Friday, May 15, 2009

Review of sites so far with classroom use in mind

Blabberize is great for elementary and pre-school age children and can be used for so many purposes. Designating the mouth of your speaking picture is kind of clunky, but worth playing around with. I used this site with sixth graders and their teacher for a response to literature assignment and students were asking me eagerly if we were doing blabbers the next time I came to the classroom.
The voki site can act up sometimes, but has a variety of options for customizing your avatar. It's great for all ages.
When I recently showed Toondoo to some teachers, we had trouble getting onto the site. It was a lot of fun for Solana and I, but it froze up on us several times. Some teachers commented that they don't like this site because there are inappropriate options such as bikini-clad women for some of the cartoon images.
Zimmertwins rules. The main criticism from me and teachers I've worked with is that the only choices for characters for your movie are two redheads and a cat. Nothing against red hair, we just wish students had more options to create characters that look like them. I commented to the site about this and haven't heard back.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I was taking a look at an article that I wrote in the fall for Bard College's Field Notes, and already it seems out of date. I kept writing about "incorporating technology into my work" and "technology and literacy" as if they were two distinct categories. The more I learn in this area, the more I see this as a naturally integrated part of my work. I think I'm slowly moving from "experimentation" towards "the search for meaning" and "integration" as I look at the "Stages of Change" graphic that I first saw on the 21st Century Learning blog this summer.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Zimmertwins

Our newest movies on Zimmertwins!!
Movie #1
Movie #2