[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] As you see it because you are the storyteller! Storify

Storify - All the stories happening on social media

Guided Tour

How to write a newspaper article is a skill that I guide my students through in a series of lessons. The reason why I really enjoy these lessons is because I only initially share with my students some guidelines. The rest is up to them. Through student exploration, research, polling and a culminating whole class example the lesson and curiculum expectations get processed through.

I am excited to try this new tool and incorporate it into my next series of newspaper writing lessons. English teachers and media teachers might also want to explore this site.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions page and view the videos below to become familiar with Storify.


Storify from Storify on Vimeo.


Storify Overview from Storify on Vimeo.


Getting started with Storify from Storify on Vimeo.

[Replicable Practices] Tablet computers and special applications: Autism

As I was settling into my morning school routine I overheard a couple of special education teachers discussing a story they had seen on the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Their conversation centered upon how autistic students can (through the use of Apps and iPad), communicate their wants or needs to teachers, parents and friends. In other words a possible solution to give students with severe autism the ability to express themselves.

Apple iPad 2

CBC Health News: Autism: Making sense of a confusing world
Last Updated: Friday, September 17, 2010 | 12:25 PM ET

CBS 60 Minutes: Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad
(Watch the Segment)
October 23, 2011 7:10 PM

Autism Speaks - It's time to listen: Autism Apps

[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] Wellbeing Toronto

A new site was launched about the City of Toronto. A valuable tool for several reasons. It helps satisfy the curiosity that Torontonians have about where they live. Comparisons can be made between neighbourhoods to help people make decisions. Students can use the site through a number of school subjects such as careers, civics, geography, urban planning, business, environmental studies, math etc. Teachers can use another visual and technological means to give students other perspectives.

Wellbeing Toronto

Copied directly from Wellbeing Toronto:

Wellbeing Toronto is a new web-based measurement and visualization tool that helps evaluate community wellbeing across the city's 140 neighbourhoods. Using geographic information software, Wellbeing Toronto allows you to select, combine and weight the significance of a number of indicators that monitor neighbourhood wellness. The results appear instantly on easy to read maps, tables and graphs. This free tool supports decision making and seeks to engage citizens and businesses in understanding the challenges and opportunities of creating and maintaining healthy neighbourhoods. You can also find detailed demographic information about each neighbourhood.

[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] Teacher Tube - Edutainment

TeacherTube

Finding resources that will help me Entertain/Educate (Edutainment) students has been difficult. Aside from trying to infuse interaction with technology in lessons or assignments I often rely on flashy/catchy informative YouTube clips to help me grab and sustain their attention. Based on the familiar YouTube site I discovered TeacherTube.

[Replicable Practices] Apple Education Apps

For anyone interested in getting more out of their iPad, iPod touch or iPhone via apps be sure to visit Apple in Education. You can search for apps by subject or by function.

[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] 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!

[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)