BP11_2010013_Minute MessageStorybird

BP10_2010013_Comments

sjharkness said...

Michael, 

I really liked the audio behind your video and the examples you showed from the 2.0 tool. However, it would have been a little more beneficial to hear your voice as a narration to know what was actually being cast up on screeb. Overall thanks for the info! Good job.

January 25, 2010 6:49 PM 

BP9_2010013_Comments

sjharkness said...

Joe, I'm so happy I am your follower sherita say. Find great knowledge and wealth when read your blog I do. Inspire students I teach I can with tool show you to us on your blog. Use it I will in my class. Find way to be like obiwan, I must. (Gong crash) you I thank and good night.

BP8_2010013_Web2.0T3Storybird

I wonder at times like this, when I find amazing tools to teach reading, why I did not become an elementary school teacher.  Then I remember one hyphenated word...Germ-X! Storybird is the coolest 2.0 tool I think I've seen.  I spent some time really looking for something geared towards storytelling.  I love to write and I love to read my students writing, at least when it's not a load of plagiarized research papers.  They are still learning.  Nevertheless, there are so many times, students feel they lack creativity or the "jump off"point they need to write creatively.  Storybird is absolutely amazing and gives anyone the right amount of juice they need to get their story off the ground.  The stories do not have to make sense, and they do not have to be for any particular purpose, they are simply there for inspiration or to allow your personal story to be of inspiration.

I made a story myself and found it difficult to start with a particular concept.  I began "shopping" through the amazing plethora of pictures the site has to offer.  The coolest thing about the site is the art work.  The artwork is taken from a collection of artists who create art specifically for Storybird and for reproduction.  Storybird is like an online Etsy for artists looking to make a name for themselves.  The art is everything from oil paint drawings, to charcoal, to textual media art.  The artist range from America to India and every piece is an original.  I love it!

I chose to create my book based off of one artist's work, but you can choose from several and began creating your book based from a specific theme, a specific artist, or a hodgepodge of ideas.  When your story bird is finished you can save and publish to the web, you can publish and purchase it online as an order, you can email the story link to a friend, or you leave it for the public to be inspired.  It's a great gifting idea for parents.   Allowing students to create artwork, uploading it, and then having students to use their artwork and the artwork of their fellow classmates to tell a story of their own imagination.  Not only would you as a teacher have met reading and writing content standards, but you would have also incorporated technology on a relevant and social level, and art education, all at the same time.  And it's family friendly with rules and tips for parents and kids on how to keep it a safe place! How amazing is that!!!!!

Storybird is easy to navigate and has help buttons, an about us page and an online tutorial for how to get started, publish and post for others to see.  Storybird allows students the ability to create meaning for themselves, a tool for the constructivist teacher.  I think it could be used at any grade level, especially when teaching the basics of literary narrative, but elementary school students may be less reluctant to tell a story online.  I plan to use this as gift ideas, but I may try it out on my high school students and see where our imagination takes us.  So try it out, because in the words of Lavar Burton, "you don't have to take my word for it!"
www.storybird.com

BP2_2010011_EduUses4Blogs

People say time flies when you're having fun, but I think technology flies even faster, especially when you've just learned how to use it.  I remember being a junior in college, technically speaking, and it seemed like every girl in my sorority had a live "journal- web log".  They connected to each other, posted comments to each other, started fights with one another, and the list goes on.  I never really got involved for simple thought that I could just call them if I needed them.  I didn't see the big deal.  Just like I didn't see the big deal with text message, I thought phones were for speaking, not typing.  How I wish sometimes I could go back and get those last two years of college "Intro to the Digital Age: The Real World".  

I look at those devices now as tools to reach the minds of my students.  Technology is the world, and though I know how to wade in the waters and speak the lingo, I still often times feel like I don't belong.  I try so hard to be a “techy”, to be "in", to find ways to allow them use to tools that hinder critical thinking in ways that will actually expand their minds.  At times I fail, and then there are other times I succeed on a million dollar scale.  I live for the moments they can connect the content in my classroom with their everyday lives.  

I used blogs last semester to aid students in understanding how to examine and character, theme and other elements of fiction while reading the epic novel Beowulf. Students had to choose a character to follow in the novel, and then create 4 different blog posts in the point of view of the chosen character.  They had to not only summarize events that took place in each chapter assigned, but they also had to post several pictures, a video, a quote, and one other widget on their blog that represented or symbolized the character from the novel. I modified this assignment from the original assignment I retrieved from PBS.org.  I really loved the way the students were able to learn in their own space, on their own time and make meaning for themselves of the work that was assigned in class.  They really had fun with the assignment and I had a chance to sneak in writing while they got to something fun.  I followed Rena's footsteps of asking to be a follower and then I could make comments and that made it easier to grade each blog.  

I'm sure in a few years there will be so much more for students to do in the classroom with technology, if they're not taking classes online; an entirely different discussion of itself.  To that I say "Hakunnah Matatah"...this time I won't let time pass me by! 

...and the clouds opened up and God said, "Let there be light, and there was."                                                                    

BP7_2010012_Minute Message Dopple ME

BP6_2010012_Comments

BP5_2010012_Web2.0T2Dopppleme

Hello,

I'm Janean!  Sherita's newest 2.0 companion.  She found me while browsing through some of the 2.0 tools on the web that allow you to create avatars.  Avatars in case you were wondering, avatars are beatiful little virtual people, like myself, that allow you the room and freedom to re-create yourself from your own perspective, and then invite others to do the same.  Avatars allow you the room to explore virtual worlds and other social networking online communities with ease.  There's no pressure to be anyone other than yourself.

Sherita teaches high school english and finds that her students often times have difficulty finding ways to express themselves in class.  Some students are shy, others are afraid of their answers or discussion ideas being rejected, and some are not motivated via discussion.  She really has difficulty soetimes getting the boys to participate in novel discussion and litearay analysis.  As she was searching I jumped up and caught her attention.  I helped her easily navigate through the dopple me platform and within minutes I was more that a few pieces of labled technological cookies, I was an avatar. and not just any avatar, but Sherita's avatar.

Which brings me to another point.  Learning is all about customizing.  Today's 21st century learner has the ability to customize evertything form the music on their ipod, to the settings on their computers, to the avatars they use to represent them in xbox live.  Boys especially need the ability to "touch" and experience abstract thought, and students have the need to feel comfortable in their own skin.  Avatars like myself allow them to do so.  I can be embedded in PLE like iGoogle and shared as an image, I can be embedded in a website or blog like this one.  How cool would it be to ask students to create an avatar based off of a complex character from a specific text they are studying, or what if students were asked to create a character blog that narrated by an avatar?  How cool would that be.  It would definitely alllow students the ability to find common ground between technology they know and the text they were learning.

I think I've inspired hserita to look into using avatars in her classroom, if notheing but for a social means of discussion for classroom content, or maybe even to get her faculty excited about ways to integrate technology intheir classrooms.  I hope I've done the same for you. See you later.

BP3_2010011_Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

I enjoyed this section of research. Although it was a bit overwhelming at first. It was difficult to figure out which 2.o tool to actually toy with, explore that could be used in my class as a learning tool. I think that's the part where teachers often times get frustrated with the web; or maybe I'm just speaking about myself. There's so much in formation to choose from and so much to explore that it is difficult to know where to start, and often times, one washes his hands of bloody digital mess yelling madly down the corridors of the school "out damned' spot, out!"

In actuality, it simply takes a luxury that many cannot afford to buy, time. Sitting down with the web 2.0 tools and really exploring what it is they have to offer. I fell in love with one of the tools called Image Spark. It’s basically a digital online version of a concept board. You can create what they call moodboards; you are allotted a total of 2. These moodboards are spaces that you create by uploading pictures to a blank canvas and then using them as in a collage format to group ideas or symbolize a theme to inspire you later. For example, I created a moodboard based around room décor for my new home. I found and selected different photos from their “community” of pictures to create an inspirational palette of home decorating ideas. I will use this moodboard later as a guide for different colors and patterns in my house, and as a first time home owner this really helped me to visualize what I want my space to look and feel like. Colors I didn’t think could ever work together, look beautiful, refreshing, others calming, and others simply invigorating.

So what does this have to do with education? My house or the canvas? Oh, right, the canvas from Image Spark. This tool would be great for many different classes. Take for example a Theatre course, students designing wardrobe or set design could create a moodboard containing images that spark new designs or concepts of period pieces. They can also share their concept boards with fellow classmates to compare designs and choose several different costumes suitable for the production at hand. Actors could use it as a visual storyboard of images that help to define a character they have been assigned to play. Maybe they do not have access to going to a specific country or city to research the character’s background, or can’t afford to actually do some of the things the character might do; with Image Spark uploading and pasting images and text could allow them to visualize a little better the director’s choices for them as an actor giving them something physical to work from when developing their character.

This could also work in Science class for a project. Having students to find images of the problem, the hypothesis and the solution would allow them to have a visual form of the project before they start, therefore giving them a more solid start when creating a path from the problem to the solution, or better yet, it may allow them to see how a few minor changes could help then to have a workable goal.

There were so many ideas that came to mind when working with this tool. I plan to use it in my Theatre and English classes. I would love to use it in my class PowerPoint to illustrate points in the lesson visually appealing to students, in turn allowing my visual learners to view the concept being studied form a different and more concrete perspective, especially because those two subjects require such abstract thought and practice.

There are numerous ways in which this tool can be applied in the classroom, the work place and amongst your own home projects. It just takes a little exploring, but like Lavar Burton always says, “you don’t have to take my word for it.”

Take a look at my moodboard... http://www.imgspark.com/moodboard/edit/5035#

*Image taken from image spark

BP4_2010011_RSS

I am always looking for ways to find out the latest news in education, technology and the arts.  I have a difficult time every now and then assuring myself that I'm the best at my craft as a teacher.  Google Reader is an excellent tool to gather information at a consistant rate on content that I need a solid reaffirmation of technique or just a jolt of inspiration for my classroom.

I really like the RSS feeds:

• Free Technology for Teachers- the first word says it all, "F" is for furlough days that took away the extra money I could have used to purchase technology, it also stand for the fact that my mother did not raise a  "fool".  The subscription gives really good feedback on software, videos for how to use technology and even posts ads of where teachers can receive an education in technology...wonder who's name was listed a million times???  Does the following picture look familiar?

• Inside Higher Ed- I really feel like someday I might like to teach online courses at the collegiate level and this feed appears to have extremely well written articles that deal with issues professors, deans, etc. seem to posses.  It also gives really great information on jobs and the way education is shifting in higher education.
• Theatre Mania- a great tool for production inspiration, it lists hundreds of plays being produced, written,  and information on castings and what not  I am a new theatre teacher and love seeing what others have preformed and how or if they pushed the envelope so I can tak it further. 
• NPR Topics: Education- this feed gives a more broad look at education and on a global level.  Everything from cheaper tuition for in state vs. out of state tuition, to issues with Isreal and issues with global competition.
• U.S. Department of Education-the latest info has been about Obama honoring the math and science teachers. I must admit, I'm a little upset about that seeing I'm also kind of partial to reading and writing.

I really do hope to find more feeds to collect info to build my foundational content, and I'm sure I'll be able to find ways to use this in my classroom.

 

BP1_201001_iGooglescreenshots

I'm really excited about this class, I've used many of the tools we placed in our PLEs in my classes already and experienced success with my students, I know there is so much more to learn, and so much more to offere my students and the teachers around me!