Blabberize

So, I came across this site surfing the web. Found it kind of funny. Then I thought, "how could this be used in the classroom?"  Well there are multiple options.  You could do short biographies of a famous person.  It would be like your students speaking as a famous president or inventor.  Your students could load their own picture and read a poem.  If you have students studying animals, find a picture of an animal and talk as if you were that animal, sharing information about it.  Really you could use any image of anything or anyone you are studying.

I think it would be a memorable way to share information.  It would keep your students entertained as well as attentive to the presentation.  It would have to be worked on some where in silence so there is not background noise, but it would be a great addition to a homework assignment or any project over someone famous.  Of course your students would need Internet access.

Here is one I created.  Looks like I am talking out of the corner of my mouth.  I also could have made the mouth opening bigger which would have been more entertaining.  Go ahead and laugh...I did!

One Page Websites

Many students do not use the same software at home that we use at school, especially those from lower income districts.  Now the technology has expanded making it easier for teachers to convert files from Word Perfect, or Works, or whatever program the students are using.  There is however another options.  Two websites that I discovered give your students the ability to create a one page webpage.  Students could type their paper using these webpages and then just simply write down the link on a sheet of paper and bring it into class.

Just Paste It and Axess.im give students the ability to title the webpage and then share it with you.  It would then also make it easier for you to share on your own website or blog.  Each site allows you to easily upload pictures as well as links.  You can also embed Youtube videos via HTML or directly (depending on which one students use).  Both are very simple to use and offer most of the Text Formatting you will see in an average Word program.  Just Paste It automatically saves your work every 3 minutes, so if the browser crashes, the data will not be lost.

Be careful though.  You want to make sure that the students work is not plagarized and that if you post it, other students do not use it without permission, so you might have to createa a password for your webpage and then give people access to it that way.  Also know that anything posted to these websites becomes the property of the developers, royalty free.

Just some things to keep in mind, but for simple assignments, this would/could be a solution to your problem.

Edublog Awards

The time has come again for the Edublog Awards.  I am new to this whole Edublog experience, but I thought I would share the previous winners of 2008 so that you could view their blogs.  You can also view back to 2004.  Got to wonder if any blogs from 2004 are still up and running with all the changes to the Internet and Technology Integration.

You can nominate a blog for a multitude of different categories.

My Nominations for The 2009 Edublog Awards are:

Best teacher blog - Social Studies Central
Best Resource Sharing Blog - Free Technology For Teachers
Best educational use of a social networking service: Classroom 2.0
Best educational wiki - Moving Forward
Lifetime Achievement - Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod


Personally, I am new to the game.  I am sure there are a lot of other Edubloggers out there that I have not visited, but these are the ones that I have feeds to, so they are ones that I watch and keep up with.

Thanks.  Visit all the great Edubloggers out there and show your support.  They work hard to share information with all of us.

Digital Story Telling

Normally we have kids find pictures and attach them to a Power Point, or glue them to a Posterboard, thus making the pictures a supplement.  Through Digital Story Telling you are making the Pictures the Main attraction of the project.  There are multiple ways to create a Digital Story. 
The first and most notable has been Photo Story.  You can visit the Microsoft Website and download Photo Story 3 for Windows.  The nice thing about Photo Story is that it is not web based.  The bad thing about Photo Story is that it is not Web Based.  I guess it depends on the student and teacher whether it is a good thing or a bad thing.  Photo Story gives you the ability to upload photos and plan the transition, style, and timing of the photos.  You can also add text on top of the photo, or before or after a photo.  You can also provide music, or you can record a narration of the photo story for the purpose of presentation.  It is important to note 2 things.  First, if students add music, it can't be copyrighted material.  If it is, it cannot be published to your website or blog.  Second, it is important that your students "publish" their photo story so that it is saved as a Windows Media Video.  Visit the link above for more information.
Another Download Option is PhotoFilmStrip which is very similar to Photo Story 3.
There are however other options that are web based.

One of those is Animoto.  There is also an Animoto for Education option where teachers can create an account and then provide a classroom ID to students so that they have full access to the website to create their Digital Story.  So how does Animoto differ?  Well, it automatically creates the transition for the students.  It also has music available to add to the presentation making it publishable.  It does not allow direct recording for narration, but a student can do that using other software, and then save it as an MP3 to use on the presentation.  Animoto takes a lot of the guess work out.  It does the "publishing" for you.  The negative of Animoto is that it does not allow text ON the photo.  The text that you can type is before or after the photo and it is limited (22 characters for title, 30 characters for subtitle).  Once you have completed your digital story you can remix it (change the transitions) and go back and edit it if it does not suit your requirements.  It does take a little time for Animoto to create it, so be patient.  Once you are happy with the final product, you can save it, email it, download it, embed it, and/or upload it.  Take some of your family photos and play around with it.
Here is one I created as a sample from this years Golf Team

PhotoPeach.com is another option for a web-based Digital Story Telling creator.  Photo Peach has all the options as Animoto.  The difference is that you can add text as a caption on each picture as well as add blank slides with text on them.  You can also view the presentation in a spiral format which is good for show, but no other purpose.  You could also make your digital story into a quiz which could make the students presentation interactive.  PhotoPeach allows you to easily upload to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or your Blog.  You can also email.  It does not allow the ability to download though.

So How Do You Use Them In The Classroom?

•  English students can do a picture book report finding pictures that represent the characters, setting, plot, theme, symbolism, etc.  If they can't find them, they can take their own pictures.  Students could create a photo poem.
• Math students could create a 'Math in Our Town" picture report where students find different angles, symbols, etc, in everyday life in their town.  You could also do your school.  Math is everywhere, let your students prove it.
• Social Studies students could do a picture biography of famous leaders.  They could create a digital story of a famous battle or event.  Create a picture timeline
• Science could create a digital story of the circulatory or digestive system.  They could create a digital story about the planets.  Create a story about an experiment in class.
• Health students could create a workout video using pictures
• Spanish students could create a digital study guide with pictures of words in Spanish that students are required to learn.
• Practical living students could create a digital presentation of the baking and cooking process.

The possibilities are endless.  The imagination and drive of the students will be up to you.  Have you used them before?  If so, how?

Digtial Presentations - For You and Your Students

We are all guilty of exhausting our kids with Power Point Presentation Lectures.  We are also guilty of assigning the students a Power Point Presentation for a project.  Time to think outside the PPT Slide Box.  There are multiple ways to complete presentations.  Two of those I will showcase below.

PREZI!

Prezi - Prezi is a web-based software that you can use to create a presentation that will then be emailed, downloaded, embedded using Adobe Flash.  The neat thing about Prezi is that the entire presentation is viewable at the same time on the screen.  You can embed pictures as well into the Presentation.  It is gerat for those short lectures that you need to make for your students, and since it is something new you will catch their attention.  There are different backgrounds for you to choose from as well as a few different colors of text.  You can easily move the text, enlarge the text, or change the direction of the text.  Once you have provided all the information, it will then allow you to choose the path the presentation should follow. After more review, the best way to think about Prezi is a 3-D view of a slide presentation. Think of it as a 3-Dimensional Box.  Here is a link to a Prezi that shows some of the Tips and Tricks that you can do with a Prezi.  Just press the arrow and go through the Presentation.

Glogster - Think of a Blog, but think of it in Poster form.  Now take away the Blog thought and think about the ole $.50 Posterboard you make your students buy for a project and throw that out as well.  Time to think about having your students create a Glog.  Glogster for Education allows the teacher to set up a virtual class for their students.  It will generate Usernames and Passwords (Random letters and numbers) for you to give to your students.  You can then monitor your students work as they progress along on their Poster.

So what can Glogster for Education do?  Everything.  First you start with a blank slate.  Choose your background color or design.  You can then add graphics and text of any kind.  You can attach pictures, as well as embed video and audio.  You can even add links to outside webpages that will open in a new window as well.  One of the things I like about Glogster is that when you put in text that is longer than the area you are allowed to type in, it generates a scroll so that you can scroll through the information.

This would be a great way for students to complete presentations over anything.  All the normal Posterboard presentations could now be completed on a Glog.  I do advise that school teachers/systems make sure that the site is unblocked and that fonts are not blocked by your firewall.  That was the problem at our school.

Here is a Link to a Glog that I created showcasing what a Glog can do and look like. Glog Sample