COMIC GENERATORS -SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM

Tap into the World of Comics Primary School version from S. Hendy

If you are wondering what comic book generator could work with your students Hendy here has the answer. Some are fee based, most are not. The only ones that you can upload your own sketches is Chogger and get this - Power Point. I guess Power Point is not dead.
I am going to follow Hendy, she seems to have the inside scoop on comic books.

10 DROP DEAD REASONS TO USE STORIFY

There are a cajillion Web 2.0 tools out there for a writer to express herself and get world wide feedback. Why use storify?  

Robert Scoble got it right when he said that Pinterest is to Facebook what Stofiy’s iPad app is to Twitter. The article in Search Engine Journal explains:

"Say you want to get your readers to send you videos and photos based on an event. You ask on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and your site. Normally if you were going to do this on your blog you would have to hassle with all of the CMS issues, namely having to grab images using Jing, saving them and then loading them through the multi-file uploader if you are using WordPress.Anyone who’s grabbed a ton of media files for a story knows what kind of hassle that can be! Storify can simplify that process where you can drag-and-drop comments, Flickr photos, Twitpics, multimedia emailed in and YouTube videos.This is why Storify is so attractive as a curation tool." 

Current events project seems the obvious target, could elementary students do this? I am not sure. 

If I have learned anything about technology, it is that you have to take many test drives to make sure it is as easy as it seems.

TEXT 2 TEXT

Docudramas - 

"Story prompts asking students to act as if they are living in the times or events they are studying helps make facts come alive for both authors and the audience. These docudramas require students to conduct in-depth research and practice their creativity to role-play a storytelling narrative." retrieved from UDL creative ways to make learning come alive for all students.

Looking for ways to use a flip camera or iPad iMovie? The prewriting and drafting of video texts has some unique elements because you have to think visually and write dialog. Scripting a storyboard can be done even at the elementary level using Directors organization tool.

 Images and videos can be gathered in a dropbox and those that are royalty free or have creative commons licensed can be  mash together with videos that others have made using  YOUTUBE video editing. Watch this video to learn how, it is geared to increasing views to a specific website at the end, but gives step by step directions to mash videos and give credit to those who origionally created them.

Embracing Good Ideas.

When you come upon good ideas you want not only to share them but long for them to be immediately accepted and embraced. The Book Holding onto Good Ideas in a Time of Bad ones by Thomas Newkirk gives teachers perspective on maintaining good practice while celebrating the student experience.

Our school has embarked on a new path for development life long learners called Place Based Curriculum. I wonder, what this means for me? 

Being a librarian I like things that fit neatly in charts to be checked off and organized. Place Based is not like that, at all. The experience dictates what will be be learned. I am truly excited, but uncomfortable with the openness of this path.

A school in Colorado mentioned in this book has given me form, principles in my head to how this great new path will be directed and I want to share them with you and have you accept and embrace them too. Here they are simple and elegant.

Eight Themes - two categories

Individual 

Intellectual discipline

Physical fitness

Spiritual development

Aesthetic expression

Citizenship

Service To Others

Cross-cultural understanding

Democratic  governance

Environmental Stewardship

Five Expectations

Developing an expanding knowledge base

Communicating effectively

Creating and making healthy life choices

Participating as an engaged global citizen

Providing leadership for justice

Ten Commandments

Live in respectful harmony with others

Develop mind, body, and spirit

Learn to communicate in speech and writing

Serve the Eagle Rock and other communities

Become a steward of the planet

Make healthy personal choices

Find, nurture and develop the artist within

Increase capacity to exercise leadership for justice

Practice citizenship and democratic living 

Devise and enduring moral and ethical code.

We are given the gift to have unhurried learning,  to create a playful experiences. How fortunate we are in a time of over cluttered curriculum and abridged experiences. In the library I can encourage students to lounge in their own mental theaters as they read what every they choose. I can promote this idea of building internal movies in writing and allow students to let their imagination out by  extending the circle of acceptable writing in multiple digital formats.

Thomas Newkirk has given me this "Aha!" moment I had been looking for.  

Hack Remix even if you're not an artist

http://storybird.com/create/

Help kids write a story from amazing art. Students can create an account and build stories with "found" art.

Attention Span of Adult Learners... 18 minutes

In Reading an article alternative Methods of Delivering a Lecture Material by Mary Bold

She asserts the following:

Information retained by Students

Reading 10%
Hearing 20%
Looking at pictures/ graphics 30%
Watching a Demonstration 50%
Talking about the subject (students talking) 70%

Simulating or Doing Something Real 90%

RI Writing Project is in the 90% and we are learning how to help students write by engaging in the task. Toy Hacking used all our critical thinking skills and imagination. How can we use hacking in libraries?  Emmanuel shared a Hack into movie trailers, which gave me the idea of hacking into exsiting book trailers. Allowing the students to only see, not hear the trailer. Then they can give voice to the characters as they have experienced them. Got to get tinkering on this nugget.

TOY HACKING

Troy Hicks book Crafting Digital Writing, published this year is the must have resource for anyone attempting to integrate technology into their classroom.  The amount of go to Web 2.0 tools could easily crush the spirit of any digital immigrant just wanting to infuse best practice to technology that student are drawn to like a pint of Ben and Jerry's on a hot day.

Hicks breaks down the act into simple but deliberate idea he illustrates in his workshops. MAPS:

1. "Mode: think of the genre of the text."
2. "Media: the form(s) in which text is created."
3. "Audience: the reader, listener, or viewer of the text, both intended and incidental."
4. "Purpose: The actions the author takes, in both an academic and personal sense.
5. " Situation:" the contexts for the writer herself or himself, as well as the demands of the writing task.

This helps  the novice breath a sigh of relief that there are some very familiar connections to the craft of teaching non-digital writing projects. Hicks offers suggestions for possible text types that match up better with web-based media. For example: Argument Genres live better on a debate site sich as ProCon.org.

Throughout the book there are QR codes to see student composed examples. This is a game changer for me. I like tangible viewable audible examples. My favorite was in the chapter about crafting audio texts. Students can create book trailers with tools like AudioBoo, Chirtbit, and Sound Cloud. There is a process student must go through to make an audio file similar to any writing: prewriting, editing and publishing, but each of these steps takes on new meaning for audio. For example adding music behind the voice can help the listener understand the genre. For adventure add James Bond type music background, for drama add soft piano lullaby. This is such a great idea I will use it for my eager fourth and fifth graders.

Troy Hicks, former teacher and respected voice of the National Writing Project can be conversed with at his wiki at http://digitalwritingworkshop.wikispaces.com/Crafting_Digital_Writing. Come join the conversation.

Inspirational Places: check out 826 - writing project.  http://826national.org/

Want kids to join in writing - Make it fun and have an exceptionally odd storefront ...

The 826 Boston Bigfoot Research Institute has all the necessities for your Bigfoot, Research, and Institute needs! Visit today before you end up in a hairy situation. 

For Sale: Cyptozoologist's Career Starter Kit, Jungle Hygiene Kit, unofficial Yeti Hairball, Baby Giant Centipedes, and Sea Serpent Secretions.


826 National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, with expository and creative writing at eight locations across the USA.^[1] The chapters include 826 Valencia in San Francisco,826NYC in Brooklyn, New York, 826LA in Los Angeles, CA, 826CHI in Chicago, 826 Seattle, 826michigan inAnn Arbor, 826 Boston in Boston, and 826DC in Washington, DC. Together, the eight chapters serve about 30,000 students a year.^[2] 826 National also runs a college-success program called ScholarMatch. The 826 National mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. Each 826 chapter provides drop-in tutoring, class field trips, writing workshops, and in-schools programs—all free of charge. 826 chapters are especially committed to supporting teachers, publishing student work, and offering services for English language learners.^[3]
Retrieved from Wikipedia on 7/15/2013