Pick Pictello!

I downloaded Pictello onto my iPhone on the first day of class but hadn't really spent much time playing with it- mainly because I realized that I could only share my stories with other i(pad/touch/phone) users who had paid $18.99 for it.  I wonder when the upgrade will allow uploading stories to email or Facebook?  Since then, I have tried using it with a few students and found that with or without a sharing platform, they LOVE to hear and see themselves and their work.  I'm experimenting with it at the moment.  Thinking of potential for the app in schools...

• preparation for school:  introduction to rooms in the school, key staff, some classmates
• sequencing stories: students could draw a story map on paper or another app, use those as pictures, and narrate the events
• teaching or assessing comprehension of historical events/ social studies concepts: (could be paired with a text to speech program to gather information) take photos of battles, artifacts, flags, maps, students in a freeze frame, or artwork- narrate actions or significance to match
• teaching concepts about print:  top to bottom, left to right, front to back, word-vs- letter
• teaching self-care procedures: using students' own photos and/or voice
• preparing for a special event/ trip: do a recce to take photos to familiarize students with the venue
• a to-do list for a period of time broken into chunks (pages):  complete one task and turn the page to find out what's next- like a visual schedule that talks
• EAL, SLP, or students learning to speak: students can try to pronounce a word or sentence describing the content of  a photo and then check against the pre-recorded or spoken text pronunciation
• Pre-teaching vocabulary: introduce students to vocabulary they will need to use/ understand/ be aware of in units across the curriculum
• Visual glossary: photo and definitions can be created by individuals or groups, saved and studied