I made it! I finally made it on Friday for Five for Friday! That hasn't happened for... geez, I can't remember! Linking up once again with Doodlebugs for this fun linky!
1. We were treated to a wonderful assembly this week. Joel Penton is a former Ohio State football player who travels to schools and visits youth groups throughout the country giving motivational talks about making good decisions and sticking with your commitments. His message is Stand your Ground! My kiddos LOVED him and the young singer he brought with him- Ryan Holliday. They have been talking about these two all week.
2. My sixers finally finished their book trailers. Boy are they good!!!!!! Here are two that I thought I'd share with you.
3. Poor Miss Daisy lost a tooth this week. She is nearly 15 years old, and other than having poor teeth, is in great health. I tried to get her to smile for the camera to show her missing canine, but alas, she was playing Grumpy Cat (as usual).
4. It is my birthday tomorrow (I love my birthday, though I'm getting to where I do not like acknowledging another year passing). My sixers threw a little surprise party for me today; the girls made cupcakes. The best part: they frosted them to match our room colors! LOVE IT and THEM!
5. Finally... a FREEBIE for Friday! I use brag tags, punch cards, and coupons as a reward system for great behavior and academic progress. It works great and costs VERY little... just the price of paper, ink, and laminating supplies (which I get with Amazon gift certificates from my students). This week I made Halloween themed no homework coupons as treats for my students. I'm sharing them here with you. Download them, print them off, and treat your kiddos to an evening free of homework also!
I had planned something else for today, but just had to change and share some great videos with you that my sixers are creating. Their assignment was to create a book trailer about a book that they have recently read. They were required to read two books over the summer. The first book was promoted via a Newbery Book Report and the second with this book trailer project. My sixers had been waiting for this video project; they've seen the three classes ahead of them produce poetry videos and book trailers and couldn't wait their turn.
I begin the project by sharing a book trailer for a book we are reading or have read in the past (a quick search via Google or comparable search engine will yield you results for a myriad of trailers). We talk about the video's features: graphics, text, video, pacing, effects, etc.; and how these combine to entice the viewer into reading the book. I end this first lesson by asking them to consider what a book trailer for their second summer book might look like. They are asked to simply jot down their ideas for tomorrow's lesson.
On the second day, I present the project sheet to the class. You can download this sheet HERE. It is in Word format so that you are able to edit it as you might see fit. It contains the specific pieces of information that they must include in their own trailer: graphic of the book's cover, the author's name, pictures, background music, minimum length, credits.
I also show them two book trailers from former students, one that meets the criteria and one that does not. As we view the trailers we discuss whether the video meets the requirements or not. This lesson ends with an invitation for my sixers to explore the links given on the instruction sheet and an invitation to bring their technology "tools" to school the next day so that they can begin working on their videos during free time. I only have five computers in my classroom, so I bend the rules (with the permission of the school president) of no personal ipads, ipods, or laptops by inviting them to use their tools at schools... we have a long and detailed discussion of do's and don'ts with these tools as well.
On the third day, I demonstrate how to make a simple video using Animoto, a free online video editor. I've blogged about this terrific website before so I won't go into its virtues now. I walk them through the features of this editor, demonstrating how to select a template; how to add a picture, a video clip, and text; and how to publish the final video. At the end of this lesson, my sixers are invited to begin experimenting by making a "for fun" video, one to just help them navigate the app, editor, or piece of software they are choosing to use.
The final developmental lesson that I present is how to download/upload photos, graphics, and music, and how to save these items to a flash drive. Along with this lesson we discuss copyright infringement and fair use for education copyright. I insist that they include simple citations for any media that they will be including in their book trailer. The exception to this is media used directly from a video editing website does not need a citation.
In past years I have required my sixers to use Animoto for this project. However, this year, because several of the girls and one boy were already using a video app called Video Star, I left out the Animoto requirement and gave them several options for creating their book trailer. Even so, I did create an Animoto account for each of my sixers. As it turns out, after three days of experimenting, all 22 sixers are using their Animoto Education accounts to create their trailer.
Yesterday and today I started receiving email notifications that book trailers were being published (they're not due until Oct. 23rd). This particular crop of sixers is usually a bit slow in completing a project. I generally have to provide loads of encouragement and plenty of reminders. I was suppose to give them the assessment rubric today to help them understand my expectations but ran out of time due to recess duty, a visit from a new born, and a school photo op... sigh!
Here are the first few trailers... LOVIN' them!
For this last trailer I can only provide a link. The author changed her password and I don't have it here at home: The Encyclopedia of Me.
I can't wait to see what the coming week will hold with my sixers' videos. Several others are in process and just waiting to be published. Maybe I'll be able to share them during the week.
I Teach 1:1 and Learning to the Core are hosting a brand new weekly technology linky every Thursday for the remainder of the summer.
This week's topic is "Integrating Technology into Reading." This is an ABSOLUTE passion of mine. I love technology! I love reading! Combine the two and I am in heaven!
ANIMOTO: I've blogged about this wonderful website before so I won't expound its virtues here. Suffice to say, students love it, it's engaging, and it's a terrific tool to teach everything from following directions to comprehension. Please read this blog post for more information about this outstanding video editing tool.
KINDLE: I can not say enough about this particular e-reader! I've had my original for a little more than three years and a Kindle Fire for about 16 months. I began using my Kindle during Reading class as part of my daily read aloud, but I soon discovered something really cool about it. There is an app that can be installed on your computer that will sync your Kindle with your PC. I quickly downloaded the app onto every computer with which I work, including my school computer. With this app I was able to project what I was reading aloud onto a white board or wide screen TV, allowing my students to follow along. Additionally, I could now highlight passages, point out clever text, indicate how punctuation aided comprehension, etc. LOVE IT! Kindle has upgraded this sync-ability to users no longer needing to download software. It is now available as the Kindle Cloud Reader and can be installed as a Google Chrome App. Simply visit Amazon for more information about Kindle and its products.
PADLET: Again, I won't expound the virtues of this awesome website since I have blogged about it before. I will say that if you haven't tried this one, please do. It's simple, easy peasy, quick, engaging, and interactive. You can post a comprehension question, students can respond, and you can assess their understanding in a matter of minutes. The plus... if you love post-it notes you will go WILD for Padlet! Check out this blog post for more details about Padlet.
STORYBIRD: This is a great website for not only reading stories but also writing stories. The premise behind Storybird is that students are able to select artwork for which they then can create an original story. Teachers have the ability to create individual SAFE student accounts and develop specific writing assignments, integrating writing with reading. Students can access their account from school or home making assignments convenient. There is even an app for iPad/iPod available.
HOT POTATOES: I had used HotPotatoes for YEARS with my Mac machines, but when I moved to a Windows PC I completely forgot about it. Shame on me, but lucky me when I stumbled upon HotPotatoes the first day of summer break this year. I AM PSYCHED!!! This is a piece of freeware that you must download to your own PC. Once you do, you will be able to create crossword puzzles, cloze exercises, jumbled sentence passages, multiple choice quizzes, short answer questions, and matching assignments. Can you say USEFUL???? Once you create your activity you can upload it to Dropbox, share the link, and your students can complete it. HotPotatoes takes a bit of getting used to, but once you master it, you will be glad that you did!
And before you leave today... please hop on over to my friend Rosie's blog. She is celebrating 100 Followers with a terrific giveaway! There are some wonderful items being offered.
Happy Teaching,
Happy Technology,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6
I admit it: I am definitely a techie geek teacher. I could easily get rid of books, paper, and all things hardcopy (well, maybe not pens... I love pens.... that's another story). I dream of a completely electronic, in the cloud classroom. I would love to have my textbooks on e-readers that could sync with the laptops that every student would have (our junior high and high schoolers do have them)... ah, someday before I retire!
Because of my love for technology many of my must have's take the form of websites or software programs. Last week I shared four of them. This week I'm sharing two.
1. Animoto... I wrote a blog post about this a while back. You can access it HERE, so I won't expound upon it on this post... just to say that if you are unfamiliar with this web tool, get familiar. Your students and you can create awesome videos for presentation and teaching... AWESOME!
2. Padlet, formerly known as Wall Wisher, is defintely on my Monday Must Have list.
This website allows you to set up a virtual bulletin board upon which you can place post-it notes (see previous Must Have Monday posts about my addiction to these mini-marvels). I've set-up Padlet boards for assessing student comprehension, making connections, answering a particular science question... the possibilities are endless. One thing that is FUN about this web tool is that I can sit at my desk computer and see live the work that my students are doing. As they work I can comment and even jump in and correct if need be. This is a great feature for beginners and is a way to help students with homework. When I assign one of my Padlet boards as homework I also set a time that I will be online that evening. As students work on the board I am there to help them as needed.
Some new features have just been added that make this web tool even more teacher friendly. Users now have the ability to save Padlet boards as a .pdf, Excel, or image file. The boards can be embedded in webpages or blog posts (see below), and they can be shared via the most popular social media sites. Visitors can even subscribe to a board. LOVIN' Padlet more and more!
I also teach my students how to create boards and require them to build boards that their classmates must visit and respond to. Padlet is a SIMPLE, easy peasy way to incorporate technology into your curriculum, and it can help meet Common Core ELA Standards.
Here is my latest Padlet board (it is still in process as of this post's date). This board is used as a quick final response to the novel Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardner. My fifth grade ELA students are just learning how to use this web tool. They are also learning to include specific textual details in their responses as well as including the question in their answer. They have struggled with these skills all year.
One of the best technology "things" that I've stumbled upon in the past few years is a video processing site called Animoto. If you have not seen this website I encourage you to hop on over and check it out. It allows the user to create 30 second video slideshows featuring original photos and/or downloaded pics from the internet. Paid subscription accounts are also available, but Animoto does a great service for educators. Teachers can apply for FREEBIE educational accounts for themselves and their students that allow them to develop videos of longer length. Education accounts are similar to a paid account with a few very minor exception. The one drawback to the educational account is that it expires at the end of six months. Teachers can renew their accounts and their student accounts but it is a bit of a process. My suggestion to Animoto is that they increase the length of the account to one year, or at the least nine months.
One of the first videos that I created is this brief one that I used with my fifth grade class last year as we were delving into Newbery Literature. I have a great poster that features all of the Newbery award winning books from the inception of the award through 2012, but I wanted a video to capture the attention of my fivers. They loved music and singing and all things technology. Animoto was the perfect tool for me to whip up a quick video to accompany my lessons. This was playing when they entered the room. They LOVED it! If I recall I think I played it four or five times before I could go on with the lesson.
Animoto is exceptionally easy to use. Animoto provides an instructional video but I chose to skip it since I found the site quite intuitive. Additionally, there are several good tutorials on YouTube for anyone who likes step-by-step instructions. Just use any internet search engine to locate them or go directly to YouTube to search.
Animoto's interface is user friendly and works similarly to a typical word processing program. To begin a project you select a template. Depending on the type of account you have will depend on the kind of template that you may select. Free accounts have far fewer choices and fewer privileges, however, stunning videos can still be created. The next step requires the selection of photos, either from Animoto's vast onsite collection or by uploading your own. Snippets of videos can even be added if there is enough time available in your project (this is where it is advantageous to have an education account). Each template has a pre-selected audio file. This, too, can be changed. You may select from Animoto's list of musical pieces (a rather limited database) or once again, your own. Finally, you can tweak your video using a few special effects, the variety and number vary with the type of account you are using, and then produce it.
Your video can be shared on social media site, such as FaceBook, with the click of a button or embedded in blogs and websites with HTML code. Individual video links can even be shared via email by copying and pasting the web address. Education and paid account users can even download their videos for playback on PC's and handheld devices.
The following three Animoto videos were completed as an assignment by sixth graders. The class had been reading realistic/historical fiction centered on the Holocaust. We had spent time learning and researching actual historical evidence (newsreel videos, history texts, personal memoirs, et al.) and comparing this with the fictional text in The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. My sixers could select from several methods of presenting what they learned: an Animoto video, a powerpoint presentation, or a Social Media book response (something I developed and is available for purchase in my TpT Store and Teacher's Notebook Shop). This assignment was very open-ended. I really was interested in seeing what my kiddos would do without strict parameters. I had spent the year developing these types of projects with them, giving specific directions and instructions. They had made Animoto videos before, had watched me use and demonstrate PowerPoint, and the Social Media book responses were patterned after Pinterest, FaceBook, and Muzy, all sites I used with them on a weekly basis.
Needless to say, I was quite pleased with what they had produced. The only complaint I have is that some took an improper shortcut to their image citations, simply stating they got their images from Google, even after I had talked and talked about this over and over, off and on, all year... get my frustration? I would've required those who had taken this shortcut to make corrections, but their accounts had expired on Sunday, May 5th... thus my suggestion to Animoto as I mentioned above.
If you are interested in using Animoto with your students you might be interested in seeing a few of the items that I use with my sixers as I first begin teaching them about making videos. The first project that they do is making a book trailer, patterned after a Hollywood film trailer. You can download the instruction sheet HERE and the assessment tool to accompany the project HERE or by clicking on the individual graphics. These items might provide some help for you as you begin developing video projects with your students.
Do any of you use Animoto? What are some ways that you use it with your class? Do you use any other video websites? I'd love to hear from you!
