Tool 5

So many great tools to explore here in Tool 5. I chose to look at Animoto and Storybird. Animoto was very simple to use. I created an Animoto of this year's Texas Bluebonnet Award master list for my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. These grades participate in the Texas Bluebonnet Award reading program and I will use this Animoto to introduce this year's books. Animoto was very easy to use. I did go ahead and pay for a year's subscription so that I could make a longer Animoto. I will use it for making Animoto's about things going on in the library.

I also created a Storybird book. Several other teachers on my campus had created books on Storybird and I wanted to give it a try. It was very simple. I can see students at all grades being able to use this. I also looked at Storyjumper and TikaTok. I liked both of them as they both allow students to use their own art work and are probably better suited for older students who are ready to work on a more involved program. Both of my creations are posted below.

One of my favorite things about this tool was discovering all of the "how-to" tutorials on YouTube. After watching some of the tutorials posted here, I went and explored other tutorials posted by two different groups: Radford Education and eduTecher. Both of these YouTube channels had lots of great tutorials on all kinds of Web 2.0 tools! I will be checking these two channels often to see what new things they have posted!

Storybird - Catty Cat

Catty Cat: A Different Kind of Cat by bhelib on Storybird

Animoto - Texas Bluebonnet Award 2011-2012

Tool 4

Google Docs is something I started using last year, especially with students. I created and shared documents with student that contained directions and links for projects. Students in turn were able to share documents with me too! I like the easy collaboration features of Google Docs versus emailing documents back and forth. I also love the chat feature of Google Docs. This could be very useful if a group of students were looking at a document and engaging in a peer review. We did find that if several people are looking at the document at the same time, only one person at a time can edit. If multiple people are trying to edit at one time, then the changes are not all saved. Using the chat feature would allow students to discuss changes and options before making them.

I did explore more with Google forms. I created a form and sent it to a few teachers on my campus. Unfortunately they never received it. We discovered that the email from Google Docs informing them of the item I shared with them - specifically the link to the form - was getting caught in the spam folder. If the teacher didn't check the spam folder, then she never received the form. This could be a real problem when it comes to using forms. I am going to do a little more experimenting and see if I can pin down what is going on. I really like the idea of Google forms, but need to work out the kinks within the district email.

This year I am excited about trying to use Google forms and spreadsheets with students. I think this will be a great way to teach students how to gather information and collect results.

Tool 3

I looked at several of the video hosting sites. You Tube, being the most popular and the one I have used most often, was the easiest one to navigate successfully. I also have use Teacher Tube and School Tube, both have some good educational videos, but they are more limited in their selection. I also looked at Blinkx, which I found to be the least user friendly - at least for my area of need. Blinkx looks to be more focused on news related current events. I was not familiar with View Pure. I am glad to have learned about it. There have been times when I have shown a You Tube clip to students and have been uncomfortable with the side ads and other videos on the screen. Here is a link to a You Tube video using View Pure:

http://viewpure.com/pkIJDXCiZsk

I found two videos on Book trailers; both are posted below. Book trailers are a fairly new genre. They are similar to movie trailers, but are centered on books. Many publishers are now creating book trailers to promote their new titles. I have used book trailers with my 4th and 5th graders many times. Our 5th graders even made their own. It was a great experience for them.

I am familiar with the Fair Use Guidelines. The video clip was a good general explanation of Fair Use - especially when it comes to transforming a work and repurposeing a work. As long as something is being transformed and repurposed and it is for an educational purpose, then students have a fairly wide berth of freedom when it comes to copyright. I do feel though, that it is important for students to give credit for photos and other pieces of media when they are not transforming them, but just using them as is in their work.

I also enjoyed exploring Picasa Web Album. While I have used Flickr Creative Commons many times, I have not used Picasa Web Album. I was pleased to see how easy it was to search for pictures and the number of returns. This will be something that I will use with students this year.

One thing that was mentioned in Tool 3 that I was unfamiliar with was the SBISD Media Server. This is something I have never heard of and would like to learn more about.

Here are the two videos I found on Teacher Tube and School Tube:

Tool 2

I have really enjoyed reading the blogs from other teachers on my campus. It is great to share in learning! Different people find different things as they look at other websites. I have learned so much just from reading their blogs.

I already have a Google Reader account. I set it up several years ago when I first did 23 Things with the SBISD Librarians. I have used it quite a bit. I have several other librarian blogs that I follow as well as blogs on children's literature reviews. I also set up a Diigo account and plan to use it to add websites for students to use in the library. I have used Delicious in the past and prior to that the site IKeepBookmarks. All of these are similar bookmarking websites that allow you to add and or access your favorite websites from any computer.

As far as building a PLN, I do have a few blogs that I follow and I have recently signed up for a Twitter account and have learned about following specific educational hash tags. While I do learn things from the blogs that I follow and specific websites that I visit, I also feel like my main PLN is my fellow colleagues right here in SBISD. I am constantly learning things from teachers on my campus as well as my fellow librarians. I can email my fellow librarians with questions and have answers before the day is over. They are a great network!

11 Tools - A New Journey: Tool 1

I already had my blog set up, so I didn't have to do that. Since I have created this blog, Blogger has made several changes and additions to their site. There are many more choices for your template and Advanced choices to make your template more customized. I also love that Blogger has added the options for "pages." I hope to add some pages soon!

Making the Voki was great fun! The choices are endless! Students would love to do this! I added my own voice to my Voki and it was fairly easy to do. I will definitely use Voki with my PGP kids this year!

As far as the 11 Tools directions for Tool 1 - the most confusing part is getting logged into your blog. If you are using your Spring Branch email to set up your blog, you have to log in to the Google Apps for Educators first, before you go to your blog. This has added a layer of confusion and several extra steps that are really unnecessary. I hope in the future, this is revised.