[Replicable Practices] SlidesMania - An excessive enthusiasm over Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint

A presentation tool of any type - low or high tech have has existed in teacher toolboxes for a long time. Microsoft PowerPoint has existed since May 22, 1990 (32 years ago) and Google Slides initial release date was March 9, 2006 (17 years ago). Nothing new!

I remember the countless hours spent (on either presentation software) making presentations look just right. 

• Trying to find the perfect ratio of text to pictures.

• Trying to find the right variety of layouts so my presentation was interesting and engaging.

• Trying to not overwhelm the students with not a lot of one thing.

Only to repeat all of the above time wasters again to "improve" the presentation because I learned to use a new tool or discovered a new layout or new colour combinations. I didn't even mention the number of experiements that tool place with transitions and animations.

I stumbled upon, what I consider to be a Replicable Practices website that can help eliminate some of the time wasters above.

[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] Slideshare.net

I stumbled across this website when doing a search for Persuasive Writing. Copied directly from the About Us link on Slideshare.net:

SlideShare is the world's largest community for sharing presentations. With 50 million monthly visitors and 90 million pageviews, it is amongst the most visited 250 websites in the world. Besides presentations, SlideShare also supports documents, PDFs, videos and webinars. SlideShare features a vibrant professional and educational community that regularly comments, favorites and downloads content....Anyone can view presentations & documents on topics that interest them, download them and reuse or remix for their own work.

You can create a free account, customize your search or go directly to their Education Category. 

[Replicable Practices] Please Teacher Can We Watch A Video? Wingclips.com

Conversation Sparkler

Ask a student what they learned in school and almost all of the time their memory becomes foggy, hazy, blurred and even forgetful. Their replies are short, elusive and dodgy. A word stumbles out of their mouth..."nothing."

Ask the same student if they can describe their favorite movie or to recite their favorite movie quote and magically they are transformed into giving an accurate, detailed and succinct reply.

Whenever possible I try to incorporate video clips into my lessons. Very popular in lesson introductions but also useful to reinforce concepts or to be used as conversation sparklers.

WingClips.com

 WingClips.com is a website that I often refer to when I need "movie clips that illustrate and inspire." The website is subscription based (there is a free sign up with limitations). You can search the video clips library through a search box or you can select clips based on movie title, scripture (requires registration), category or theme.

[Replicable Practices] The Grammar Gorilla!

Grammar Bytes! Grammar Instruction with Attitude

Robin L. Simmons has created a grammar based website loaded with an assortment of interesting topics. Look up definitions of common grammar terms or test your grammar knowledge. Teachers you must check out the section devoted to handouts and presentations.

A giant thank you Ms. V. D'Amico for sharing one of your Replicable Practices.

[Replicable Practices] My Team on TEAMWORK!

On June 2 2010, I had the privilege of presenting and working with a group of exceptional teachers. A sincere thank you is sent to Genevieve McDonough, Julie Cosentino, Lisa Gambardella and Bernie Costa for their hard work and preparation that went into preparing our 30 min presentation. Each teacher utilized their talents and put on a great infotainment production.

References:

 Simari, M. (2008). I wish I knew then what I know now, so I can know more: A handbook of successful leadership practices. St. Catharines, Ont.: Brock University, Faculty of Education.

THOMPSON, D. (2002). Teachers and teacher assistants: building effective relationships. Retrieved from http://www.uleth.ca/dspace/bitstream/10133/840/1/Thompson_Dawn_M.pdf

[Replicable Practices] NOT another bristol board or powerpoint presentation I

Publisher: Microsoft
Software: Microsoft's Photo Story 3 for Windows
Requirements: Link
Download: Link or see it in Action

While taking an AQ course (Special Education Part 2) I was introduced to Photo Story. One of the class assignments was to create a commercial. During the process I discovered that my colleagues were using this program with their class by allowing their students to create a presentation via photos. Great idea! (Since the method is as if not more important than the message). Being uninspired and tired of seeing the same run of the mill presentations PhotoStory adds a new dimension to the already tech study students.

What I did was I gave them the assignment and told them to use Photo Story. They figured it out, asked one another for help and showed each other the features they discovered. I was inspired!