This is a post I wrote about using the Lego Minimizer to make avatars for the SchoolNet blog in January 2016 but it is still relevant in 2018. My classes have joined the 2018 blogging challenge so we are busy with making avatars. My plan is for different classes to make different avatars.
Grade 1 students enjoy using today's avatar known as The Reasonably Clever Mini-Miser. It can be found at http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mm2/mini2.swf. This site does not require login or registration which is perfect for younger students. It requires building up a lego figure to what you’d like it to be.
How to get started
How it works is that you use arrow buttons to scroll through the different options to customize the lego figure. There is a good selection of body parts and colours to choose from as you go along. There is also a selection of backgrounds for the final image to give it context. Once the figure is created one would need to do a printscreen to save the image
Examples
The Grade 1s loved using this application when we worked with it during a lesson. They chatted away as they worked telling each other stories about their lego figures.
A YouTube tutorial on how to use the application
This tutorial will show you how to use this application step by step.
Educational use
This is a good vocabulary building exercise on the body.
It is also good for matching words with objects.
The students can make up an oral story about the figure they have created.
Storybird is my favourite, free, story writing application
on the web www.storybird.com. I
use it with my classes all the time, and I love all its tips.. Here we are in February 2018 and Storybird has a new challenge for your class! It sounds exciting. I am adding it below as written on the Storybird blog https://goo.gl/tAfDUC.
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February challenge: Across the Universe
"Imagine you have left Earth and traveled far out into space. Maybe you live in a space station. Perhaps you have colonized another planet. You could be floating in an escape pod after your rocket ship exploded. Or you’ve been captured by aliens. There are so many possibilities!
"You have the chance to transmit a letter back home to Earth. Who would you write to? What would you say? This month’s challenge is to write that letter. Describe where you are, what you see, what it feels like, and what you’re doing. Maybe share some of the things you miss about Earth, or about the person you’re writing to. Do you have any advice to send home? A warning? A new discovery?
"Let your imagination run free and really try to put yourself into that situation. Take some time to think about what you’d write before you begin — you have until February 21st to complete the challenge. It’s fun to let your mind wander, so enjoy the ride! We can’t wait to read about your adventures.
"P.S. Keep in mind that although you are writing a letter, you should not include any personal information like your last name, your hometown, or your school. Sharing that kind of information goes against ourcommunity guidelines, which we use to keep everyone safe.
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If you would like your class to enter this challenge, please go to the challenge on the Storybird blog at https://goo.gl/tAfDUC . Storybird says, "To be eligible to be featured, your chapter must be submitted to moderation on or before February 21, 2018. Selected entries will be featured on the Storybird blog at the end of the month."
If you haven't yet signed up any of your classes to
Storybird, head over to www.storybird.com today and join. Your students will love
this application.
What do you use for note-taking if you're at a conference, workshop or attending a face-to-face course? For a lonng time I used Google Docs, but then I moved to AudioNote made by Luminant Software. I love using this application. The reasons for this is that you can take notes, and record the speaker at th same time. It is very easy to look through your notes afterwards, find a part you need to elaborate on and then listen to the speakers exact words.
What is AudioNote?
Simply put, it is a notepad AND a voice recording app together that suncronises the two and indexes the recording. This saves oodles of time, I find. Which platforms support AudioNote?
You can use it on iOS (https://goo.gl/UvSryF) , Windows 10 (https://goo.gl/Q9ydwR) , Mac (https://goo.gl/sgRwW3) and Android (https://goo.gl/DCp7G). There is a lite version which I used for a while. It has a limited recording time. There is also a paid version which I use now. It costs R247 on Windows, around $14.95 (R181) on the Apple products both of which are quite pricey in South African terms, and R93 on Google Play. The only drawback with these platforms is - you can't buy AudioNote and then use it across the platforms. You have to pay each time for the paid version. So basically, you have to decide on which platform you'll use it and I settled for my iPad as I use it everywhere I go. Why I like using it You can use it on a paper selection of your choice. You either type or use a stylus for drawings, you can add a bighlighter and you can take pictures with it and add them to your notes. I love the fact that it can use audio which syncs. As it plays back it highlights the words you wrote at that moment. It syncs to iCloud, but you cn also save it in Dropbox or email it to yourself. You can also export it as a MP3 in a roundabout way which i will explain below. How to use AudioNote
This video by Xandru Tait 'AudioNote Learning Made Easy' https://goo.gl/bYT84Y (5.57mins) is great at explaining how it all works.
In a nutshell, you could be in a lecture and you want to take notes. You open Audionote, start a clean file, choose your paper, put on recording, and away you go. There is also an audio amplifeir which I leave on in case I am in a big room. There are plenty of tips and trick which the video above explains. Sometimes, to be honest, I simply record the talk! You can even use Audionote personally – by writing down ideas and talking about them as you do so! Description of AudioNote from the iTunes App Store preview section
This is taken from the iTunes AudioNote page https://goo.gl/UvSryF "Take notes with recorded audio using the best note taking app in the App Store! AudioNote combines the functionality of a notepad and voice recorder to create a powerful tool that will save you time while improving the quality of your notes. It’s the perfect app for students or business. By synchronizing notes and audio, AudioNote automatically indexes your meetings, lectures, interviews, or study sessions. Need to review the discussion about deliverables on your next project? Trying to remember what the professor had to say about a key point? With AudioNote there is no need to waste time searching through the entire recording to find out. Each note acts as a link directly to the point at which it was recorded, taking you instantly to what you want to hear. Didn't take any notes during the meeting? No problem, you can add them later. A fully functional note application, AudioNote also increases the value of your notes. Watch as your text, drawings, and photos highlight during playback, helping you to remember the context in which they were taken. With the convenience of the iPad or iPhone, you can use AudioNote anywhere: meetings, interviews, conferences, lectures, study sessions. Even use it to record memos to yourself as you jot down new ideas. Join the thousands of students, teachers, business executives, and other professionals who have already discovered what an indispensable tool AudioNote can be. Download it today!"
Exporting AudioNote files a) Exporting sound only
If you don't want to listen to your notes in AudioNote itself, you have other options available to you. The problem is that the audio is saved as a CAF audio files. If you export them from AudioNote as audio they are exported as CAF files and you can save them in whatever location you choose. The problem is that you normally can't play CAF files easily. In the next AudioNotes blogpost I will show you how to convert CAF files to a MP3 so that they can be shared.
b) Exporting notes
You can export your notes as PDFs but what I have discovered is that you cannot edit them as they are saved as images on a PDF. This is a pit!
So, despite the drawbacks mentioned above this is a great app to use. It may be a bit expensive to use in a classroom. I need to explore other possibilities such as Evernote, OneNote and Google keep to see what they offer. Be on the lookout for my next post on how I solve these two AudioNote drawbacks.
This is a post I wrote about using the Lego Minimizer to make avatars for the SchoolNet blog in January 2016 but it is still relevant in 2018. My classes have joined the 2018 blogging challenge so we are busy with making avatars. My plan is for different classes to make different avatars.
How to use BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF
The way it works is you start with a human creature and then start adding animal parts. The program was created by the New York Zoos and Aquarium and a link to the New York Zoos and Aquariums can be found on the website pages.. It is a very easy site to use. No registration or logins are required. To get started enter a name, choose boy or girl, and add various body parts. One just follows the prompts and makes choices from the various options continually. You can view the names of the animals as you mouse over each part of the options offered.
Paragraphs describing the body parts of the animals chosen are informative and a species name is also generated for your creation.
When you're finished, click "Print your wild self", and then save that screen with a screen shot to save your work in your computer. Other sharing options include sending your creation to a friend by email, add as a desktop background or printing your wild self.
A tutorial from YouTube
Examples from the classroom
I have used this application in Grades 1,2 and 3. It has always been well-received. There’s something about a ‘wild self’that appeals to students.
Uses in the classroom
1. You could get your learners to write an adventure they had in their new wild body.
.2. They could create a wild self and use the information displayed at the end to understand why features they have chosen are necessary for their survival. They can write a paragraph about this.
3. Learners could write a report or create a multimedia presentation of their own various features and how the life of their created wild self is changed because of these features.
4. Learners could write a poem or story about a day in the life of the wild self created, using the new creature as a writing prompt.
Younger students especially really enjoy this application. Why not try it out sometime!
Storybird is my favourite, free, story writing application on the web www.storybird.com. I use it with my classes all the time, and I love all its tips. I'd love to show you an example of a Storybird poetry challenge. This challenge called 'April challenge: laughter and poetry' took place in April of this year - during poetry month. I am quoting from the Storybird blog https://goo.gl/WSAeEd
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April challenge: Laughter and Poetry
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of… laughter. April is Poetry month, so naturally, this month, we’re focused on poetry. But not just any poetry, we’re looking for ~gasp~ poetry that rhymes and makes people laugh! We can all use a little more laughter in our lives (especially after last month’s ‘conflict’ challenge!). Here’s this month’s theme in one simple line:
Make people laugh with your funny, silly, cheesy, or sincere rhyming poem
While not all poems need to rhyme, rhyming can add music and rhythm to your poems, making them fun and memorable. Here are a few tips:
A couplet format has two lines that rhyme at the end
Take a look Write a book
A tercet is more complex. Out of 6 lines: Lines 1 & 2 rhyme, lines 4 & 5 rhyme, and lines 3 and 6 rhyme
Take a look Write a book Feeling queasy? Take the time To make it rhyme Now it’s easy
A ballad stanza’s second and fourth lines rhyme:
Write a book Feeling queasy? Make a rhyme Now it’s easy.
Lastly, try to keep the syllable-count of each line roughly the same. For more details, check out this wikihow post on rhyming poems.
To get started, click ‘Create’ and start writing a PICTURE BOOK and include the theme above. You do not have to use the specific methods noted above as long as your story rhymes in some way. Like stories, your poem should have a plot—a beginning, a middle, and an end. It should have characters—a protagonist and an antagonist. And it needs a setting—where does it take place?"
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I am sure that in April 2018 there will be another exciting poetry challenge! If you haven't yet signed up any of your classes to Storybird, head over to www.storybird.comtoday and join. Your students will love this application.
This is a post I wrote about using Bricapic to make avatars for the SchoolNet blog in 2016 but it is still relevant in 2018. My classes have joined the 2018 blogging challenge so we are busy with making avatars.
You can use avatars for various purposes such as uploading a profile picture to their Edmodo profile, Google classroom profile, Gmail profile, blog profile etc.
Today we look an interesting avatar site called Brick-A-Pic found at http://me.brickapic.com/. This is a site where you upload your image and turn it into a brick mosiac. This is a web-based site where you simply upload an image to the site and follow the prompts. Very soon you'll see your image changed into a stunning LEGO® brick mosaic. You can view your image from different angles and then you can save your image to your computer. I used this in class with very pleasing effects. Let me show you how it works.
Getting started with Brick-A-Pic
Before the lesson starts make sure that you have taken a portrait photo of each student and that these are uploaded to a place where your students can access them easily.
1. Open Brick-A-Pic and upload an image
Go to http://me.brickapic.com/. When Brick-A-Pic opens on its landing page you'll be asked to choose and upload an image. The preview box underneath will give an idea of the image. When you upload your image you'll see how it looks.
2. View your image from different angles
You can bring your image in closer or move it further away
3. View the result
I saved a close-up version and a distant version of my image.
To save your image all you do, if you are using Google Chrome, is right click on the image and save it in your chosen destination.
4. Image options
Brick-a-pic does give some save options underneath the image, which will probably come into effect if you are using a browser different to Chrome. (I am not sure how other browsers work with this site.
Examples of my student's Brick-A-Pic images
This was a simple easy-to-use site. No sign-in was needed. The class had a lot of fun creating their lego-like avatars in this lesson. We are using them on their blogs as profile pictures
Try using Brick-A-Pic. Your students will enjoy the lesson.
Three South African educators, Leigh Morris, Lindsay Wesner and Chaim Moch have come up with a great idea to get more South African teachers connected to Twitter. - the ‘12 days of Twitter’ challenge, and a regular Twitter chat. They sent out this message which I am passing on.
What is the 12 days of Twitter challenge?
It takes the form of a Game Board Hyperdoc with 12 challenges, which shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes a day. There is one for people who are new to Twitter, which takes teachers through the entire process of getting on Twitter, learning about how it works, getting them to Tweet etc. and culminates in having them join our very first #ZAedu Twitter chat on 31 January at 20:00; And then there is a different “Level Up” Challenge Board for the existing Tweeps with more advanced challenges and ways to participate.
If you are not already on Twitter, the organisers would love you to join them and take part in the beginner challenge. Of course, if you are already a Twitter connoisseur, organisers would love it if you’d like to take part in the Twitter Ninja challenge but also to use the beginner challenge as a form of PD for your teachers and/or encourage them to participate in the challenge.
Take part in the #ZAedu Twitter chat
Leigh, Lindsay and Chaim have also planned a Twitter chat for South African teachers, the first #ZAedu Twitter chat will take place on 31 January.
So, how does it all work?
1. Sign up for the challenge using this form. You can sign up any time before the 19th of January which will be the first official day of the challenge.
2. You will then receive your own copy of the relevant 12 Days of Twitter Challenge Board and can work through the challenges on a daily basis. Each challenge comes with hyperlinked instructions / resources so you should be able to complete it on your own but we will also be running support.
3. The organisers also created a ZAedu Facebook group so people can post questions there etc.
And, of course, please pop 31 Jan at 20:00 in your diary and join in the first ever #ZAedu Twitter chat, and contribute.
One of my favourite screencasting tools, right now, is Screencast-O-Matic. Screencast-O-matic is a free, online tool to use if you want to quickly show someone how to do something on the computer. It easily creates a video of what you are doing and saying. These videos are called screencasts. If you want to create good screencasts without the hassle of downloading and installing any application on your computer then Screencast-O-Matic is the best available tool for the purpose. Screencasts are great to use in the flipped classroom.
I have written about Screencast-O-matic before, but as time has passed this application has some great new features that are well worth mentioning. It allows you to create up to 15 minute videos free of charge. 15 minutes is a long video. Mostly you will want to stick to 2 - 3 minute videos. Get started with Screencast-o-matic
To summarise:
Screencast-O-Matic is a free, online screen capture tool.
It has a free version (up to 15 mins video) and a paid Pro version
You can use Screencast-O-matic to record narrated presentations or demonstrations and produce the recordings as videos for your classroom
Screencast-o-matic can also be downloaded to your device and used offline.
This video tutorial 'Screencast-O-Matic 2017 Tutorial' https://goo.gl/2YYNQL is excellent and it gives a step-by-step instruction on getting started with and using this great application.
Some of the great new features
There are a number of great new features some of which have tutorials
I want to mention four other features that have caught my attention.
1. Add a video of yourself presenting
You can now add a video insert of yourself presenting your screencast. You would do this by using the webcam and the screen at the same time.
2. Stock Music is now available with Screencast-O-Matic
You can now add stock music tracks to your recording directly from the Recorder. After you complete a recording, click the music icon to the right of the timeline to preview each track and then add music to your video.
With the Free Recorder, after you finish your recording Screencast-O-Matic will present you with a rotating selection of tracks for you to add to your recording. It’s easy to preview each track and then pick the one which suits your video best. Once selected, Screencast-O-Matic automatically adds ducking to the music, reducing the volume if you have recorded narration. Music will be automatically looped until the recording is finished.
With Pro Recorder you get access to all tracks and the option to add your own music. You can also use the Video Editor to adjust audio settings. Increase or decrease volume, set timing for fade in/out of music, normalizing sound tracks but using ducking and setting audio levels between music and narration and turn, looping on/off.
Screencast-O-Matics has some great tutorials where you can learn more about adding stock music:
3. Add Rich Text Annotations, Titles and callouts to your Videos
Many times your videos need additional visual aids to highlight a point. When you are narrating an explanation, having text annotations can help add important context.
4. Quickly share your published videos to Facebook, Twitter, Google Classroom and email directly from the Screen Recorder
You can now quickly share videos directly from the Recorder. As always, you can review your recording before publishing to ensure that it’s ready to share. Share options appear in the Recorder when your video is published so you can instantly share with friends or community. Teachers will love the fact that you can share your videos directly to Google Classroom.
How you can use Screencast-O-Matic in your classroom
The classroom possibilities for this tool are endless:
Provide instruction for absent students and making a class video
Enhance your lessons by adding a screencast to explain a concept. You can make quick videos about anything really.
You can simply upload the file on YouTube or another platform and share the link with your students.
You can record lessons, provide demonstrations, present information to an online class, tell digital stories, and give feedback on student assignments.
You can also create assignments that require students to produce a screencast. Because of its ease of use, Screencast-o-matic requires little or no training to get started.
You can use captions with Screencast-o-matic
You can incorporate Screencast-O-Matic videos into Google classroom.
In 1:1 environments your students can create videos to explain their thinking using Screencast-O-Matic.
Storybird is my favourite, free, story writing application on the web www.storybird.com. I use it with my classes all the time, and I love all its tips. Storybird posts wonderful challenges and ideas all the time! It had a wonderful holiday writing challenge a couple of years ago https://goo.gl/ZAQ38Q. I am going to paste the ideas here so that I can encourage one or two of my classes to do this in their spare time. It was called the 'Summer Writing club: Write a novelette'.
This is what Storybird says about the July challenge:
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July Summer Writing Club Challenge
"This year Summer Writing Club will consist of two Challenges: One in July and one in August. Each Challenge will help you write a 5,000 word novel (we’re calling it a “novelette”) made up of multiple chapters. There’s no assigned theme—you can write about anything you want.
"We will coach you through the novel writing process week by week, releasing tips and tutorials as we go. To pace yourself, set a goal to complete at least one chapter per week. By the end of the month, you will have a finished novelette! Here are the writing skills you’ll master in July:
"Week 1 - The Protagonist: Before you can begin, you need a clear idea of who your main character(s) will be.
Week 2 - The Antagonist: Every villain has a backstory. This week, we’ll look at how to build a better bad guy.
Week 3 - Plot: You might think that figuring out the plot should come first when you’re writing a novel. But with longer works, you often have to write the story to find out what the characters will do! This week we’ll show you how to keep everything on track and moving forward towards a spectacular finish.
"Note: Unlike last year, the weekly tutorials are not writing prompts. They will be exercises to help you better understand the novel-writing process as you go. One way to approach SWC this year is to think about July as your rough draft. Once you get the basics down, you’ll be ready for the advanced tutorials that will follow in August.
"Week 1 - The Protagonist
Great characters are the foundation for great stories. The protagonist is the hero of your story. The supporting characters are the friends, family, and/or love interests who help the hero achieve her goals. Supporting characters can be very important, even central to the story, but there is generally always a single protagonist driving the action.
"Let’s take some examples from popular books: Katniss Everdeen: Protagonist Peeta Mellark: Supporting character Hazel Grace Lancaster: Protagonist Augustus Waters: Supporting character Harry Potter: Protagonist Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger: Supporting characters
"When you are beginning a new story, your characters come first. You have to know who you’re writing about before you know what they’re going to do. Your characters are at the center of the action in your story, so you need to know them really well. What do they want? What choices would they make? How would they react in different situations? What motivates them?
"The better you understand your characters, the better your readers will be able to relate to them. So, before you begin your novelette this month, take a minute to sit down and think first about your main character. Have a heart-to-heart with your protagonist and find out everything you can about them. You can use the questions below to get started, or better yet, print out the worksheet we link to in the post and write down the answers so that you can keep them handy as you’re writing.
"One of the goals of the Summer Writing Club—and Storybird—is to help you become a better writer. (The other goals are to have fun and make friends.) Some weeks we’ll use video from past workshops to help illustrate the topics we’re writing about. Don’t worry if it looks familiar; we’re also adding new material to coach you along so that you can write the best novelette you can this summer.
"Let’s do this! Watch this video for a quick tutorial, or jump right in to the character worksheet below.
"1. The Basics
Name: (first, middle, last, and nickname) How old is he/she? What does he/she look like? Where does he/she live? 2. Background Where did your character grow up? Are her parents married or divorced? Does she have siblings? If so, is she the oldest, youngest, middle? Which family member is she closest to? Which one does she keep secrets from? 3. Self Image What is her strongest personality trait? What is she most proud of? What does she wish she could change about herself? How do other people see her, and is it different from how she sees herself? What is she most afraid of? 4. Desires What does this character want? How far would she go to get what she wants? Where would she draw the line? Do you think she’d be happy if she got her heart’s desire? 5. Summary Read back over everything you’ve written about your character and summarize in one sentence what he or she wants, and what obstacles stand in the way. Use this to guide you as you keep writing your story.
"Now repeat this exercise with other characters in your story, such as the love interest, the sidekick, or the long-lost father who abandoned the family many years ago. The deeper you explore each of your characters, the more your story will come to life.
Isn't it amazing that Storybird would give such wonderful writing opportunities and ideas for free? You have to join this site! Here is an example of a novelette from Storybird: https://storybird.com/chapters/rules-of-school/
If you haven't yet signed up any of your classes to Storybird, head over to www.storybird.com today and join. Your students will love this application.
Do you use office Mix with your class? This is a message I received from Microsoft recently. Normally, when you create an Office Mix you would upload it to the Office Mix website, but that place of storage is being discontinued. If you go to the Office Mix website https://mix.office.com/en-us/Home , this is what you will see.
I use Office Mix a lot with my learners, so I will have to do some quick thinking about this – before May 1st 2018
Here is the message from Microsoft.
"Thank you for using Office Mix Preview. We would like to let you know that we are retiring the Office Mix Preview service on May 1, 2018 and need you to take action to save your files. Please make sure to migrate all of your content to a storage location of your choice before the retirement date to avoid losing any of your data. Over time, we will be adding the best experiences of Office Mix across PowerPoint, Stream, and Forms to make it even easier for you to create and share interactive online videos.
What do you need to do to prepare for this change?
If you have a qualifying account* and would like us to migrate your existing mixes to Microsoft Stream, please click here to visit the Office Mix migration page, sign in, and follow the prompts to automatically migrate your data. When the process completes, your mixes will be stored on Microsoft Stream as videos. You can continue to access Office Mix until May 1, 2018.
Mixes migrated to Stream will not include analytics data, quizzes or apps. However, over time these mixes will become interactive again. If you would like to save this content, you can download your mixes as PowerPoint files (.pptx), and your analytics data as Excel files (.xlsx) to save to your storage location of choice at any time before May 1, 2018. Please visit our help article for more details.
Creating Great New Interactive Content with Microsoft
We are bringing the best of the Office Mix add in directly into PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers on Windows PC. Going forward, the new recording tab in PowerPoint will allow you to create a presentation that includes recorded slides, screen recordings, narrations, audio, ink, and videos. In the coming months, we’ll be connecting Forms for interactive quizzes and Stream to the recording tab to become the new publishing experience. In the meantime, you can manually export and upload these videos to Stream or another hosting site of your choice.
Thank you for using Office Mix and being on the journey with us. If you’re unsure of what steps to take before Office Mix is retired, or you are encountering any issues during your content migration, please visit our help article. "
