Thing #14 Time for a bigger toolbox

When I initially saw all of the links to the many tools, I shut down my computer and went to the mall. Town East isn't really a reprieve from being locked in my house and glued to the computer screen, but last night as my family and I watched Rush Hour 3 on cable, my six-year-old saw Jackie Chan in a nice, fluffy, white bathrobe and decided that he, too, wanted a bathrobe. Since he has gone a record 8 school days without a mark (yeah!!! it's a miracle), I caved and went in search of the fluffy gift. Before we left, I did explore the ToonDoo creator, so while my youngest and I searched through a couple of department stores, I was thinking about what to toon.

After standing in line for over 3o minutes at Sears because the only cashier on the entire floor had no clue how to take a check from a customer or how to ring a sale with someone's temporary credit card pass, I really wanted to make fun of the guy by creating a cartoon in his honor. But ToonDoo doesn't have a relevant image -- although there are plenty goofy-looking people, there are no store backgrounds. There is a way to create our own drawings, much like paint. But I didn't really have the energy to try this out, and as I said in a previous post, my creative juice is on "E."

I gave up on the mall episode, and I, still, couldn't think of anything educational to do with a cartoon...nada. I started thinking about some of the works we cover throughout the year, and I returned to Romeo and Juliet, my ole fallback. Usually, we discuss Shakespeare's use of language, especially his puns and double-talk. I decided that I'd try to create some toons using puns. Of course, the cartoons I created have absolutely nothing to do with Shakespeare, but at least, I can introduce the idea of wordplay.

When working in ToonDoo, we can save the cartoons in a private place or a public place. If it's in the public place, people can comment on and edit the toon (I'm not sure if their edits change our toon, or if they just use our toon as a foundation and create a new toon). At this site, there are all kinds of fun activities -- sharing, competitions, forums, blogs, etc. We can even upload our own photos and play around with them.

I tried to copy my other cartoon here to share with my kind readers, but it is 8.4 MB, and we are limited to 8. I just thought I'd share that fact with you, another lesson learned.

Thing #13 - Sign this!

Finally, something relatively easy. I must admit that I'm impressed with all of the free technology out there. These little touches can make our wikis, blogs, and slide shows so much more interesting and eye-catching.

At the Happy Face Generator, I depicted a portion of the opening scene from Romeo and Juliet (when Tybalt tries to start trouble with Benvolio). This only took a few minutes. The most time-consuming part was just deciding on what to have the smileys say. Plus, I had to limit the text so that it would fit. Now, what will I do with this? I guess I can use as a graphic on the assignment to add a little something. Too bad it's not animated. For some reason, I imagine a scene with swords clanking, people screaming, and blood gushing. After all, what's the point of a sword fight without a little blood?

I made a pit stop at Custom Sign Generator, and once again, felt a little overwhelmed (oh no, not another Flickr weekend). I decided I'd try the first option under the "Make Graphics With Your Text" header. This sent me to Sign Generator Fun, with over 500 sign possibilities. Because I wanted to enjoy a few hours of my weekend, in the fresh air, and away from this computer screen, I just created one sign. Again, I'm thinking to myself, "What can I do with this that has educational value?" And, "If it takes me forever to create something, how long will it take the kids?"

Finally, I explored several of the cites listed on the Things homepage, played around in a few more, and eventually, settled in at ImageChef.

This site actually had something I was looking for when trying to create my Burning Question for my sandbox wiki (Thing 9). When I read the burning question requirement, the first thing that popped into my mind was Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts from Saturday Night Live. I wanted my question to slowly ascend over some picturesque backdrop, like a forest or a sunset sky. At the time and with the limited resources available to us for Thing 9, I couldn't find a way to do this. But now, thanks to ImageChef, I've found something close. I'm sure with a little effort, I can get exactly what I'm looking for. Because of my new-found image creator, I've edited my burning question, removing the talking cats and adding the image from Poetry Blender (one of the options in ImageChef). It's still not exactly what I want, but it's close enough for now. I'm beginning to realize that this is a never-ending process. My sandbox wiki will grow and change until I just can't take it any more.


ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

Even though adding these creative, active images to our wikis, blogs, and slide shows does add that extra little touch, I'm not sure what else I'd do with them at this point. I know there's something out there; I'm just brain dead. My creative juices are on "E."

Perhaps, the students can create some kind of vocabulary wiki and use the image generators as a way to define words, both literally and figuratively through the images they select. Maybe this is something we can do as a department on a department wiki. I just don't know.

One last thing...I just hope that once I'm done trying to warp through all of this technology, I'll be able to find the cites again, especially once I've had time to digest it all.

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.

Thing #9 - I can't get this sand off of me

Okay, here goes... I know I'm out of order, but I had to wait to get the approval to play in the sandbox. So while I waited, I completed Thing 10 and 11 (I think). Now, I'm back to 9.

This sandbox thingy required quite a bit of time, and I still haven't figured out how to create a table of contents. In order to get through this thingy, I printed up a copy of the instructions and the steps. That seemed to help some. Creating a credits list for my photos in the slide show required some time and effort, partly because I chose 19 photos, and partly because the original list that I created in Word was not in the same order as the pictures I picked for the slide show.

Most of the time constraints occur for me because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. I just like for things to look right, sound right, feel right. I had to re-do my deep thoughts question a couple of times because I didn't like how it looked. I still think the talking cats talk too fast and would like to slow them down a bit. Then, when it came to adding music to my slide show, I added music, then I changed the song, then I went back to my original choice, then I thought, "Well, maybe I don't need music." Oh well... I'm tired, and it's time to move on.

Finally, adding a link to my sandbox in the master sandbox was easy, but I still don't see a current list of the "Sites We Liked." I'll keep checking, and when it appears for our group, I'll update.

The one thing that concerns me (I really hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining) is that someone else can change my sandbox. After all the time I spent in there, I'd hate for some bully to come along with a bulldozer and doze my somewhat beautiful creation.

As far as the benefits to this and how to incorporate it into a classroom, I see some possibilities. I'm still ruminating over them though.

Thing #11 - Flickr

It is so crazy how something that sounds relatively easy can take forever. I'm sure I spent hours going through the millions of images on Flickr. It is very much how the English nerd feels at Barnes and Noble -- so much to choose from -- where do I start? This thingy is similar to the Google reader activity in that I'm overwhelmed with all of the "stuff" for lack of a better word.

I've used images in the past as prompts for creative writing assignments. It has always been one of my most successful activities. Students tend to write better when they have a jumping off spot. In addition, when we study Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, I create a slide show of mysterious-type images so that the kids can create their own mystery stories based a photo. Most likely, this is what I'll do again, and I will use the images that I found on Flickr. One of the reasons that it took me so long to put some pictures together is that I had to be very specific with my searches. I had to think of different tags to get different settings and types of people for my mystery slides. Then, I had to copy the link, the title, and the photographer's name onto a word document. I feel as if I've sifted through thousands of pictures to get a few.

I've chosen the above image for my blog so that I'd have a happy place to go to, a beach at sunset. Thank you Neil Spicy for the moment of tranquility.

Thing #10 - Creative Commons

I feel a little relieved that there are some resources for us to use without having to worry about the big C. I hate to admit this publicly, but I rarely use the traditional (and expensive) textbooks. So much of what I use to reach my students is stuff that I find, modify, reuse, and create. Because of this, I live in fear that the C police will barge into my classroom and take me away to C jail. I do not live riskily, however, because I follow policies and copyright regulations. I just worry that I miss something somehow somewhere.

I've never even heard of or noticed CC on any websites that I've visited, but I'm not one for the little details and fine print (hence my fear for the C police). I tried to play around in the CC world to look for some material, but I wasn't really successful in finding anything. I haven't given up though; I'll keep at it.

Because we do live in a visual world, I use visual images all of the time in my lessons. I have students create stories based on pictures. I use images and commercial clips when we discuss rhetorical techniques and advertising. I show "clips" of movies to increase understanding of novels. I use songs and music when we study poetry and the Harlem Renaissance. If CC provides us with C-free material, then it liberates educators and other creative people.

It did occur to me that because of the big C, my creations (my lessons) are copyrighted. I feel a little powerful :) It's mine, all mine!!!! Haahaahaahaa!!!!

Seriously though, I really don't see it as "Mine, all mine!!!" I've stood on the shoulders of my peers, other artists, musicians, many creative groups to create my lessons. It is hard to believe that there is anything completely original and unique out there anymore.

Because of our sue happy society, we just have to be careful and fair. I do feel badly for the artists/musicians who have lost income because of places like limewire. Here's where technology has its disadvantages because we can find material so easily and so often without giving credit where credit is due; however, the WWW provides many artists/musicians/authors with opportunities that would not have otherwise existed for them.

The copyright world is changing. It's nice to have options as an educator who must use every little bit of help to get to such a variety of learners.

Thing #8 - What's up Wiki

When reading the discovery exercise descriptions for this thingy, I thought that the wikis sounded truly interesting and intriguing. However, when I got to my first wiki, I was a little disappointed. For example, the Wolves Den sounded really cool, but as soon as I arrived, I wanted to leave. There was just too much stuff on the first page. I guess that's a good sign because it implies that many people have contributed to the wiki, and it is a growing beast. I just like things simple. I forced myself to go back and to check it out, and when I got over the urge to high-tail it out of there again, I stopped and looked around. I found a couple of pretty cool things, like the NPR's 100 best fictional characters since 1900 list with a link to the audio discussion, a nice bit of trivia for the English nerd. Then, there is a place for people (I'm guessing from the school district or campus) to recommend their favorite books. Then, it has some examples of projects that the students have done. So, after I took the time to sift through the massive links, I found some interesting things. I've made a mental note, to keep my wiki simple, so I won't frighten away potential participants.

The Discover Utopias made me think of some things that I could do when we read Fahrenheit 451. This wiki has students commenting on various novels that attempt to create utopias. The students share information about the novels. After reading some of the comments, I realized that they were a little superficial and more like criticisms than analysis. I think I'd have the kids create their own utopias and share their ideas with their peers. Their peers could offer suggestions for the perfect world.

Finally, I visited 1001 flatworld tales. I liked the concept of a frame story which allowed students to contribute their own stories. The anonymity would give those shy students the courage to write and share their ides. This is something I may consider trying in the future.

Overall, I've discovered that simplicity is the best way to go and using wikis as a tool to allow students the opportunity to be creative and to share is a pretty good idea. I don't know how I feel about using wikis as a reference tool.