Remember that huge stack of books I brought home to read over the summer? Yep, this one right here?
I knew when I stacked them up that there were not enough days in my summer to read them all, even if I did manage to keep up with #bookaday. I was afraid to count them, but even a cursory glance assured me there would be books left in the TBR pile once school started. As I look at the box of books, I wonder if I’ve made any progress at all.
Since I’m also taking part in the Making Learning Connected MOOC, I decided to try creating my first stop motion video to show my progress. I had wanted to try this techonology tool, but didn’t have a clue as to what story I could tell through this media. The guy on the JellyCam website had a cute story about a banana growing out of his head to show how easy it is to create a video, but I didn’t have any clever ideas like that.
I could tell a story about my summer reading for the month of June. I was surprised that I finished 31 books. Three of them were audio books that didn’t make the video. I found it pretty easy to create, but I need to practice lining up each shot so the frames don’t jump around so much. I had thought about making signs for each pile for “To Be Read” and “Read,” but forgot until after I had shot all the pictures. Figuring out how to add music would be nice, too. I used the free version of the iMotionHD app to create this video. It was simple to figure out, create, and share the video. I’m wondering why I waited so long to try it out.
Now I’m wondering how I can share this tool with my students and connect it with their literacy learning. It is one way to share stories. Students could introduce themselves with a story, animate an original story they’ve written, create a book trailer for a book they’ve read.
Next up, I’d like to try out some of the Stick Motion apps where you can draw the figures (stick people, of course) for stop motion animation.
Life Challenge sponsored by Ruth and Stacey over at Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
I’ve been doing more lurking than making this week with the Making Learning Connected MOOC, but that’s okay. I’m soaking up ideas I can come back to later. As I sit in the library, I am thankful for the connections I’m making through the MOOC and through other online communities that I’ve become a part of. My five finds for this Friday reflect those online communities and how I participate in them.
Since I can’t put it off much longer, I’ve searched for a replacement for Google Reader, which goes away July 1. (Google, how could you do this to me?) The Edublogger had a couple of good posts here and here that explored different options. Audrey Watters had a detailed post on the pros and cons of different replacements based on her needs for what a RSS reader should do. It showed me how much I still have to learn about technology. For now, I’ve exported my Google Reader Feed to Feedly and Flipboard. I’m not sure which I like better–maybe each for different things. We’ll see what happens when the calendar flips on Monday.
Teachers Write started on Monday (actually I started last Friday when Gae Polisner kickstarted the first Friday Feedback early. Gae, Kate Messner and Jen Vincent started this summer writing camp for teachers last summer, and it is taking flight. I haven’t written much publicly, but I have been writing in my notebook and playing around with the novel I started several summers ago. I’m focusing more on exploring rather than drafting since I have no idea at the moment where this story is going. Jon Barilone shared an announcement about a series of webinars and Twittter chats on the topic of Writing as Making/Making as Writing.
For the past several months, I have been taking part in the Slice of Life challenge hosted by Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers. I look forward to every Tuesday to write, read, and share. This week, I got to read about the excitement of online friends meeting face to face at the All Write conference. It’s funny how I’m starting to recognize some of these people that I’ve never met when we show up in different online communities. I’ve seen fellow slicers hanging out with Teacher Write and Making Learning Connected.
I have had fun lurking through all the toy hacks, especially the stop-motion videos. I am definitely going to have to try some of those when I catch up with book reviews (or maybe I can combine the two…hmmm). Meanwhile, be inspired by Amanda Hedricks’woven chicken and Kevin Hodgson’s flying pig. Christina Hendricks shared a list of resources on creating stop motion videos. It’s not stop motion, but I loved Ken and Barbie in It’s a Wonderful Life created by Karen Young.
I am more than a bit intimidated by the prospect of writing–or even messing around with–computer code. But I loved the idea of a 10 book memoir shared by Chad Sansing as part of the Making Learning Connected MOOC. I was also inspired by Sheri Edward’s description of her experience coding with this project. Could I really use Mozilla Webmaker’s remix tool Thimble to adapt this project for me? It turns out I could. I even uploaded my first pictures to Flickr (NOTE: Make use of Flickr next school year to share with parents what’s going on in my classroom!) in honor of the occasion.
At first glance, I thought the code side of the page was completely indecipherable. Once the panic subsided, I started to read the edit side of the page. Some of it was actually written in English! Comments give directions that explain what each section of code does and what parts you can change. It was easiest to change the text written on the page, so I started with that. Next I attempted to add my photo from Flickr. My first attempt deleted the original picture, but didn’t insert mine. I did discover that clicking on the empty box led me to my picture on Flickr. Then I opened another window so I could compare what was different in my code with the original page. I did get my picture on the page, but it was in the wrong location. I tinkered some more and more until I finally got everything to look like I wanted it. I’m still not completely sure how I did it, but I DID IT! Maybe next time I’ll get brave enough to change even more.
I am taking part in the Making Connected Learning MOOC sponsored by the National Writing Project. I have wanted to learn to use more technology (It seems to come out faster than I can keep up) and then share those tools with my students. This first cycle invites us to create something to introduce ourselves. I’ve played around with several of the possibilities.
I’ve been eyeing–or is it earring–podcasts for awhile, but just felt completely overwhelmed by getting started. Many thanks to Kevin and Terry who created this podcast with two easy options for getting started. Here’s my introduction of myself to the clmooc community.
I used the ipadio app to create this first podcast introduction. It was very easy to create, but I’m still figuring out how to best share it. That may go better from visiting their website on a computer. Once I’m back in the classroom or on a computer, I want to check out Vocaroo. It looks even easier.
Since one of the options was to make a physical object, I spent Sunday afternoon creating these storage canisters. I love words and books. I can’t even bare to part with them once they are falling apart and have lost pages. I broke down and joined Pinterest just to look for ideas on how to create things with old books. Now I have some pretty cool containers to store scrapbooking supplies.
I’m looking forward to trying out some of the other ideas and sharing them, too.
Life Challenge sponsored by Ruth and Stacey over at Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
