Venturing into the Techie World
It's easier to venture into the techie world when there is someone to tug you over the bumps, and I owe it to SaraK.LMS for that!Last year, I was looking for better ways to incorporate technology into my American Literature Course. I was assessing their 21st century skills of creativity and critical thinking, and Sara provided me with an array of tech tools and programs I could explore with students. Neither of us were familiar with many of the programs on the long list of tech tools. We decided that we would make my 11th grade honors students the guinea pigs in trying out various new and innovative sites for presentation tools, animation, and scrap blogs. Some of these sites included Popplet, Pixton , GoAnimate, Scrapblog, and Capzles.
Popplet helps students collaborate in real time, creating concept webs, and Capzles helps students create interactive timelines, or "time capsules" online using videos, photos, text, music, audio and most documents.
The project was to apply archetypes to Catcher in the Rye. Students needed to reinterpret Holden's story, walking their peers through the events from Catcher in the Rye that coincided with the Hero's Journey. The creative project was accompanied with a 3-5 essay.
SAMPLES
Here is a sample of one group's capzle.Pixton was the most popular choice, and many students created some awesome comic books and animated videos for the class.
Here's a sample I created for students using pixton. The project was assigned for Catcher in the Rye . The sample was based on The Great Gatsby, a book we finished earlier in the semester.
I also created a google doc form for students to complete when they submitted---another good idea from Sara. You can do this by accessing your Google Account--> Google Drive--> Create --> Forms. The last question asks for recommendations and/or comments on the project. Here it is--unadulterated.
| Timestamp | What are your group members' names? | What class period are you from? | What program did you use to creative your project? | What type of project did you create? | Insert the URL link to your project here. Usually, there is a link on the program website that states, "Share." The site will provide you with the URL link needed to share with others. Copy that URL here. | Any recommendations or comments that you would like to share about this project? Would you recommend I try it again with next year's students? Why or why not? | |
| 3/5/2013 8:06:38 | Period 6 | Capzles | Timeline | http://www.capzles.com/247561a1-4bb4-461b-ac2a-dda3b72897a3 | I liked using Capzles to do our project. It was very easy to use and it opens up many creative doors for the user. I would reccomend you try it with next years students because the creative portion was an easy way to incorporate technology and the 7 C's into the Catcher unit and the essay helps explain the project even more. | ||
| 3/5/2013 14:15:42 | Period 6 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://pixton.com/ic:96zh6rdy http://pixton.com/ic:91jy3svz | |||
| 3/5/2013 14:38:36 | Period 6 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:nvbzdyir http://Pixton.com/ic:pl6p1ldk | We have two comics. | ||
| 3/5/2013 16:04:59 | Period 7 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/#/812646 | Yes i think this is a good way to see how people can connect the book to a certain topic. | ||
| 3/5/2013 16:23:50 | Period 6 | goanimate.com | Animation (Movie/Video) | http://goanimate.com/videos/0GjYjM1ljy2w?utm_source=linkshare | I would not recommend you use these programs next year because these programs sometimes require students to enter credit card information in order to buy additional things. I don't think it is a good idea to encourage students to use their parent's credit cards on online applications. | ||
| 3/5/2013 16:46:30 | Period 7 | popplet | a web | http://popplet.com/app/index.php#/830369 | We tried using capzules firt but we didn't like it. We thought that a web made on popplet fit the project perfectly and didnt have too many problems. One problem we did have is that if you share a popplet, you cant edit the bubble made by the other person. | ||
| 3/5/2013 17:14:23 | Period 7 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/index.php#/816479 | The website works well when it loads properly. I do recomend this, its fun and very easy. | ||
| 3/5/2013 17:24:23 | Period 6 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/#/816284 | |||
| 3/5/2013 17:25:45 | Period 6 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:f3etme0f http://Pixton.com/ic:84dpa7h5 | |||
| 3/5/2013 18:12:08 | Period 7 | pixton | Comic Strip | http://www.pixton.com/create/comic/ujndccoz | it was a simple project if you and your partner collaborated well and got the work done without fooling around. I would definately recommend that you should try it again with next year's students since it was fun to do but still difficult. | ||
| 3/5/2013 18:31:16 | Period 7 | Pixton.com | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:qdeh9uvo | It is a new and fun way to create projects! | ||
| 3/5/2013 18:40:16 | Period 6 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/#/816263 | It's sort of slow and very limited in its actions. So I would recommend it, if there were better instuctions and directions then it would be more resourceful. | ||
| 3/5/2013 19:03:25 | Period 6 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/#/813410 | When using popplet it sometimes gets hard to find where your project begins when it zooms out, sometimes you have to search around for it before you can get to working on it. | ||
| 3/5/2013 19:30:28 | Period 7 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:pflyg38n http://Pixton.com/ic:k6v9odrg | Was very easy and helpful I recommend this project and website for next years students | ||
| 3/5/2013 19:41:39 | Period 6 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:8fnx6et3 | |||
| 3/5/2013 19:41:51 | Period 7 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:pit5zjcr http://Pixton.com/ic:lk6ktv3o | Very fun way to do a project | ||
| 3/5/2013 19:42:53 | Period 7 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://www.pixton.com/my-comics/not-posted | I think Pixton was extremely successful in portraying the certain actions and emotions of each character in this novel. There were plenty of people and backgrounds to choose from in order to make the events as realistic as possible. I would highly recommend you use this again with other students for the years to come. | ||
| 3/5/2013 19:55:44 | Period 7 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:1m5h2634 | It was alright. I think that I perfer just essays, but that's a personal preference. I think an option that is not on the computer, like a poster or something, would also be a fun alternative option for a creative project. | ||
| 3/5/2013 20:10:17 | Period 6 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/index.php#/824029 | There are plenty of websites to work from on this project however I feel many weren't very user friendly or had limited functionality. I tried all 3 other websites before settling with popplet because it is the easiest to use. You should do the project again next year because it was relatively easy but has a good topic. maybe the sites will be better next year or it's possible I used them poorly myself. | ||
| 3/6/2013 5:51:29 | Period 6 | Popplet | Popplet | http://popplet.com/app/index.php#/816282 | very good way to orginize ideas and easy to use after getting used to it. Yes, this is a good way to orginize project ideas and is fairly easy to use. | ||
| 3/6/2013 12:31:04 | Period 7 | capzles | Timeline | http://www.capzles.com/#/1154ce4a-504b-4fef-9bea-7b06a782f51b/ | |||
| 3/7/2013 8:34:23 | Period 6 | Popplet | Timeline | http://popplet.com/app/index.php#/816346 | I would do this again, however i would use prezi instead of popplet. | ||
| 3/7/2013 13:09:02 | Period 7 | Pixton | Comic Strip | Part I http://Pixton.com/ic:h6529ygw Part II http://Pixton.com/ic:7odt21jc Part III http://Pixton.com/ic:odz77eqy | pixton was easy and fun to use.For a group project, it's be easier to create a comic under pixton school because it allows collaboration, unlike pixton for fun. | ||
| Alisha and Kaitlyn | http://Pixton.com/ic:htsmzbtl http://Pixton.com/ic:egswjhp4 | ||||||
| Daniel and Gabe | http://Pixton.com/ic:egswjhp4 | ||||||
| 3/11/2013 20:06:22 | Period 6 | Pixton.com | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:b46ukg83 | I would recommend using it again next year. It's relatively easy to use and allows for a lot of creative thinking | ||
| 3/11/2013 21:52:35 | Period 6 | Pixton | Comic Strip | http://Pixton.com/ic:aldj8qfo http://Pixton.com/ic:qvt0428i | We really enjoyed this group project. It allowed us to combine our creativity to come up with a product that we both felt met what our expectations were. This program was fairly easy to use and become comfortable with. I would recommend using this next year with your students and encourage them to use this program. | ||
