Toontastic

With Toontastic, users are able to create animations by selecting the setting, characters, conflict, climax, and resolution. Users may personalize their animations by drawing and coloring specific characters, settings, and objects into their work. Plus, users can further personalize their animation with music and their own narration. When engaging the app, users are provided with directions that explain the five plot points in a story, which helps to create cohesive animations. The animations may be saved and shared online at ToonTube.

Instructional Ideas

1. English teachers can use this app as part of a creative writing lesson. To begin, students could complete a graphic organizer in which they summarize a narrative into five parts: (1) The Setup, (2) The Conflict, (3) The Challenge, (4) The Climax, and (5) The Resolution. Students then write a brief explanation for each category.  Next, teachers would require students to add details to each part of their narrative using a storyboard graphic organizer. Finally, students could produce their narrative into an animated cartoon using this app in conjunction with the supporting documents that they already created.
2. Social Studies teachers could have students reenact historical events using this app. For the setup, students could offer contextual information about the background of the event. For the conflict, students could explain the opposing views, and students could use the challenge to further articulate the differences between the opposing views and what they might mean. In the climax, students could explain how the conflict came to head, and then students would explain how the conflict was resolved in the resolution.
3. Using this app, students can animate a text they read to show their comprehension of it.
4. Students could use this app to present research. For instance, the setup could provide background information about the topic. The conflict could represent the student’s research question. In the challenge, students could summarize their research methods, and students would present their findings in the climax. Lastly, students would explain why their findings are or are not meaningful in the resolution.

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