding meaningful work to their Seesaw journals. The below video is lengthy, but if you zoom forward to 15:00, you will discover how one teacher uses task cards during Daily Five.

Learn awesome ideas for task cards by exploring below.

Use Google Slides to create task cards. Learn how below!

If you think the only use for Google Slides is presentation creation, you're in for a treat. From virtual museums to interactive notebooks to stop motion videos, the possibilities are endless. Watch the video below to check out some examples in action.

Learn how to take Google Slides beyond presentation software by clicking here.

Get inspiration from the examples below or consider using one of the following templates with your students. First, share a template with your students. (Learn how to share a template on Google Drive here.) Then, have your students access the shared template by clicking Shared with me in Google Drive.

​When I was a homeroom teacher, winter break marked the completion of many units and projects. Depending on where students were in the writing process, they would often publish their pieces before or after winter break. If your class is on the same page, the New Year will provide an opportunity to consider how your students will share their completed writing. In this post, I will present you with a variety of innovative ways for your students to publish and share their work with others, beginning with a few samples from my own students.

Below is an example of a student who wrote a biography and presented using a green screen to get in character.

Use foldables to create lapbooks. This works especially well with nonfiction. 

Feature student work with QR codes. In this example, the codes link to the students' finished research papers (linked online through a publishing site called Issuu) and 30 second video clips/commercials introducing their ancient Egypt topics. Scan the QR codes below or click here for a commercial and here for a writing piece.

Teach your students to be responsible digital citizens who are creators, not only consumres, of content. Create student blogs!

Now that I've shown you a few ways my students have published their writing, I will introduce you to samples from other teachers.

Use Stop Motion to animate and bring a story to life. Read Meghan Zigman's blog to learn how.

ChatterPix is a free app that makes a photo come to life with speech. Kids can draw, paint, or collage images. They can also find real photographs online.

Not all writing gets published; so by asking your students to publish their work, you will be presented with the opportunity to talk with your students about the differences between the writing we keep for ourselves and the writing we publish. By having your students share their writing with others, they will be held to a different standard of excellence, and they will rise to the occasion to publish their best work.

Still looking for ideas? Check out 5 more tips here.