This literacy website (free for teachers) allows  students to collaborate with classmates to create and publish stories in a competitive environment. Kids read, write, compete and get published. A highly engaging instructional tool, it’s applicable across many curriculum areas and in a variety of educational settings (whole class, small group and after school) and aligns to Common Core. Students are provided with the first part of a story selected by their teacher and written by a professional author. After reading this first chapter, each child writes what he or she thinks should happen next. They then read the anonymous submissions of their peers and vote on the piece they like the most. The one with the most votes becomes the next part of the story, and the process continues until the predetermined number of chapters have been completed and the story is finished. BoomWriter then publishes each story, and these books can be purchased from the site’s bookstore. The growing interest in BoomWriter has led to the development of The BoomWriter Writing Club giving kids the opportunity to engage in creative writing outside of the classroom, and to collaborate with children worldwide. Also cool: the company periodically conducts Celebrity Guest Author competitions giving kids the chance to get published alongside a celebrity. Check out “America’s Next Big Star” (click the link, then scroll down to the video) to get a feel for what this is all about, it’ll suck you right in and you’ll understand why this is such an excellent tool for inspiring students.