Bill of Rights Animoto

Tied to 8th grade TAKS Objective 4, TEK 8.20 B. Images came from Flickr Creative Commons.

Do the Bird Walk? Animoto

Teacher-made showing various types of bird feet for the 2nd grade bird unit. The images came from Flickr Creative Commons

A World Geography / Current Events Animoto

A high school teacher created this to use in a discussion about the country of Tibet and the Olympic protests that were held regarding its status with China.

Students could create one as a product on the their research of a country or a state. They could include visuals representing the location or news surrounding it.

Another Science Animoto Example - Magnets

Use this in a class introduction to magnets and magnetism.
This was used as a TEASe (Technology Enhanced Anticipatory Set) in an 8th grade science class.

An Animoto could be created to show the process of an experiment as well. Students could use it as part of their end product.

Simple Machines: A Science Animoto

A basic science concept. Used as an introduction in an 8th grade class. Real-world connections.

Fractions Animoto

Example of a math idea. Pictures taken from Microsoft Clipart.

Animoto Issues: a Health Fitness Sample

Have been having issues with Animoto on my possessed computers (yes, I have 2, well, actually 3) and I have had terrible trouble getting Animotos to play. I need to be able to demo this Animoto first thing in the morning so I'm trying this as a way of being able to see it! It is for a Health Fitness group teachers to see what a self-made video can be used for! It represents healthy habits! Can you list all the habits?

Texas Library Conference

If you would like to see what I am learning at the TLA conference in Dallas this week, hop on over to A Library By Any Other Name starting Tuesday, April 15th (hope you have your taxes done!) Not sure how often I will be able to do "live" blogging, but I will try to blog about many of the things I see and the speakers I hear.

Dancing a Little Jig...

...over the new educator features for Animoto!

Check out all the information and how to obtain a passcode.

Virtual Photos in Flickr

As a part of the 23 Things, we all have visited Flickr to see all kinds of photos...educational and personal interests.

Go here to see some information for virtual photos in Flickr, i.e. photos of Jokaydia Island in Second Life. If you are at school, you can see the flickr collection, but not the gallery views on the island...blocked in district.

Use the tag jokaydiaphotocomp08 to see what's been posted. Look for the one with the butterfly overlay...can't post it here...rights reserved! And one of the the upper portion of the lighthouse...you feel like you are flying!

Thing #23 Summing Up! Is That All There Is?

When I started this task, it looked daunting. I wasn't sure I would reach the end. I feared I would get hung up on Things I couldn't do or understand. The finish line looked far away and uphill all the way!

x

And I was not a huge fan of online learning...don't have much experience in learning thru online resources. I knew I would miss the face-o-face interactions with my fellow students.

x

But I knew that was one of the major objects for me...learning by doing...by reading the directions...the FAQs...the help pages...reviewing the samples. One reason is because that is the way things come now...there are no more manuals...and more importantly, there is SO much stuff out there now that NO one can be the "expert", i.e. the teacher, of everything I need to know how to do.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

All the fun sign generators! Google Reader, Google alerts, Google docs.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

letting me know I can do these things...that I can figure this stuff out on my own. Makes me want to find other fun things!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

How much I enjoyed it all...even the podcast!

It was very interesting to see the different reactions from all the different players and how we viewed the value of different things! nothing was consistent...thought that was very interesting...different strokes for different folks.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Nothing really...but I will join the consensus that is building for splitting a new group of Things into 2 smaller groups. I wish there was a way to get more Players to comment to each other...that is a critical component to social networking! Hopefully, folks will be more comfortable with the concept and do it more often in the future as they read and use blogs, etc. that they have discovered.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

AB-SEW-LUTE-LEE! Where do I sign up!

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
One word: Fun!

One sentence: Life-long learning & social networking experiences all wrapped up in fun!

(yes, grammar teachers...not a sentence-- but sums up my thoughts any way)

I am looking forward to following the adventures of other Players now without the pressure of thinking I need to be working on my own assignments! I hope many of the Players who have seemed to embrace blogging will keep their blogs active and continue to share their thoughts and ideas on things that would benefit us all.

I think it is pretty appropriate that I finished this up on March 17th cuz I can tell you..I am jumping for joy and dancing a jig! I would have had fireworks going off in this blog...but they are banned in the city. I'll save my civil disobedience for more important things!

Hope I see you around the virtual learning pool!

Take care,

Froggy Wart

Thing #22 Nings

I have been using TeacherLibrarianNing for sometime now...looking at topics, seeing what's on people's minds, looking up members for various reasons...went ahead and made it formal and joined. Also joined the Texas School Librarian group tonight as well...I was a little behind the times and really did not realize this group existed or maybe I did and got it confused (easy to do in my mind lately) with the other one! I do want to support the efforts of the state group so one more sign-up...easy to do tho'!

I can't say that I have really used these resources...simply because I have a network...physically and virtually. As is well known, my circle is "tight"...we meet regularly, we communicate regularly, we collaborate regularly, we have forward-thinking/future thinking leadership, and we "argue" just enough to be a professional family!

I have built up a comfortable group of on-line experts that I look to for advice and counsel...albeit one-way mostly, ideas and information. It is amazing to me how easy it is to get anything straight from the horse's mouth these days!

But I will check in with the nings and will try to do so more regularly now.

Another thing I joined recently is not really a ning...more of a directory--The Edubloggers International Directory, but I find it fascinating because it is global. I have accessed the award-winning edublog lists for several years and now I can check out even more edubloggers through a new directory. If you have a few minutes, you might want to take a virtual world tour of people who are doing what we are doing!

See ya,

Froggy Wart

Thing #21 Podcasting...Can I Cast Someone Else?

I have been dreading this Thing since this whole L2P came together last semester! No, not the program, not even the material to include...it is a voice thing...my voice! I was thinking I would rope one of my kids into helping their ol' mom. Didn't happen...gee, they have lives of their own.

Podcasts (or picture-filled vidcasts) are all over the internet... I follow a book review site Just One More Book that is nothing but podcast reviews and interviews. Cool Cat Teacher includes an audio copy of her posts, but she must use a format that my computer doesn't recognize because I can't play them. There are hundreds of educational podcasts at the I-tunes store. The EPN (Education Podcast Network) brings together many sources of podcasts and arranges them buy curriculum or purpose. Many publishers include them as promotional materials for new books. Even the traditional communication tool NPR now has a podcast directory of many of its broadcasts.

Ok, a little bit of background about my podcast below. I used Photostory since I could not find a free host for an audio-only sample. The visuals you will recognize. I planned the order, wrote my scripting so I would not loose my place, unplugged my phone (no interruptions!), plugged in my headphones, took a big, deep breathe, and plunged in...and heard n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Messed around with the sound settings on my computer although all seemed right and tried it again...nothing, nada, zip, zero. Unplugged the headphones, turned up my personal volume a bit... and thank goodness, SOUND! All was good during the preview until I came to the picture where the sound ended about 30 seconds before the picture did...had about 3 of those to adjust. Whew!

Not the greatest sample I have ever produced. If I had had about 2-3 more hours and a bigger bottle of asprin (for my headache) and cotton balls for my ears so I would not have to hear it over & over & over (hey, forget the asprin, give me Pepto Bismol), I might have cleaned it up a little better.

It did scare me when it took almost as long to upload as Open Office took to download...Walked away for a bit and kept one eye on it in case the computer "blew up" from the attempt. All is well.

I will listen to podcasts. I will use podcasts as teaching tools. I will use PhotoStory to make teaching/learning tools..................................I ... will ... make ... more ... podcasts, but will line up voice sources!

Bye-bye for now!
FW

Hearing Game...of sorts?

Want to see if you can hear those funky ringtones the kids are using on their cellphones?

Check out this test (and info.)

Thing #20 "Tube"ing the Info..."shZAMZAR!"

I have been using YouTube and to a lesser extent TeacherTube seems like FOREVER...and probably in 2.0 terms it has pretty much been that long! Not sure where I would place the "tubes" on my scale of greatest thing since sliced bread, but it would be close to the top...guess you could say it is all a part of the broader resource videostreaming. Which IS very close to the top.
YES...I know videostreaming can be a pain inside our district, but the "concept" is fantastic and the experience will become that once again when the district gets all its little ducks in a row...

And YES, YouTube is blocked...mostly because there are blockheads out there that upload junk that wouldn't be good for schools to have popping up. But as much as I want things open...it really doesn't concern me too much at this point about YouTube...
#1 because educators have now discovered TeacherTube and are uploading much of their material there instead of the broader based YouTube.
#2 the little handy-dandy little gem of a tool called ZamZar that will take your YouTube video and convert it to something that will play in the district.


As with many things technology, I worked around the YouTube issue with a conversion program that required a player. Worked pretty well, once you got all the pieces in the right place, but then my colleague LP found this nifty little conversion program that converts a YouTube video into a format that will use a video player that already exits on your computer.

You submit the video to the site, they convert it and email you the results! It is so simple...YES it still has to be done at home because you initially have to access the video from YouTube. And that's a good thing. Means that you have to preview the material before using it!

It's free...you do not need to register unless you want some special additions. You do have to claim your conversion withing 24 hours of its arrival in you email. And the conversion can come fairly quickly...I have gotten mine from a few minutes to a couple of hours later. They were relatively short videos.

They have extended their conversion services beyond just YouTube. From the ZamZar blog site, they list the following video sources that they can convert:
Youtube
Google Video
Myspace
Revver
PutFile
Break.com
Apple Trailers
Dailymotion
Metacafe
IFilm
Grouper
Blip.tv
Just copy the link from the video site and paste it into the "Add URL" box on our URL file conversion page

So I hope blocked video sites and the ease of conversion will give you more freedom in using these useful tools and resources in your lessons, for you patrons, and for fun...when appropriate!

For the purpose of this Thing, I selected this video that Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis created and uploaded to TeacherTube.

If you STILL need to be convinced about 21st learning & teaching and the NEED for technology to be a apart of this change, maybe her message will help you. It's pretty simple & straightforward to me. But I have to admit...my cheese has been moved. I do still worry about the guppies in my pond!

Not much left now...will touch base with you again soon!

Froggy