Our studio’s podcast Story Seeds is a Common Sense Media Selection and was nominated for a Webby Award for Best Individual Episode. It has also been featured in Wired, Parents, and Principal Leadership magazines, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts kids and family curated lists, and was The Week Junior magazine’s Podcast of the Year in 2020! Because we know that podcasts are for so much more than listening, we also published a companion activity book for kids ages 6-12. We are thrilled to share that Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity is a Wirecutter/New York Times “Best Gifts for 10 Year Olds” pick!
Podcastng 101: A Self-Paced, Online Course for Educators!
Whether you are a podcast enthusiast who has always been curious about what it takes to start your own podcast, a K-8 teacher or school librarian podcast newbie who wants to introduce podcasting into your classroom, a homeschooling parent who wants to support your child in starting a podcast, or a public librarian looking to host podcasting workshops for your patrons (young & old), this self-paced online course that introduces you to the nuts and bolts of podcasting is for you! Each module should take you approximately 2 hours to complete and features an introductory slideshow presentation, downloadable handouts and activities, resources, and brief assessments. Also included are bonus video presentations from nearly a dozen youth and professional podcasters who visited past Story Seeds camps and classes, including Ben Strouse (Gen Z Media), Mick Sullivan (The Past and the Curious), and Polly Hall (Ear Snacks).
Sign up here.
Say hello to our AI tool to teach writing!
“My 12 year old son has a very imaginative and creative personality but has always struggled with writing. He developed a lot of anxiety around writing in school and has never been able to get his amazing ideas out onto paper without a lot of effort and tears. Story Generator Lab is such a breath of fresh air for him. He is having so much fun using it to create stories and he is comfortably engaged and excited to write. He loves reading the stories out loud and it's just such a joy to see his relationship with writing change in this positive way. We are going to integrate Story Generator Lab into our homeschooling curriculum.”—Parent Review
Why We Created a Story Lab Generator
There’s been a lot of talk in recent months about artificial intelligence (AI) and the impact it will have on the teaching of writing, plagiarism, and publishing. Our exploration of OpenAI’s chatGPT got us wondering: Is there a way we can leverage the tremendous power of AI as a tool to help teach writing? Research clearly shows that students learn best by example and modeling writing encourages them to share their work and be receptive to feedback. The result of our brainstorming led to the idea for Story Generator Lab, an AI-driven platform where writers (young and old!) can watch a short story grow and evolve based on the "style sheet" of elements of storytelling that they select. We invite you to test our prototype and send us your feedback It’s very much a work in progress and we’d love to discuss opportunities to collaborate as we consider how to grow it.