Prezi, Voki, Animoto, and PowToon (Things 19-22)

Full disclosure: I like the idea of using different presentation tools in the classroom, but I don't like the learning curve that often comes with them. Sometimes I think that the time it takes to master a tool is not really worth the final product; I'm not entirely convinced that using a shiny online tool to present material is any better than a posterboard. I know - the right tool for the right thing! One of the major projects in my seventh grade class is a combined English/Social Studies exploration of the Civil War using Gary Paulsen's Soldier's Heart and Steve Sheinkin's Two Miserable Presidents. We used to have the kids do a binder with the information they learned: they had to research a major battle, write a newspaper, and compose some poems, among other things. A few years ago, in an effort to include more technology in our classes, we switched to an iWeb and then a Google Site. Since we switched, it has not been a successful project because more time has been spent with the kids learning how to create and update the sites than learning about the Civil War or exploring the books. It's enough to make us want to use binders and posters again.

Some of these tools, however, seem to be pretty easy to master. I've used Prezi before and would like to switch some of my Keynote or Powerpoint presentations to this format because I really like how it shows the relationship between ideas - it's much easier to follow than simple slides. There are some things that I haven't quite mastered, though; when I added another detail to the third sentence type, I couldn't get the line to curve, which bothered me enough to spend three minutes trying to fix it...but no more! :) I think Prezi would be a great addition to my classroom presentation tools - I will definitely use it for my Go to School Night parent presentation instead of a Keynote. I could see the students using it for presenting research projects or informational texts.



Here is my Voki - I couldn't use the embed code without paying for the service. I recorded my own voice several times but it wouldn't save and I got tired of trying over and over again, so I just went with the text to talk feature instead. I can't see a use for this in the classroom right now except that maybe the kids could use it to create visual representations of characters from books. However, this is one of the tools that I think would be more trouble than it's worth to work with since some of the characters are only for use with the paid subscription, so it might be difficult to get accurate representations of characters. (Side note: my niece and nephew, five and nine years old respectively, LOVED playing with the different characters, so it's clearly a fun thing to do!)

Animoto was really fun for me as well as very easy to use. I liked looking through the different themes, and for practice, it was great that I didn't have to upload any of my own pictures or videos. Video editing is one of the things I'd like to be better at, and Animoto makes it so I don't have to learn that for a beautiful final product. Again, when I incorporate technology into my classroom, I don't want to have to spend a lot of time teaching the kids how to use it. I would rather have something that is quick and easy to master so they can spend the majority of their time on the content, and Animoto, like Prezi, provides this. I think this would be a great tool for advisory; the students could make short videos to introduce themselves at the beginning of the year instead of the traditional paper interviews. They could also use it for their Shadow Day presentations (when they go to work with their parents and bring back a report of what they learned - they're supposed to take pictures too, so this would be great).



The final "thing" for this week was PowToon. This was my least favorite tool by far because it took way too long for me to learn how to use it for (in my mind) very little payoff. I think this is the classic example of style over substance; at least in English class, there aren't many reasons to make a video or animation to show what you have learned (instead of using another method of representation). I think my students would get way too distracted by all of the different options for formatting and focus on what the project looked like instead of the information they were trying to convey. It's cute, but I don't know that I could manage it well enough to help the kids show all of their learning effectively. 


It was good for me to explore these tools this week; I definitely would like to include Prezi and Animoto in my classes next year! If my students already know how to use some of these tools, I would absolutely encourage them to use them for a project if they think that they would be more effective than a poster, paper, etc. in some cases. However, when the method of delivery (such as an essay) is being assessed along with the content (such as supporting main ideas), it cannot be replaced by one of these. I keep thinking about this idea, though:

I don't want to - in fact, I flatly refuse to - incorporate technology into my lessons just for the sake of having technology, so I've been thinking a lot about how my lessons and objectives need to change when I change my technology. I don't have a lot of answers right now, but thinking about the change is a step in the right direction for me. 

EdTech Blogs to Follow (Thing 13)

This "thing" was really difficult for me! I already feel like I have too much information to digest regarding my teaching practice, too many things I'd like to learn or implement, just from talking to my colleagues and attending conferences. Add in Twitter and blogs and my head just about explodes! So while this list of bloggers was helpful in that it gave me some direction (rather than just Googling topics I'd like to learn about) and more people who could help, it was also sort of overwhelming because I wanted to read everything everyone wrong. And take notes. And ask everyone follow-up questions.

I settled for reading the most recent post of each blogger to see if he or she were someone I would learn from. It turns out that I was following a few of them on Twitter already, so I was semi-familiar with their ideas. The blogs that I thought were worth following for me were ones that dealt with educational technology in general or language arts specifically; the blogs that were more geared toward STEM or new gadget/products don't really interest me and aren't applicable to my classroom, which is what this course is all about for me. 

Of the list we were provided, Audrey Watters and Josh Stumpenhorst wrote the most readable blogs for me. They were musings on how to improve education in general and what technology can do to help us. I feel like these two write much in the same way that I do; this doesn't mean their blogs are better, it just means that they feel familiar to me and therefore I am more likely to read them. Vicki Davis and Scott McLeod both have a wealth of information to share that is curated very well, and they use podcasts and voice notes, respectively, which is a cool way to interact with their audience. I loved that Smart Brief on Ed Tech allowed me to choose which categories I wanted to hear more about in their newsletter, and I was already a fan of Edutopia, both in terms of their content and how they deliver it. I'm also looking forward to reading more of Monica Burns' reading and writing tech tips because I'm always looking for other teachers who are incorporating technology into the subjects I teach. As always, I appreciated that many of the blogs had newsletters I could sign up for and read at my convenience, and several of the bloggers are also on Twitter, which is my preferred social media platform right now. 

One thing that I learned about my own blogging from looking through these blogs was that I should try to make my entries shorter and more focused when I'm writing for a larger audience. Since these entries are reflections for class, I tend to write longer, and I think that's okay. But if I were trying to build an audience from strangers on the internet, I would want to have shorter, more focused pieces that others could read quickly and easily. I appreciated the blogs that had cleaner layouts (not with ads or including photos or Twitter feeds) and I liked when they linked to articles for further reading. My students don't blog for an audience beyond our class, but that might be a good way to get them some real-world "publishing" experience. If we incorporate that into class, I'd have them read some student blogs and decide who they wanted their audience to be so they could focus their content more easily.

However, all that being said, Dr. Alec Couros' "The Connected Teacher" video was my favorite part of this "thing." He said so many important and relevant things in under 13 minutes, and he said them in an easily understood and organized way. I often (okay, almost always!) find myself wanting to take notes when I watch these videos, and the fact that he listed two or three important things and then reiterated them made that much easier for me.

I think my favorite part of this video was when he said that the question we need to ask ourself is "What endures?" Over and over again, I've heard and believed that the most important thing about education is the relationships that we build with our students and our colleagues. Dr. Couros said it here beautifully: the tools that we use to teach will come and go, but the relationships that we create will endure. We should "build the kind of relationship that [we] are willing to continue even when the tool goes away." This is a great way to understand that our goal should be to connect with people in such a way that it will make us pursue the relationship even when the tool we used to build that relationship is no longer around. In other words, if I connect with an author via my blog and that relationship matters to me, I should be motivated to continue that relationship via another means if my blog doesn't endure.

The other thing I really liked was when he identified two central questions and three steps that he expected his students to explain. Although he teaches undergraduate students, I think these are also applicable to my middle schoolers, and I will be doing my best to incorporate them into my classroom next year.

Central Questions:

1. How are you making learning visible?

2. How are you contributing to others' learning?

(image via https://icestentatious06.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/umbrella2.jpg?w=586&h=505)

I found this image and I thought it matched with Dr. Couros' message - it also reminded me of the end of the video when the man interviewing him said that they had used the word "learning" much more than the word "education" in their chat. That stuck with me because I think it's worth noting that today, we talk a lot more about "education" than "learning" when we decide on policies for children. What is the point of the education if the children aren't learning? (More on that later, I'm sure.) 

Steps to Show Learning:

1. Here is my learning.

2. Here is what my learning meant.

3. This is how I perform my learning (help others to learn).

(image via https://isb21.wikispaces.com/file/view/21st_logo.jpg/33110593/21st_logo.jpg)

I think this image sums up what Dr. Couros was talking about when he said that networks are essential in education. Our students (and we!) have to be learners, but they also have to be creators and collaborators. I especially like how the person who created this image included the adjective "tenacious." I have noticed that the longer I teach, the more I encounter students who lack perseverance and critical thinking skills. I think it's because so much information is readily available to them; they have learned that they can find the "right answer" almost instantly, so they are unused to solving problems for themselves. When we build networks and connect with others, we need to be tenacious and flexible so we can find what we need and figure out how to use it. This is a great reminder for everyone.

I also found this image that I think speaks to what we've been talking about during this course so far and in our department and team meetings this year. It's something that I'll revisit throughout the year, hopefully, to help my lessons reach more students and stay on track.

(image via https://wisconsin2008.wikispaces.com/file/view/whereto_long2.jpg/35046937/whereto_long2.jpg)

Before beginning this course, I knew there was a ton of excellent information available to me online via social media and other teacher networks. It's been fun discovering all of the different perspectives and ideas in the teaching and learning world, but it has also been overwhelming. I think part of what I need to do this summer is learn how to manage and review the material that's going to be the most applicable to what I'm doing in the classroom. Otherwise, I'll just collect an online version of that file cabinet in my classroom that hasn't been touched since 2008.