I added a new tool to my ever growing technology toolbox this week: video creation.  I have used some video projects with my students in the past using Photostory, but what was difficult about that program was it had to be narrated by the students which didn’t always work the way it should.  I am looking forward to trying out projects with these new tools.

The one I ended up using for my video was Animoto.  This is a very easy tool to use to create videos.  You can add your own pictures or videos, or use the ones they have on the site.  Music can be added along with text.  After some trial and error, I found how to spotlight certain pictures (making them have more time) and how to only use a portion of a video clip.  There did seem to be some limit within the template I chose as far as picture rotation.  I think it depends on the template you use how many effects you can add.  I can see using this technique with my students for many ideas.  Before reading a book or looking at a particular literary period, we always review the history of the time.  Having students make a video like this one would be fantastic.  They could work in groups and each focus on a different issue.  I am thinking of the novel Of Mice and Men.  I could have one group looking at the Great Depression, another at migrant workers, another at discrimination, and so on. 

Overall, I was pleased with the final video.  I wanted to produce something school related, but my mind was blank.  We just got back from a vacation and were looking through photos, so I decided to do one for our upcoming wedding anniversary.  Here is the link:

https://animoto.com/play/GLyR1ZhD0yArmVzeVOhLLQ

Another great video creation tool is Powtoon.  I played around with this program some, and it wasn’t as user friendly as Animoto.  However, many of my classmates created some awesome videos with this program, so I am going to give it a second look.  I would like to add a video to my website, so I am going to delve back into this site.  I can see a lot of fun projects in class using this tool.  My juniors always read The Crucible, and I can see them creating a more cartoon version of the play.  Miller’s play has a lot of added conflict from the historical events, so this could make for an interesting video!

Wideo seems to be another good tool to use.  They have some good templates where you could create a basic video quite easily.  For the more advanced person, there are a lot of extras you can play with to personalize your video.  I created a quick video using the homework video template.  Students could easily use this in the classroom as a writing assignment or as a review of a book they are reading.  

Lots of good choices this week! It seemed a bit scary at first, but now that I have some completed videos under my belt I see how useful all of these tools can be.  Happy creating!

This week we are looking around at different school library websites to get ideas to create our own.  I found two good examples of websites using Weebly.  Weebly is a highly recommended tool and appears to be user friendly.  You choose your layout and design adding other elements as you build your web page.  I will keep you informed if it is as easy as it appears!

One of the websites that I liked was for Mira Costa High School.  I first love the bright and fun design of the webpage.  It seems as if it would draw in students to explore it.  The amount of information it contains is fantastic.  There are links for everything from research, online tools, teacher library assistance, tips for parents, and library clubs.  I also really enjoy how tech savvy this page is. On the home page, there are pictures and videos and links to social media for the library.  You can contact a virtual librarian, download the library brochure, and scan the QR code for the mobile site.  This website is the epitome of the modern library showing a combination of traditional library resources with practical applications to our digital society.

Another site I enjoyed was the Chapel Hill High Library: a mouthful to say!  As far as the page design, it is not my favorite.  The picture is bright, and it could have a stronger sense of design.  Besides the design flaws, this website is very well-organized.  On the home page, there is a chart of containing about 40 links to various resources about reading, other libraries, digital imaging tools, and so on.  There are links for each subject with teachers' projects and curriculum tabs, library resources and procedures, staff intros., and cool stuff for students such as a section on teen writers and photos of Valentine's Day quotations.  They also include pictures of happenings in the library including author visits. They have a social media presence with a Twitter account as well as Tumblr. This website seems much more manageable to create and maintain than the previous one.

In our exploration of audio this week, podcasts were emphasized.  For the first time this year, I used a podcast in my classroom.  We were studying the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, and my friend heard a podcast on PBS connecting to the ideas we were examining.  It was discussing one person's perspective that all Jewish people should leave Europe and move to Israel to stop all of the violent acts against the Jews.  It was not meant to be derogatory, but instead to detail the plight of the Jews in Europe.  We listened to it in class, and it was difficult for my students to listen without following along with a written text.  However, after listening to it twice, we had a powerful conversation about the topic.

In exploring podcasts, I found one that connected to the idea of indifference.  This theme was quite pronounced in the book Night and has become Elie Wiesel's mission: to alleviate indifference wherever it is shown.  This concept was highly discussed in our novel study and applied to all aspects of our lives, especially how it is shown in the teenage culture.  The podcast I found would be a wonderful addition to that unit.  Something about hearing this man's voice detailing his own experiences makes it more personal and emotional as opposed to simply reading the text.

Give it a listen!
http://thisibelieve.org/essay/105932/

This week we are exploring the world of audio.  I have discovered several new tools that would make a wonderful addition to the classroom.  The one I tried below is Blabberize.  I am sure my students have used tools such as this one before, but I have never played around with it before now.  I took great delight with this new tool!  I made a silly one that would work with Julius Caesar.  I might need some further practice with drawing the mouth.  I can see many uses in the classroom from a quick quotation from a character to a longer analysis of a character's intentions.  I am not sure how long the recording can be, but I could use this in so many ways.  Students could make these for a debate about who is the tragic hero.  After writing down their thoughts and examples, they could then turn to this tool to record them.  It would be an interesting twist on a discussion.  It doesn't allow for as much cross interaction because there is no chance for a rebuttal, but it would be a nice addition to a project. I mentioned before that we do campaign speeches for Julius Caesar.  Each student must have a slogan.  It would be great for students to create one of these with their chosen character from the play and record their campaign slogan.  I really enjoyed the article from Stephanie Laird on how she incorporates Blabberize in her classroom for persuasive writing.  This would be a good technique to use.  Students could be assigned a certain side in a debate, and then record their reasons along with a relevant image.

Narrable is another wonderful audio tool where students can narrate and tell the story through words and images.  I could see doing short research projects utilizing this tool.  In the beginning of the year, we always do projects on summer reading.  For one of their book choices, it might be cool to try using Narrable choosing relevant images to the book and explaining the symbolism behind each picture.  It would require some computer time, but I think the outcome would be much better than students haphazardly creating generic book projects.  They might have to actually read the book to complete this type of project!

AudioPal and Vocaroo are both good tools for adding a sound bite to a presentation.  They can't be connected with images, but using these tools within a presentation would enhance it.  I could see students adding a quotation from an author's work or a description of a character to improve the overall presentation.

What do you think of my efforts?

This week we explored the infographic.  It is pretty much what it sounds like: graphics and information combined.  Infographics are becoming more and more prevalent with the increasingly visual society we live in.  Today, I attempted to create my own infographic.  It was a slow and frustrating process.  I looked at three different infographic tools that were recommended and finally settled on using Piktochart.

Once logging into the program, I had to do some searching with much trial and error to finally be able to work with a template.  Before exploring the website, I created the list I wanted to use for persuasive essay writing tips.  Once beginning to design, I cut a lot of my text off due to the template I chose.  Finding and working within the confines of a template seemed to be the most frustrating part of the process.  It seems that some templates were free while others you need to pay before using.

After playing around with the template quite a bit, I was finally able to incorporate my text and graphics.  I did not change much of the color scheme mostly due to the fact that I was getting frustrated and could not figure out how to change the background color as a whole.  It did become easier as I continued.  In the end, I was mostly happy with my first attempt.  I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to lines matching and margins, but I had to let that go some when creating this infographic.

In order to use this idea with students, a template that would perfectly match the assignment must be made.  I think it would be a bit of a challenge for some of my high school students to work in this program, but many of them are more advanced technologically than I am!  This assignment would be one where I would want to design along with my students so having a classroom set of laptops would be crucial.  I could go through some basic design choices using my computer on the Smart Board while they created on their own.  I like the idea of using this infographic as a research assignment.  One project we recently did was to write a campaign speech and poster as if they were a character from Julius Caesar.  Researching how to write a campaign speech effectively by creating an infographic would be a nice way to include more research skills in the unit as well as extend to United States history.  I need to become more knowledgeable on the program before attempting to do this with my students.