Wow! There was so much in this module! It was hard to choose which tools to explore. But all of them were so much fun that I had to reign myself in after a while and start thinking about how I would actually use them in the classroom.
I have already used Voicethread in the classroom. Collaborating with our art teacher, my English class researched different art genres and created Voicethread presentations to "teach" the rest of the class about their genre. Students created slides of different artwork and used the tools on Voicethread to highlight and comment on different techniques used by the artists. The students really enjoyed using this technology and it worked great for a project like this.
I decided to explore Animoto since I have heard several other librarians and presenters talk about using it. It was super easy to use and I created a very quick video using younger photos of my children. Obviously, with the free 30-second version you are limited with how much you can include. But, as in the "I Watch America Fight" video, you can put a pretty powerful message into 30 seconds. This can be a great way to sum up a theme unit for English or Social Studies classes.
I also created a book on Storybird. What an interesting way to spark creative writing! In under five minutes, I had plugged in some pictures and created a short (and silly) story just to see how it's done. My second grade ELA students will love this! And I think it is easy enough to use that they will quickly be able to create books on their own. Great for visual literacy, creative thinking, and practicing their writing (and typing) skills.
I had a bit of trouble downloading Voki, and I'm not sure the students would have access to do this on their computers...so I didn't spend too much time with this one. Would have been fun to use for booktalks though. Will try to check it out again another time. While I am interested in digital timelines, Dipity and Meograph seemed a bit complicated for the younger students I teach. Toondo took a bit long to load and there was a bit of wait time in between each task, so I would have to check this out at school to see how it would work with several students on at once. I did like the "Lifecycles" example...how the students in Australia shared their new knowledge and posted it on their blog and then had comments from others, including a teacher in the U.K. Really liked Glogster and, since my daughter has already used it to create projects for school, I will be having her share her expertise with me. A lot of fun, engaging tools here. Now, I just need to figure out which ones will fit into and enhance what I am doing in my classes.
I have already used Voicethread in the classroom. Collaborating with our art teacher, my English class researched different art genres and created Voicethread presentations to "teach" the rest of the class about their genre. Students created slides of different artwork and used the tools on Voicethread to highlight and comment on different techniques used by the artists. The students really enjoyed using this technology and it worked great for a project like this.
I decided to explore Animoto since I have heard several other librarians and presenters talk about using it. It was super easy to use and I created a very quick video using younger photos of my children. Obviously, with the free 30-second version you are limited with how much you can include. But, as in the "I Watch America Fight" video, you can put a pretty powerful message into 30 seconds. This can be a great way to sum up a theme unit for English or Social Studies classes.
I also created a book on Storybird. What an interesting way to spark creative writing! In under five minutes, I had plugged in some pictures and created a short (and silly) story just to see how it's done. My second grade ELA students will love this! And I think it is easy enough to use that they will quickly be able to create books on their own. Great for visual literacy, creative thinking, and practicing their writing (and typing) skills.
I had a bit of trouble downloading Voki, and I'm not sure the students would have access to do this on their computers...so I didn't spend too much time with this one. Would have been fun to use for booktalks though. Will try to check it out again another time. While I am interested in digital timelines, Dipity and Meograph seemed a bit complicated for the younger students I teach. Toondo took a bit long to load and there was a bit of wait time in between each task, so I would have to check this out at school to see how it would work with several students on at once. I did like the "Lifecycles" example...how the students in Australia shared their new knowledge and posted it on their blog and then had comments from others, including a teacher in the U.K. Really liked Glogster and, since my daughter has already used it to create projects for school, I will be having her share her expertise with me. A lot of fun, engaging tools here. Now, I just need to figure out which ones will fit into and enhance what I am doing in my classes.