A picture is worth a thousand words...

Everyone's heard of the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Well, I think that pictures can be a great way to have students visualize their own writing. Here's a great assignment idea- have your students write a short story, poem, narrative, any sort of creative writing. Once they have written the story, record the audio of them reading the story outloud. (Most new computers these days come with a microphone built in; otherwise, purchasing an external microphone is easy). Then, using a standard program like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, your students can choose pictures that go along with their story, and create a "digital story"! You can either have your students take their own pictures and then upload them to a computer, or do a GoogleImages search for pictures. The students will really get into this, and it helps them to visualize their characters, the setting, and the sequence of events.

Here's one I made about my experience in TV Productions in high school...

These can be time consuming, but it's something your students will be really proud of and will want to share with others when you're done. I've even heard of teachers having "premiere" nights where they play all the videos and invite the students, friends, and parents to come watch.