Power Presentations using POWTOONS!!

PowToon is a free website that allows users to create dynamic animated presentations and movies.  This is a great option for students looking for something snazzier than PowerPoint and less frustrating than Prezi.  Jennifer Kirchoff, a high school ELA teacher turned me on to PowToon while her class was using it to create book movie trailers.  The kids really enjoyed using the site not only because it was easy, but because it was fun and something different!

The interface is very easy to use.  However,  if you or your students get stuck and need some assistance, the site comes with its' own set of video tutorials.  Keep in mind that the free version does limit your presentations to 5 minutes. If you are interested upgrading to the premium account, it will cost you $19.00 a month.  

Lets take a closer look at the process.  After creating your account and logging in, the first step is to choose a category depending on what type of presentation you want to make .  Your options include a Blank Project, Promotional Videos, Slide show, Educational Clip, Infographic Videos and Social Clip.  I have only worked with the Blank Presentation which is just plain white slides that you design (no template).  

After giving my presentation a title it brought me to the main interface where I could add backgrounds, images, text, animated or still characters, props, music, and additional slides. 

Powtoon has it's own gallery of back grounds and images.  The image gallery is sourced by Flicker (not one of my favorites), but you can also upload your own images and backgrounds. The site also provides a small selection off free tunes  or you can upload your own. The timing of objects entering and leaving a slide can also be adjusted along with the length of time the slide is visible before going on to the next.   Your finished product can be shared with many on YouTube, or you can download it to your own computer.   

Here is a great PowToon about using PowToon in the classroom.  Fast forward through the intro if you want to just jump to the section on meeting the Common Core Standards.  

Need some inspiration?  
Students can use PowToon to share their ideas or to “prototype” an idea.  Students can create videos to show math processes, explanations of complex concepts, review new learning, teach others, explain processes, tell stories, or present research.  The possibilities are really endless and students will come up with hundreds of other creative uses. 

Check out the links below.  Remember, this tool is not just for the kids.  It's a great way to create engaging means to present new information that hooks your audience. Allow your students the ability to review the presentation over and over again by sharing online. Remember, you can share on YouTube or download to your own computer so you can add it to your own website, blog, or wiki.

Middle School:  Endangered Species

Teacher Created:  Vocabulary Lesson 

Making Nouns Plural (Spanish)

Elementary Student Book Report


Lastly...

"Teacher Elizabeth Frank: ”I decided to create a PowToon to introduce this Project Based Learning assignment because I was bored with just giving the students a “letter” or “email” from the company as an entry event. I thought a PowToon would really get the point across and get the students excited about the project they were starting. Most of my classes responded with clapping and a “That was awesome!”. To say the least they were really impressed! I have had several groups ask if they could use PowToon for the presentation aspect of this project."

Click here to view Elizabeth's PowToons.   

Goodbye PowerPoint....Hello Biteslide!!

Can you Say the 4 Cs!!

...plus self-expression, imagination 

and just plain old fun!

Web-based presentation tools are a great alternative to doing a PowerPoint presentation.   In addition to traditional presentation concepts, you can have students use these tools to create web-based scrapbooks, portfolios, digital storybooks, mood boards, info graphics, posters, thought collages...you get the idea.   There are many free, online tools you could use, but I am going to feature "Biteslide" as it was designed for educators and received the 2013 Ed-Tech Digest Award. 

The key features of Biteslide include:  

• Add images and videos directly from Google and YouTube 
• Upload your own images and videos
• Add text 
• Add snazzy backgrounds, image frames, and stickers from the Extra Menu. 
• Free to use (teacher can create a class of 30 students for free or have students create their own account)
• Presentations can be embedded, email, downloaded, and printed

Reasons to try BiteSlide:

• Students Develop 21st Century Skills
• Aligns with Common Core ELA Standards
• Great for grades 2-12
• Site makes research fun
• Incredibly easy to use 
• Perfect presentations
• Manage student projects easily

In the Classroom (borrowed from TeachersFirst.com):

"Use Biteslide to create a digital scrapbook page for any classroom activities. Print and display student work on classroom bulletin boards. Demonstrate how to add pictures, videos, and change backgrounds before allowing students to work on their own. Assign students to create a Biteslide collage instead of creating a drawing or other form of media. Be sure to provide rubrics for content to be included. Art teachers can assign students to collect images using the same design elements or build portfolios of favorite images. Teach ethical use of online images, etc. by demonstrating and requiring citations. Have student groups create scrapbooks about a decade, a famous person, or a science concept -- even a leaf "collection. Have students collect favorite poems and add images into a Favorite poems scrapbook (including their own, of course). Maybe make a class literary magazine!"

Here is an example Biteslide (scrapbook) that I made on the Life of Barack Obama. Enjoy!

 Check out the 2013 Favorite Historical Figures contest submissions on Pinterest!!   
Here are a few other web-based presentation tools you might like:
Empressr

Prezi
PreZentit
visual.ly 

Inspired by Pictures

Do you have struggling writers?  Is it hard for them to come up with their own ideas of what to write about?  Or maybe, they just can't seem to find the right words? Or, do they lack the ability to put their words in a structure that creates sentences that hooks the reader?  Show them PicLits and see what happens!!  

PicLits was created to get learners inspired to creatively write through pictures and words.  It is great to use to write a caption, a sentence, a poem, or a short paragraph.  PicLits  offers a fun way to learn new vocabulary and play with word forms and sentence structure.  It has been featured as one of the top free web tools on many educational blog and news sites.  Don't believe me?   Take a look for yourself:  ttp://www.piclits.com/News.aspx

Students start by choosing a picture from a
 L-A-R-G-E gallery. They can then decide if they want to design their writing piece by dragging and dropping words from the provided word bank, or they can choose to "free-hand" it which allows them to type their sentences or paragraphs.   Students can then choose to either save/download their PicLits to print, or they can can be shared via email, or on a blog, wiki, etc.    

Another feature of PicLit that I found very helpful was their Learn It sections.  It provides short and easy to read descriptions of writing:   Write-it and Rhyme it.  It is also here under the LearnIt pages where teachers can find  advanced lessons on teaching kids to read and write poetry..  Look under the Master-it section!!

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com 

A few classroom application ideas:

• Use to define vocabulary words and/or literary terms
• Introduce poetry and creative writing
• Teacher led journal writings or blog posts
• Conceptualize a problem and practice math skills.
• Character traits
• Public Service Announcement Posters
• Backdrops for poems
• Descriptive writing (one sentence or short paragraph about image)
• Individual or partner writing
• Compare and contrast (using two different images)
• Create math sentence around pictures ( https://sites.google.com/site/361techcheck/math-piclits)
• Visual and vocabulary support for ESL students

A few visuals...

21st Century Skills:

• Think creatively 
• Communicate clearly
• Apply technology effectively 
• Create media products 

Common Core State Standards (CCSS

Mathematics - Use PicLits real-world images to help conceptualize a problem and practice math skills.

• K.CC Count and Cardinality - Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality
• K.G Geometry - Identify and describe shapes (squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres).
• 6.G Geometry - Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and volume.

English Language Arts - Use PicLits real-world images to inspire and motivate students in developing ELA skills.

Writing Standards:

•  W.K.6 With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
• W.8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Language Standards:

• L.K.5 Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
• L.8.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language,word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Use Zunal for Zippy WebQuests

     The term "WebQuest" is often used as the catch-all phrase for students performing guided research on the Internet.  However, the proper term that should be used when students are simply researching for information using a list of links that the teacher has put together, is a "scavenger hunt", not a WebQuest.  A scavenger hunt requires students to "get" the information, while a WebQuest wants them "to do something" with this information. 
    

     A WebQuest is a much more involved "inquiry oriented" on-line research project developed by by tech-guru Bernie Dodge back in 1995.   A true webquest is made up of 6 essential components.  They include an Introduction, a Task, Processes, Resources, and Evaluation that the students refer to for guidance and instruction on the quest.  These components provide opportunities for students to use a variety of skills that align with many of the common core standards.    " A true, high-quality WebQuest is not simply a series of web-based experiences or an Internet scavenger hunt. By contrast, a real WebQuest will make good use of Internet-based resources, allowing teachers to present content in diverse formats and media and requiring students to engage in a learning activity modeled on a real-world task that requires them to research and use technology skills, then synthesize and analyze the information they have gathered. In the culminating project or writing assignment of a WebQuest, students are generally asked to persuade an audience or explain their point of view based on the specific evidence they have gathered through Internet-based inquiry.", http://criticalthinkingworks.com/?p=266, March 12, 2012.

Check out this VoiceThread on how you can use WebQuests to promote classroom inquiry. 

    

      OK.  So you are thinking, "Why is she writing about WebQuests, they are nothing new?!"  I know.  However, in the past creating a true WebQuest not only required you to have the skills needed to make an interactive document with web links, but also the ability or means to host it on the world wide web.  This piece of the project has been made easier with the development of actual WebQuest creator tools such as Zunal.   Zunal does all the work for you allowing even the novice WebQuest users the ability to create professional looking WebQuests in a snap.  For a FREE service, it provides a ton of features!  Here are a few: 

• Publish web-quests instantly to Zunal's portal for student access (can also be shared via a URL, email, or facebook).  
• Free account never expires 
• Unlimited number of files and images can be uploaded 
• Embed videos 
• Embed Voki and Glogster presentations

     Zunal also provides tools to make your WebQuests interactive with tables, an evaluation rubric, photo galleries, quizzes, map activities, hangman games, pre-test/post-tests, and more!!  Check this out...the most recent update to Zunal now makes it possible for multiple people to work on the same WebQuest using different accounts!!  This would be a great activity to do with your students.  You could have them work as partners or in teams to develop a WebQuest around a particular topic.    

  Here are a few different links to WebQuests that are available on Zunal to give you an idea of the finished product. 

A Trip Back in Time:  Early and Ancient Civilization (6-8)

Food From the Farm (K-2)

Cyber Bullying in the Media Age  (9-12)

Fractions, Fractions, and More (6-8)

1960's Flashback:  Into the World of an Outsider  (6-8)  

Vacation to Disney:  problem solving in real life situations. It uses higher level thinking, problem solving, and budgeting money.  (3-5)

La Familia (9-12)
Lets Take a Journey into the World of Beverly Cleary (K-2)

   Lastly, Zunal has a mobile friendly website making it easy to access from smart phones and idevices.  They are in the process of developing apps, but for now, you can use the mobile site:
www.m.zunal.com

Enjoy!

ipads for Thinking and Learning

     One of my favorite educational blogs that I follow is called Langwitches, where recently I read an article called "There is More to iPads in the Classroom...than Apps". Langwitches by the way, if you are not familiar with it, is definitely worth a perusal if you too enjoy learning what tools other educators are using to make an impact on how they teach and how their students learn. 

     OK, back to the article. With the implementation of many idevices across our district, I am often asked if I know of a "good app" that will do this or that for a certain lesson. Although I am always up for the challenge of finding the perfect app, I often wonder if we are missing the mark on the full potential of these devices in the classroom. There has to be more to these "cool tools" than just "drill and kill" apps, a video camera, and easy access to the Internet!! That is why I was excited when I read Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's article, where she discusses how it is important; "to NOT see only apps but to focus on pedagogy and the iPad as a LEARNING and THINKING tool".  She also suggests looking at apps "THROUGH THE LENS of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and 21st Century Skills and Literacies".  Don't get me wrong.  I love many of the amazing apps out there that help kids learn certain skills and get them excited about their learning. However, let's take it a step further and discover the many ways to use these devices to collaborate, evaluate, explore, connect, extend learning...and make life long learners!!

     With that in mind, take a look at the attached list of apps as seen through these different lenses! Each of these images can be printed as PDFs.   Enjoy!

     

Built for Students...Loved by Teachers...StudyBlue

It's that time of year again, when teachers are prepping review materials and students are cramming for that final exam or Regents.  Get your student's excited again about learning by introducing them to StudyBlue! If you like Quizlet, then you are going to love StudyBlue.  This online study tool designed for our digital native students who want the ability of studying in the palm of their hand.  StudyBlue allows students to study using a computer, or on-the-go using either the Apple or Android app.   


StudyBlue provides users with lots of different study tools including flashcards, quizzes, test reviews, and much more.  What I like about StudyBlue is that students can quiz themselves using their flashcards and the program keeps track of which ones they got right and wrong, enabling them to focus on mastery.  It also reminds the students where they left off during their previous session and how long ago they studied.   If their problem is remembering to study... no worries.  Students can set a study reminder for any online flashcards or notes and the program will send them a text message when it's time to study again - with a direct link to the material.  Failure is futile!!  Often referred to as "your digital backpack", StudyBlue allows users to create their own study material or search the flashcard directory for materials submitted by others.  


Check out these StudyBlue videos and please share this link with your students!!  Take away those year-end study blues!!  http://www.studyblue.com/






Here's a great video demonstrating the free Apple app and how  easy it is to create a flashcard that includes an image and how to use your voice to enter the definition.  

Museum Box

The Museum Box is a cool little site that I have had on my list of sites to post about for a while. It allows students to create what I like to call a "virtual or interactive time capsule" filled with information pertaining to a specific event in time, a person, place, etc. This is a great way for kids to debate a topic presenting their argument through visuals that can include documents, images, videos, and sound. Students can also view and comment on museum boxes submitted by others.

The Museum Box interface is pretty slick and your students will quickly learn how to create their boxes using the onscreen "eye catching" buttons and easy to follow directions. The box is divided into multi -layered cubes, with each side of the cube containing the artifact (document, image, etc.). Another feature I like is that it does not require using a specific Internet browser. It will work on Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Chrome, etc.

Set up is easy, but does require an initial school registration that is free. Your account has to be verified that can take up to 5 days. This allows you the ability review and approve your pupils' work. Once you are approved, you can login to the Teacher Administration area and create student accounts (under Manage Users) or ask your pupils to sign up and select your school from the school list. Once this is done, when pupils submit their boxes they will go to you for review and publication.

Here's a video that overviews Musum Box from EduTeacher TV. Check it out!!