What a great tool and so easy to use! Of all the tech tools we have explored, ThingLink is my favorite one. Searching for examples, I found a large collection of educational ThingLinks incorporating all subjects. So many great ideas that pertained to education.
I was able to navigate the site easily and create a Dr. Seuss ThingLink quickly. I found an image with several Dr. Seuss characters so I was able to put a tag for the corresponding book on each character. Finding the read aloud Dr. Seuss stories was easy on youtube as there was a large selection for each book. It may be more difficult to find read aloud stories for different authors but then I could create my own videos using iMovie. My students struggle with reading and benefit from listening to audio books. I'd like them to read along as they listen so I used examples showing the words on the page. I could develop ThingLinks for a variety of authors and load them on my classroom website (once I make one) and my students could choose from a selection of books on the ThingLink of a particular author. I look forward to using ThingLink with my students.
I tried using Wurdle early in the semester and while I was able to create the wurdle with ease, I wasn't able to publish it. I took screen shots of the two wurdles I created and will share one of them here.
As you can see, I wasn't able to figure out how to rotate the image (I did rotate it on my website). I was frustrated that I couldn't figure out how to publish it or create a link for it.
Since I like the idea of word clouds, I decided to try Tagul and I had a much better experience with navigating the site and I love the animated word cloud. I was able to create the word cloud quickly and I prefer it to Wurdle product. It was a breeze to find the code to embed it on my website.
I can see creating word clouds with my students as they would love it. Many of my special education students struggle with various aspects of writing so it can be a painful part of the day for my students and me. They could dictate words or pick words from their stories/sentences and tagul would generate animated word clouds to help their words come alive. I'm going to try it with my students!
I looked up how to embed widgets in this blog and spent a long time trying to figure it out but no luck. Luckily, my classmates Barb and Ann Maria saved the day and showed me how to embed it.
Tech Tac Toe: Part One Postscript
I thought the blabberize video wouldn't play as I couldn't get it to work before I published but it looks like it will play now that I published the blog. That is probably standard but being a tech newbie, I did not know that fact.
Tech Tac Toe, Part One November 6, 2015
After making an iMovie, this assignment felt like a walk in the park!
First, I must toot my own horn as I made another iMovie. My son, Max, turned 21 this week and I wanted to do something special for him so I made an iMovie about him. Second time around was so much more fun. I used the scanner to upload all the old photos instead of taking photos of the photos. I navigated iPhoto and iTunes with ease instead of becoming frustrated. I would add the movie but I want to respect his privacy. I feel like a walking commercial for iMovie as I keep telling friends/colleagues to use it.
To Blabberize or Not to Blabberize?
I found the Blabberize tech tool to be entertaining but I doubt I will use it in my professional practice. Since I am able to navigate iPhoto now, I was able to try several photos in the blabberize process. It was easy to use and fun to do. I could envision using it on a smart board but as a special education resource teacher, I work with small groups of students and I don't create or use smart board presentations. I don't have a class website but when I create one then I could see using the blabbers on my website. My students could create blabbers but I only have them for a limited amount of time and I don't want to spend that time on blabberizing. In general, I don't feel that it would be valuable enough for me to find ways to incorporate it into my daily practice. I can see using it in my personal life as my teenage boys may find it entertaining.
The frustrating part of the process was trying to embed the blabber. The website generated a embed code but when I entered it into the widget and published, it was blank. I was able to download the video and upload as you can see below and I hope it works. I set up a link as well.
Wow, what an experience! At first, I toyed with a more personal subject but thought I should create an educational movie so I wanted to create an iMovie on the book, 10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew as it is a simple yet powerful book that I wish every teacher would read. I found some good video clips that I could use and even a good song. I made the mistake of googling the title and saw so many iMovies about the book that I decided against it as a project. Back to the more motivating topic of my mother and her best friend.
I wanted to create a tribute to my mother's best friend for my iMovie assignment and I accomplished my goal after many hours, several tears, and much frustration. The iMovie program is pretty user friendly and I was able to navigate it fairly well (with the help of a tutorial that Barb M found) and once I figured out the necessary foundational skills I needed. My frustration stemmed from my lack of knowledge about using iTunes and iPhoto. I've never used iTunes and while it should be easy, it took me way too long to buy the song I wanted. I was very frustrated with myself and the process. Next, I had trouble with iPhotos as I couldn't get all my photos to download and it took me way too long to figure out how to solve this problem. By this point, I was very frustrated! This is an example of how screen casts or tutorials would really help us navigate the world of tech. I looked up how to do all these steps but the directions were not always helpful and it seems like a waste of time when it would be easy for a more knowledgeable person to gather better tutorials for us.
In addition, I needed to dig up old photos that I had stashed away in two bins. I don't usually look at them as they trigger some difficult emotions from my divorce. Needless to say, I was in tears as I looked through the photos to find some for the movie.
Once I got through these issues then I was able to begin the iMovie. I took pictures of my photos as I didn't even think about using a scanner. Only after I had finished my movie, someone mentioned using a scanner and I felt stupid for not thinking of it. This is a good example of not having those foundational skills that are necessary for these projects. It would have been so nice to have a tip sheet that mentioned using a scanner for old photos.
In the end, I am very pleased with my movie and my mother and best friend love it. It brought them to tears! It was quite a frustrating experience for me but well worth it on a personal level. I'm planning on making another one for my mother and brothers as a Christmas present.
I'm not sure how I would use iMovie with my students as they are young and come to me for remediation and the iMovie process is lengthy and time consuming. They are more tech savvy so maybe it would be much easier for them to use! I liked how Barb M used the iMovie with student work and if I was a classroom teacher, I would use it to make iMovies of student projects.
