The Write About This app has a huge variety of idea-sparking prompts that can inspire even the most reluctant writers. However, there will likely be instances in your classroom where you want students to respond to a unique topic or image. These may tie writing assignments more closely to your curriculum, allow reflection of learning from a variety of subjects or facilitate student-created inquiry. Well, good news…because the app provides incredible versatility by allowing users to create their own image, text and audio prompts!
Here are the easy steps for students and teachers to create customized prompts:
At the app home page, click on the “Create a Prompt” button.
This will take you to a customization screen where you have up to three media options to input. In Step 1, students can add a picture two ways. They can take a picture using the iPad or pull a picture they already have on the iPad’s Camera Roll. In Step 2, students can type a text prompt to accompany the image they added. In Step 3, students can use the Record Audio function to record an audio prompt to match the text or provide further comment/instruction.
In this example, a picture was taken and pulled in from the Camera Roll of the iPad. A text prompt was typed into the Add Text area of Step 2. and then we recorded our voice reading the prompt. Finally, make sure you select “Save to Category” to keep the prompt stored in the Custom category folder.
Once saved, the Custom category will open and you can select the prompt you created.
To respond to the prompt, students simply need to select “Write” on the bottom right-hand corner!
From this point, students can write, publish, and share as they can for any built-in prompt in the Write About This app! Note that the prompts are stored on the specific iPad it was created on. Navigate back to all custom prompts in the “Categories” page of the Write About This app by choosing the Custom icon.
We know you and your students will enjoy creating prompts across the curriculum, and have even more fun writing about them!!
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Lani deGuia is a teacher, instructional technologist, and social media manager. She has over 13 years of educational experience in traditional and online classroom settings for both K-12 and adult learners. She currently works in digital content and strategy for businesses and personally blogs at Rose Tinted Traveler.