Thing #12 - Let the slides begin

I'm going to be really lazy. Let me explain. When I created my page in the sandbox, I, also, created a slide show using RockYou. I thought it was part of the assignment. Maybe, it was just a stretch activity. I'm being so lazy at this point that I'm not even going to go back and read what it was. It doesn't matter because what's done is done. That's what happens when we skim sometimes. The good news is that I've already created my slide show. Yeah!!!! The not-so-positive news is that the slide show creation required several hours of eyesight-declining, gray-hair turning, children-neglecting, coffee-drinking work.

In reality, the generic concept of using images from Flickr to create a slide show is really fairly simple. But my personal project was not quite so generic or simple. I wanted to create a product that I could use for a mystery unit. When we read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, I have the students write their own mini-mysteries using photographs. I'm sure I've mentioned this somewhere, but I can't remember where (perhaps in my Flickr thing or perhaps in my dreams). So, if I'm being repetitive, I apologize.

Because of my ultimate goal (students writing mini-mysteries), I felt obligated to find a variety of pictures that would appeal to the variety of students so that they could create unique stories. Thus, my images were really not linked by theme. This was the hard part. I needed pictures of people and landscapes. I needed scary homes, sad faces, dark alleys, small gatherings, nightlife, dimly lit woods, and the list goes on and on.

Once I found my photos, I explored the many options for slide shows and decided to use RockYou. I liked the numerous transitions that were available for the slides, and I liked that I could easily add music. I would like to slow down the transition speed a bit, but I'm not sure if this is possible. So the slide show part of the assignment was really very simple and didn't require that much time or effort. It was the foundation for the slide show that was a pain.

I know my mystery slide show needs work. Perhaps, I'll take out some pictures or change some picture. I've since realized that I need to number the photographs or label them somehow so that the students can refer to the picture they are using. I've, also, considered that I could use the slide show in a blog or a wiki and the students' actual mystery stories can be directly posted on the site for all to see. They can even embed the images into their posts. Or if they wanted, they could provide their own images as the inspiration for their stories. Wow...I'm just beginning to think about the possibilities -- one of the advantages to blogging.

I'm sure I can think of other lessons in which I can use slide shows. For one, I can envision pikistrips as a way for students to create novel reviews. They can create 8-slide comic strip summaries of the key events in a short story, novel, or play. Perhaps, they can create a comic strip summaries of a character's traits. I'm brainstorming at this point, but I see all kinds of possibilities with this technology.

So back to my laziness. I'm embedding the slide show that I've already embedded in my sandbox page. If you've been there, then this is nothing new. If you haven't, then here is my new creation.

Enjoy.