Being an educator during the 21st century, where technology continues to emerge in innovative ways, certainly allows for an interesting day within the classroom. Such technology can lead to unbelievable student engagement when implemented correctly. As educators, it is our job to understand emerging technologies, 21st century skills, and overall best pedagogical approaches that will lead to an effective and relevant education for our youth. It is one thing to just use current technology to take place of traditional methods, such as digital journaling versus paper and pencil journaling, and it is another thing to use current technologies to provide students with an education that will allow for success in their college and career endeavors. For example, I have found Storybird very beneficial in my classroom only after I modeled to my students what was expected and provided guided practice with such. The stories that were created before those expectations were set, during the introduction stage of the application, provided very little substance and creativity. Thus, with every piece of technology we use in the classroom it is very important we provide students with an understanding of expectations they should be striving for when using such technology. We can’t expect students know how to use such technology effectively and appropriately no matter how comfortable they seem when using the technology itself.
Storybird is a digital storytelling tool. The tool allows students to create three different types of books, longform books (multiple chapters), picture books (basically one chapter with multiple pages), and poems (one image with writings). Unlike other digital storytelling applications, Storybird allows their users to receive a final copy in a high resolution digital download, a soft cover book, and/or a hard cover book. Whereas the soft and hard cover book cost money, users can earn “crowns” (digital token like things) to purchase a digital PDF copy. Users can receive digital crowns by submitting work and winning challenge contests (different contests posed by the application), getting a work approved by a public library, and/or partaking in daily writing. The daily writing is where my students earn their digital crowns, as all they have to do is log into Storybird and create/edit any of their writings. It is a major incentive for students to earn the ability to “purchase” a digital PDF copy of one of their own creations by being creative writers! Furthermore, students can “purchase” their fellow classmate’s creations as well if they wanted to! 
As the teacher I am able to set up a digital class through which students join by using a class code. I do not have to worry about students coming across inappropriate material as there is a filter for students under sixth grade. As students use different artwork within the application other students can get ideas and collaborate with each other all within the application. All students’ creations are available inside the digital class allowing me to review and guide students with ease. Visual learning tools in general provide students with a greater sense of involvement and overall engagement. The general nature of creating visuals allows students to take pride in their work. Furthermore, when combining visual media creation tools with web based applications students tend to put forth a more meaningful effort as they are aware their creations will be viewed by a large audience! 
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