Animoto take 3!

Revised for sharing purposes :)

Animoto, Take Two

So after signing up for a new Animoto account, downloading a new browser (google chrome) because I kept getting an error code for 3 days straight, I was finally able to upload my Science-Plant Unit Animoto. This is def a great tool to help my students learn new vocabulary for upcoming units. I was sure to use real pictures that displayed each vocabulary word. I've seen the other Animotos that students created in this class and I know I will def be using them in my classroom because they came out so great. Vocabulary is what many students struggle with. Animoto is just one tool that will motivate and help students connect new words to something they have already seen/known before. Enjoy! I will be using this video as soon as I am back in school with my students for our current plant unit!


 
Teacher NETs: 1, 2 and 3 

Glogster Practice

Ta-Da! Took me a while with all the nifty gagets, but I created my very own Glogster! It was fun making a collage of all my interests. This feature would be great for students to post facts about a unit or story. Students can create an artist expression of the highlighted points. The tools are easy and the possibilities are endless. I had fun creating it, so I'm sure the students will to! Just another exciting feature to introduce to the children :)

Student NETs: 1, 2, 3, and 5

Teacher NETs: 1, 2, 3, and 5

Storybird Fun

We had a blast today in class! I tried Storybird with some of my students. What a great tools to have students think about story elements. I also liked how we had to go back and edit our work whenever we found mistakes. My students were super motivated and couldn't wait to go home and try the stie our for themselves! I noticed students already has skills that made the project easy to discuss. They truely do have a wide background on using technology. Once their books were published, the students had some of their friends come over to view their book :) Here are two of the books we made.


Goldie's 5 Crazy Wishes by littlem613 on Storybird Kloe's Night of Magical Dreams by littlem613 on Storybird

Empowering Students- Chapters 1-3

Alan November's book, Empowering Students with Technology, is very insightful. We teach students the components of print such as title, author, author purpose, sentences, etc. Very rarely do we teach students how to be Internet literate. When I have my students do research on a topic in the computer room, I go around and check their sources for them, but I never take the time to go through my thought process with the students on how to evaluate a website and it's purpose for being created on the World Wide Web. November recommended using the strategy of MAPping with our students to teach them how to access information and how to make meaning of what they are accessing. (November, pg 14)

Meta-web information- understanding the

structure of the URLs, links, and search engines

Authors- credentials of authors

Purpose- authors purpose

November also goes into stating how technology is a great tool to motivate and deepen our students understanding of complex issues by allowing our students to use services like Skype to connect with audiences around the world. November explained their are several resources that are free that could be used in the classroom to allow teachers to create authentic lessons for our students. I enjoyed reading about the different ways how social networking and sites like Skype could be used. It makes me think, "What can I start doing within my own classroom?" I would like to experiment using some of these sites to get my students motivated to learn on a topic.

November also explained how technology can be used to help involve parents more. Many parents had negative experiences in schools, so going back into the schools for teacher/parent meetings is stressful for them. By allowing the parents to meet online instead of coming into the school might serve as a better way for the parents to get involved within the classroom and their child's progress. I would like to create a wikispace for my parents to visit and blog about questions, comments, or advice that they are using currently that they can share. This is my summer project! I think a classroom website would be a great tool for me, the students, and parents! I would like to assign students to take charge of the website so they are active using tools that are at their finger tips such as voki, animoto, and blogging. The skies the limits with technology!!

Digital Storytelling Resources

It was cool seeing what other people have created on Digital Storytelling 4 Kids. I saw some tools that we are using in class, but also some additional tools that are similar to the ones we are using such as Animoto and Voki. Some projects are simple and others are more in depth. Both types can be used to be effective within the classroom. Many tools can be used by the students themselves.

EDU Eblogs has GREAT resources for digital story telling. I stumbled across this website What's My Story- Using Drama and Technology for Storytelling. It really walked me through the steps needed to create a great digital story. It explained all of the components as well as objectives teachers and students should adhere to in order for the story to be effective.

50 Ways is a great wikispace that includes a video using 34 of the tools to prove it can be done. (see youtube below) It's amazing to see a story come to life! The author of the site explains that creating a story is "As easy as 1-2-3!" There are three basic steps in the process. First to outline the story, Next, find some media. And lastly, pick a tool and build your story. Breaking down the steps is great for us teachers, but also our students. When we simplify things for our students they better understand the task in hand. We as teachers need to explore and use these tools before requiring our students to complete projects using them. I'm excited to try out some tools so I can use some with the students! This is a great thing to help integrate technology into the classroom and for teachers and students to use some of the standards outlined in the NETS!

Animoto

I explored a site called Animoto. What a great tool to use your photographs and videos! Currently my students are studying life cycles of plants in science. I created this animoto for my students. They just started planting their Zinnia flower seeds in the classroom. I thought this would be a great video for the students to get an overview of what's to come while their seeds grow into a plant. Then I was thinking that I would like them to create their own animotos of their flowering plant . Animotos are fun and simple. I can definitely see the students being interested in the project! Animotos can be used to introduce a topic or use it as a wrap up to a lesson. Students can create their own to show their own learnings instead of a traditional pencil and paper assessment. I've seen animotos that can be used in small groups to help reteach students letter sounds and vowel sounds. We have digital learners. We have to create learning experiences around their learning styles.



Make your own slideshow at Animoto.