[Replicable Practices] Stop your students from yawning because of another Power Point presentation. Teachers Create Boss Presentations with PowToon!

PowToon For Education

Part of every teaching dilemma or more specifically part of the planning process when creating a lesson is finding ways to attract (buzzword: hook / engage) students into what knowledge or skills you are trying to share with them. Being an avid user of Microsoft Power Point for many lessons I had noticed that students were becoming bored or uninterested in Power Point presentations. Too much is too much. Not only were my students becoming unusually rowdy but they had a look on their faces that suggested "Again? Give us a break from Power Point." Searching for alternatives I remembered attending a meeting about technology in the classroom and jointing down a brief note on a new presentation tool called PowToon.

PowToon yells out to Teachers and enthusiastically says - "Flip your classroom, inspire, engage and delight your students."

Copied directly from About PowToon:

"allows users to create colorful, visually engaging animated Powtoons (presentation - cartoon mashups) with drag-and-drop simplicity...PowToon wants to also make a difference in the education sector and our tool is designed to allow education professionals (and students) to create content that is visually engaging, captivating and fun to make.

[Replicable Practices] Flickr . . . Flickr . . . Flickr Fun

Signing up for a free Flickr account was simple. The wonderful thing about the signup process was that any user has three options (the more options the better). Each user can sign up for a new account (associated with Yahoo), use an existing Yahoo ID or they can use an existing Facebook ID or Google ID. I already had a Yahoo Account (Renaissance Professor) therefore I did not have to memorize another signup name and password for a site that I may or may not use.

I am finding myself daydreaming about other nostalgic places and therefore decided to revisit a couple of childhood communities. I took a couple of snapshots with my iPhone 4s (enabled Geo-tagging), signed up for a Flickr Account, uploaded the photos, changed their privacy settings to public, reviewed the license agreement and tagged. I then decided to map the photos on the Flickr map. The process was easy and I can see how this tool can be addicting.

Here are the set of three photos that also mark earlier milestones in my life:

Avon Ave by Renaissance Professor, on Flickr

Keele Subway Station Outdoor Waiting Platform by Renaissance Professor, on Flickr

Keele Subway Station by Renaissance Professor, on Flickr

These spots are very important to me because this is where I grew up. What and where would I explore today? I cannot count the number of almost falls I had running down these steps at the Keele Subway Station. Never wanting to miss my bus as I heard the rumble of its engine as the bus pulled into the bay.

My photo experience and using Flickr was a positive one. Uploading pictures was easy. It took a while to get all the settings in the Flickr account just right but once they were set they became the default for every other photo I uploaded. I really liked placing the photos on the Flickr map. Enabling the Geo-Tagging feature on the phone is a great feature.

Teachers can use Flickr and associated tools in many ways. Consider an interactive and visual story line for writing assignments, historical associations to modern landmarks or photo journalism to virtually any topic.

[Replicable Practices] Discover Flickr

Before creating a free Flickr account I decided to explore The Tour and read the FAQ. I rummaged, searched, explored and discovered and interesting image that I share with you below. I suggest you do the same.

Angele Menard by H.A.T. Photography, on Flickr

This old barn can be found at the Adamson Estate, which forms the eastern boundary of Port Credit, Ontario. Why is this old barn significant? The barn represents an important milestone in my life, awhile back I also had my photograph taken at that exact spot.

More on Flickr in my next blog post.

[Replicable Practices] Tricking my students to write an Opinion Essay. What I mean is Creating Comics & Cartoons

The students in my class are very opinionated. I often hear them get into fiery discussions with their peers about who is the best basketball player, favourite recording artist or favourite team in any given sport. They are also very good at coming up with advantageous reasons as to why they should not be in school uniform or why they should not receive a zero for an assignment they may or may not hand in. However when student's are asked to write an opinion essay they become so burdened, listless and lethargic in getting pencil to paper (fingers to keyboard). Of course I go over with the class countless examples and writing guides on how to write and effective opinion essay but somehow they do not seem to enthusiastic about it (I do not blame them, since the my old way was a snooze). Personally I happen to think it is the term 'essay' extinguishes their writing flame despite the fact that they can argue with some incredible points of view. One idea that I would like to explore to further my own replicable practices when it comes to delivering a lesson about writing an opinion essay is through the use of Comic Creators.

[Replicable Practices] Educational Merits: Blogging in Education

Grab yourself a blog in 3 steps

What is a blog?

Comments:

I share with you a Google Scholarly Search using the term: Blogging in education. I particularly enjoy:

Downes, S. (2004, September). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 14-26. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920

Taken from the Educase Website:

Stephen Downes (http://www.downes.ca) is a Senior Researcher with the E-Learning Research Group, National Research Council Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick. Comments on this article can be sent to the author at stephen@downes.ca.

My Blogs
  

WordPress	Blogger
Replicable Practices	Replicable Practices
My Philosophy	My Philosophy

Please look forward to another [Replicable Practices] post in which I explore Tumblr.

[Replicable Practices] Blogging in Education

I share with you a Google Scholarly Search using the term: Blogging in education.


I particularly enjoy (PDF):

Downes, S. (2004, September). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 14-26. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920

Taken from the Educase Website:

Stephen Downes (http://www.downes.ca) is a Senior Researcher with the E-Learning Research Group, National Research Council Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick. Comments on this article can be sent to the author at stephen@downes.ca.

[Replicable Practices] EduGains.ca

EduGains.ca

UPDATE: This website will be retired on June 30, 2021and is no longer being updated. Edugains resources can continue to be found by signing into eCommunity Ontario and Curriculum and Resources website.

EduGains is another amazing source and collection of ideas to create and sustain Replicable Practices. I encourage all my readers to explore the Differentiated Instruction and Literacy sections.

Differentiated Instruction

Literacy

[Replicable Practices] The power of an Apple iPhone and iPad to transform classrooms!

Apple iPad

For a long time whenever anyone mentioned an Apple computer I immediately thought of two things, graphic designers and classrooms. I suppose one reason is that Apple themselves marketed and aligned their products for a particular market.  Secondly it may have been the ease of use and availability that guided Apple computers into those segments.This thought had me thinking of the new Apples products such as the iPhone and iPad and how they could potentially transformation classrooms.

Google search "hand held classrooms" and at the time of this post about 2,950,000 results were found.

Here are a couple of PDF articles worth reading

• Mobile Learning and Handheld Devices in the Classroom by Robby Robson, Eduworks Corporation, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
• The Handheld Classroom: Educational Implications of Mobile Computing by Mark Finn and Natalie Vandenham from the Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society.

YouTube search "hand held classrooms" and at the time of this post about 302 videos resulted plus 567 videos under the search "classrooms of the future" and "Ipad in the classroom".

This shift is going to happen.

[Replicable Practices] Multimedia, Technology and Multiple Intelligences

Apple IPhone

There is no doubt that multimedia and technology has infiltrated in our lives and to an even greater extent the students in my class. During my lesson lesson on multiple intelligences a student of mine was playing around with his IPhone (even though he should have known better). In reflecting I instinctively made a connection between some of the multiple intelligences and technology. I however did not realize that Howard Gardner has a collection of PDF files about the topic.

Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences (PDF)

Technology and Multiple Intelligences (PDF)

[Replicable Practices] The theory of multiple intelligences I

Howard Gardner

The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner. The multiple intelligences theory is an idea that maintains that people have different types of "intelligences". In 1999 Gardner lists eight intelligences as linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Gardner also emphasizes that developing an intelligence or a combination of is a lengthy process.

In my class I use the theory of multiple intelligences to help students develop skills that will help them succeed at school and at post secondary options. More importantly it helps students develop the confidence to begin understanding the importance of self advocacy. Follow the link to print out a multiple intelligence quiz to share with your students. I also use the follow up activity and have the students create a bar graph of their results.

Quiz © 1999 Walter McKenzie


For an interactive worksheet which produces a multiple intelligences wheel based upon Gardner's eight multiple intelligences. © 2002 - 2010 Birmingham City Council