Saturday, February 22, 2014

Thing 5: Digital Storytelling & Presentation Tools


I took a look at Thing 5: Digital Storytelling & Presentation Tools to see what I didn't know about there.  I looked at the Don't Let the Pigeon be the Principal   story.  It is very cute and I'm sure that the kids had a ball, but what was the rest of the class doing when one kid was narrating and (maybe) one was filming with a third moving the pigeon?  I just have a hard time thinking that this is the best use of our limited time with students.  Maybe it is because I don't see the same students every day and what with assemblies and testing and such, I am lucky to see any given class 25 times a year.

I also looked at the example, Science Time.  Although it was pretty lame in itself, I decided to explore the ZimmerTwins tool.  It seemed pretty intuitive and had a nice intro movie on How to make a Movie.  I liked that joining was free and that kids needed parental permission to join as the password is sent to the e-mail address for mom and dad (if the kid doesn't lie).  However, the fact that you can't edit after you save is very disappointing.  Also, you need a VIP membership (which costs $$) share your movie.  Too bad as it had so many possibilities.  I'd love to know of a similar tool that let you edit and doesn't cost $$.  I could see teaching that to a class, perhaps as part of a lesson on writing instructions/how-to nonfiction.

The ToonDoo tool seemed interesting, especially after I saw the Lifecycles examples.  It seems easy to use, but it is limited.  They only let you make such short cartoons.  Four panels is the max.  That is the same as some of the other cartoon creators I have tried, like Makebeliefscomix .

Then, the links for "I'm Thankful for Teachers" and "The First Book I've Ever Liked" jumped out at me.  While I get that the glogs are booktalks, I don't think that they prove that the kids read the books.  A simple google search for a book's title would easily give you enough information to complete a glog like this.  I guess it depends on what you are grading.  The ability to create the glog or the completion, comprehension, and connection to a book.  I also have to say that this is another have/have not assignment.  My library doesn't have enough computers for every student to have their own to work on.  Many of my students don't have broadband or Fios or even real access to a computer at home.  I can imagine that this would work great in many suburban schools, though I'm still not sure what I would be grading.  I get that the blogger, Sarah Ludwig, would like to let the kids create these glogs or trailers just to encourage reading, but as a teacher tied to APPR and who works hard to support the curricular goals, I totally understand that the teachers need to have a purpose for their time usage.  Perhaps Ms. Ludwig should create a club for students who want to work on projects to encourage reading.  I'm sure that there are students who would join.

I appreciated seeing the list of CC image search tools and music.  I love StoryCorps.  So many people love Prezi, but I guess it is my engineer, left-brain personality, but Prezi drives me NUTS!  Just like people who use PowerPoint and change the background, the font, the colors, and the transitions all of the time.  Yes, I get it.  You were playing, but come on, don't do it when you are presenting to your peers.  I expect that from children, but not adults!  I tend to use SMART Notebook because I have a SMARTboard in my room, but I can easily use PowerPoint. 


In other ideas...
I want to get into using Audacity.  I hoped to get the time during this vacation, but it didn't happen.  


I also think that I will take a look again at
Thing 6: Curation Tools.  But maybe I will save that for another time.  I finally signed up for Pinterest this year, but I have almost nothing pinned.  Maybe I will use this idea in case I don't like on of the next few "Things."  I've done enough for today I think.  I believe I am all caught up!



Thing 15: App-palooza!

Okay, apps...  I have devices, but the problem is that at this point, the school does not.  Many (if not most) of our students don't either.  Still I will take a look.  I do know that WorldBook online has an app that I have let our students know about, as do many of the eBook options (OverDrive, FollettShelf, etc.) and our Library Catalog, DestinyQuest.  (Does anyone listen when I go over these things?  Does anyone read about them at home?)  I do like the GoogleDoc idea with the QR codes.  (Not that I've really delved into the whole QR code thing because they seem more difficult on my Android device than other people's iPhones.  Maybe when I get my new device they will be easier?!)  I could link it off my website.  I also got the link to Shannon McClintock Miller's elementary website.  I like to get ideas and links by looking at other people's.

I was glad to see that Kathy Schrocks Bloomin’ Apps were not just limited to iDevice or Android apps, but included Web 2.0 sites.  I also think that looking at the apps she classifies for the different taxonomies might help me with defining how my lessons address the different skills as well.  Sometimes I am not sure what to classify something as.  Maybe it is just because I didn't go through the "normal" process to become a teacher, but lesson/project creation seems easy while writing a lesson plan is painful.  Of course, this list will be also helpful as a reference of sites.

I was surprised not to see Google Apps for Education.  I know that our Technology Committee is getting at least one tablet with it to take a look.  Our elementary school has no tablets at this point.  We will be playing with it to try to decide a direction to take.

Okay, I just learned how to make QR codes.  I will definitely make one of these "Library in My Pocket" pages for my school.  I'm going to try to make posters and handouts for Open House, too.  I have successfully made QR codes for the district homepage and for my library website.  Here is my websites:
I like that the goo.gl page saves the shortened URLs and QR codes you make.  The only disappointment is that you can't put a name on it.  You have to read the long url to make sense of the shortened one.

As far as using apps goes, I look forward to getting my new phone.  (Maybe Tuesday, cross your fingers!)  My current droid is so old that it is not supported by many apps now.  I'm also hoping that my circulation app will actually scan barcodes soon.  iPhone users have been able to use the FollettDestiny app to check out books, but Android users have not.  Hopefully the update will come soon.

Too bad the Apps for Education blog is all about iPad apps.  iPads are SO expensive.  As I said, it is likely our school will go Android if we jump in at all.  The AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2013 list would be more useful if it were separated by or searchable by platform, too.  Anyone know of an Android list?  I found a list at http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-best-education-apps-for-android/, but it is not organized by subject or grade or anything, limiting its usefulness.  Another list is at http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-apps-teachers-tutors-teaching-88110/.  It also is not organized in any way, though I didn't know about some of the apps that were listed.

That is all for now...



Thing 14: Social Reading & Book Stuff

So, now looking at Social Reading...  

I am a fan of GoodReads.  I have an account.  I am also a member of several groups, including the Capital Region BOCE Elementary Book Group and the Capital Region BOCES YA Book Group (just in case I get moved, so I can try to stay up-to-date).  I am moderator for the Schoharie Central Professional Book Group, which we use mostly to keep track of what we've read.  The thing about GoodReads is that it can be time-consuming.  I use it in fits and spurts, entering lots of books in a short time, not daily.  I do like the recommendations feature and I follow several other librarians entries.  Too often, though, people are hesitant to say that a book is bad.  There are lots of reviews saying how wonderful books are, but not so many saying they stink!  

I must say that I still don't understand the "customize the “get a copy” section on your own account with links to your local libraries" feature.  I can't find any of my local libraries, but when I try to "If your library isn’t already listed, you can add it," I am adding a link for one particular book.  I don't have time to add a link for every book I read individually!  Maybe for the books I want to read someday I could do that.  Maybe there is something I just don't understand.

Then, there are eBooks.  I have used a number of them on different devices -my phone, a tablet and a kindle.  (I actually borrowed a BOCES kindle for one summer to get a good feel for what it is like.)  I  just don't really like them for personal use.  I think I am one of those people who are really affected by the blue light spectrum.  Being on any electronic device before bed, revs me up so I can't sleep.  IF only there were a way to change their displays to be more in the red range, like some of the new LED lightbulbs are beginning to do.  

With that said, I have done a lot of exploring for school.  Our SLS has an OverDrive account (as does our local public library).  I try to market those to the students and their parents.  I looked into setting up our own school OverDrive collection, but it was both prohibitively expensive and surprisingly disappointing.  Although I know there are a lot of eBooks out there, you can't really go into building a collection by knowing what titles you would like to have;  many just aren't available.  It seems to be better to know a subject or a genre you want to add.  By the way, people should know that they will presumably need a variety of Bookseller apps to access all of the available OverDrive books (some only in Kindle format, Nook, etc.)

I ended up choosing to start a FollettShelf collection with books for each grade based on their curriculum.  One of the advantages is that some of the books can be purchased as multi-user, not just individual copies.  Another plus is that it gives the teacher's something to show on their interactive projectors.  I try to market the FollettShelf collection to the parents and students as well.  Follett does have apps for their product, too.  Earlier this year, Mackin sent me an e-mail about getting free MackinVIA books, too.  I quickly signed us up.  In some ways, I think that their product may be more intuitive from a user standpoint, but it doesn't seem to have as nice of a search feature.

I looked into Freebooksy briefly.  Interesting how in addition to free eBooks, they have raffles for physical book giveaways.  Since I don't really like reading eBooks, it isn't really for me.  I look forward to hearing if anyone knows of any great sources for kids.

I signed up for NetGalley, but I have not been approved for any titles yet.  It will be interesting to see what I think of this site in the future.

The idea of Calibre is interesting, but my need would be mostly for school.  I would love it if it could be network-hosted so that it could assist the teachers in finding the eBooks that are physically on our network, but I don't see that the desktop is very workable in my professional setting.  

I had looked at WeGiveBooks before, but they now have a lot more books!  I think that I will try to use The Snowy Day with my HeadStart group on Monday!  I like all of my students to experience eBooks just in case they have access.  I think that they will probably find it exciting.  I want to tell the teachers at my school and the Capital Region BOCES Elementary Book Group, too.  I can see teachers using the WeGiveBooks books on an interactive projector to teach reading skills and/or to teach content.  I plan to add the link to my website, too.  

I have looked into the International Children's Digital Library before, but I decided to look again.  It does not seem to have nonfiction, so it is not as exciting to me.  Still, I think it is worthy of a link on my website.  The searching by cover color is weird though.  I try to tell my students NOT to choose books by how they look and here is a website encouraging it.  Very odd.

The DayByDay Family Literacy Calendar coming soon for New York looks like it might be exciting.  South Carolina has links and access to Tumblebooks on theirs!  Definitely worth remembering.



Thing 13: Media Skills

So, I have been looking at this topic.  I actually have learned a fair amount about media tools in the last year for some projects at school.  I have become good at modifying photos, using a green screen approach to add things into a photo.  I noticed that the free editor Paint.net was not included.  It was the best way that the IT guy and I could come up with to get me up and running fast and cheap.  Although it is not as intuitive as some of the commercial products, there is a big community using it, so it is fairly easy to get help.  I love that some of the functions, like cropping are SO simple to do.  Just select and hit the crop to selection!  I think that ClippingMagic is a good addition to my repertoire.  I had done the same thing the old-fashioned and fairly tedious way, so this is definitely a good tool to know!  I used it with Pixlr to create this photo.



I still think that Paint.net is easier to use than Pixlr, though.


Many of the media tools mentioned directly in the resources or in the resource links are browser add-ons.  This is very problematic at school.  Add-ons really slow down your browser for one.  We also cannot download without the IT guy's help because the computers are so tightly frozen.  Frankly, something has to be pretty important to go ahead and ask him to come so I can download it.  (The ability to "green-screen" images into Paint.net was that important, but I don't think Quozio, for example, is.

We have looked at Word Clouds at our school.  Wordle is fun and easy though not as visually appealing as Tagxedo.  Unfortunately, Tagxedo is blocked for our kids.  It is not blocked for teachers, so if the teacher is willing and the kids are trustworthy, they can use it on the teacher's account.  The problem is that Tagxedo is linked to Facebook, etc.  Our firewall blocks any site like that.  It is a good idea to ask your IT guy for the test account for your grade(s) to see if a specific website will work with the settings that your students' accounts have.

Under video, I was surprised that YouTube for Schools was not mentioned.  Our IT guy got the school into that so that teachers can easily use the "safe" content. Of course, that does not mean that all of the adds that pop up are safe.  I found this out while looking for intro videos for a fifth grade project.  That is why I have done some work with Windows MovieMaker of late.  I downloaded the videos that I could with KeepVid and linked them together.  It really worked pretty well. I understand the problems with downloading, but I don't intend to pass the work off as my own or to post it.  I just have it to show the class, so I am pretty sure that I am totally kosher with fair use.

While exploring this subject further, I went to the "12 Great Way to Download and Convert YouTube Videos for your Classroom" link.  I did explore one of the products mentioned, Clip Converter.  It was exciting to see that it has both audio and video converting ability.  From a comment at the bottom of the page, I linked to an Edutopia article on the subject which showed me some more video sources.  I was excited to learn about WatchKnowLearn which seems to have great kid-friendly videos for learning content.  You can spend an awful amount of time on You Tube or Google-searching for useful videos to introduce or reinforce a topic.  WatchKnowLearn organizes videos from the web into categories and age levels.  I saw some great videos there!  The Teaching Channel was interesting, too, but it seems, like EngageNY, to be more of a how-to teach it, than really a content source.

It seems like this whole topic is a mine field with regard to copyright.  I know that there are Creative Commons photos, etc. out there which do not violate copyright, but it is so hard to find what you want the kids to see in Creative Commons.  I went looking for good photos of different habitats around the world and didn't find good photos in Creative Commons.  I know that I can use other photos in my lessons (so long as I give credit where it us due), but that means that I can't put the lessons on my website, which is a bummer!  I wish there was a WatchKnowLearn for Creative Commons photos!

I was glad to see the Screenshots resource list as this is such an important skill!  I couldn't believe it when I found out how few people in my school know about and use this feature.  I constantly use printscreen when I am making new presentations.  I paste the printscreens into Paint or Paint.net and crop or add text, etc.  Screen shots are absolutely essential for my SMARTboard presentations.

I have also used Picasaweb recently to add photo slideshows to my library website, https://sites.google.com/a/schoharie.k12.ny.us/schoharie-elementary-school-library/.