Talk to me Voki

Voki is an easy to use web 2.0 tool that allows you to create animated avatars. What is an avatar – in this case it is a talking character. Students can create an avatar on any topic within in any content area. There is no limit to how a Voki can be used with integrating technology into the lessons. For teachers, you can become creative and immediately engage your students by creating a Voki to introduce an assignment or a unit. Your imagination is the only limit with creating a Voki.   

Setting up a Voki account is free. But this is only for one account. You can have your students individually create a sign in account. Be aware that they have to accept the account through their email, so if they do not have access to their email make sure you do this prior to the lesson. Or they can use one account under the teacher’s name. There is an educational version (Voki Classroom) that required a fee. With this version you can access and monitor the students work. I had the students open their own accounts and did not find it necessary to monitor their accounts. The students had to post their final products on our class blog where the class had to evaluate their work. Due to this I did not find it necessary to pay for an account. Also, the students now have their accounts so they can create a Voki for other courses. Spread the technology use.

With creating a Voki, students can work independently, with a partner, and/or in small groups. The creator of a Voki is allowed to pick their character, background, voice and some features with each character. What a Voki says can be typed in or recorded in through a microphone or called in through a phone. A Voki cannot be used for a whole presentation but for brief statements, this could aid those students who have a difficult time speaking in front of the class. And may ease them into a comfortable place where they could speak. Once their classmates can hear what they have to say, there may be a sense of support that could bring a comfort level to that shy speaker. The Voki sites provides lesson plans for a variety of subject areas.

This blog post is very simplistic as compared to my other posts. This is because Vokis are a very simple web 2.0 tool to use. There is not too much to it but the results are so creative, appealing, and engaging for students learning. Use a Voki once and you will be trying to figure out what other lesson you can incorporate it into.

What do you think about a Voki? How can you see using it in your classroom? How would you use it for your teaching? Do you see any drawbacks from using a Voki? What are they?

We are all just floating in a CLOUD

Lately I have been hearing the term “The Cloud” used more often. At first I was not sure what that meant. What was this cloud? Was it a specific program, software, or some term that the internet world had created? And then I was asking myself, do I need to know what this “cloud” is? Is this something I will have to get or use in order to maintain everything I am doing on-line? Well the answer is; I was already using “The Cloud” without knowing it.

“The Cloud” is space out in the unknown of your computer. When you use programs such as Google or  DropBox – you are using “The Cloud.” What is happening is that you no longer need to have flash drives, thumb drives, your physical computer – you can access all your files from any location throughout the world. For instance I can create and save a file from a computer in one location, walk away from that computer, drive 3000 miles across country, and finish working on that file in another location on another computer. Incredible!

What is really happening is that the sites, such as DropBox (same concept as Google Docs if you are using that), are providing the storage somewhere out in cyberland for your files to live. You do not need to carry any devices with you or take up any space on your hard drives. Those large files you may want to save, you can now save without having to wait long for them to download as well as for them to take up all your space.

For a teacher something like DropBox is an incredible tool to use. I access my DropBox account at home, correct, update, and/or change a file, then access it at school through my account. No forgetting flash drives at home, no forgetting copies at home; it works out great. I have all my students using DropBox also. They have expressed how it has made things easier for them.

“The Cloud” is something you are probably using already. It is just another term used to describe the cyber space that we are all now connected to.

Boy, we have come a long way since 8 track tapes

How would you describe “The Cloud”? Are you using “The Cloud”? How do you feel about using “The Cloud”? Do your students use it? How are you feeling about all these quick changes in technology?

Thank You Aviva!!!!

Aviva, Aviva, Aviva – I hope you can hear my admiration in this. I am so impressed by what Aviva is doing with her students. I want to take her class!! Can I regress, please, please, please, please!!!!

These are the sites that when you read them, you get inspired as a teacher to do better for your students. Learning about the different tools allows you as a teacher to empower students to become responsible for their own learning. I say thank you to Aviva and to all other teachers who are so willing to share their learning’s with others. We can only grow as professionals if we are willing to share and learn from each other.

Aviva’s site contains numerous ideas about how to incorporate technology tools into the classroom which in turns allows for students to practice reading, writing, arithmetic, collaboration, communication skills, and creativity skills – just to name a few. Being a secondary teacher, you may think that I would not be able to apply much of what Aviva is doing for her 1^st and 2^nd graders. Oh how wrong that it to assume this. I can easily see using Twitter with my 9 – 12 graders to help increase their writing skills as well as their etiquette skills while being on- line. The unfortunate thing right now is our district is apprehensive about using Twitter in the classroom. I am working at it though, and I am one that does not give up. I am going to have to share the video administrator Justin Tarte created called, "Why Educators should be using Twitter- Justin Tarte" - Thanks Aviva.

It is also very inspiring to see all the tools she is using with her students as collaboration activities.

Group Blog

Narrative eBook Project

Kindergarten Around the World

Like Aviva, I am using  Edmodo in my classroom. I have been using it as a classroom organizer of assignments, due dates, and notices as well as a way to communicate to the students, other teachers and parents. I never thought of having the students use it as a writing tool. Thank you Aviva!

I am also using a blog in our classroom, Kidblog. It has become another important tool in our classroom. I will be moving toward using another program next year, but started with the simplicity of Kidblog to see how it would work in our classroom. I have been pleasantly surprised at how engaging the students are with it and how they look forward to the next blog. They have never complained about blogging but they seem to complain about writing papers even though the questions are not questions and/or responses are not composed differently, they still are doing the same work. Overall the students have enjoyed posting their ideas, thoughts and learning’s. Next year, like Aviva I will have the kids create and run the blog posts and replies.  

Aviva shares so many ideas that she is doing in the classroom that can be tweaked to your content or grade level, your imagination is the only thing that will hold you back (or your district at times, but don’t let that stop you from exploring options). Thanks Aviva!

The one thing that caught my eye on Aviva’s site, and that I have been thinking a lot about lately, is how to make a virtual connection in our classroom. I want the student to experience the world outside of their “world.” I have been thinking how and with whom we can Skype with. I have ideas and have been reaching out to others and I am sure something will happen.  But recently a new, more exciting idea came to me when I was playing around with our new iPads. And then after reading Aviva’s site about how she had become a virtual mentor, something clicked (very excitedly I will say). What about having my students become Mentors to younger kids either within their districts, community, and/or world? If I can find the right teacher, we can set up times where the students can talk with each other on a one-to-one bases as well as group conversations. WOW! And for my students of Early Childhood Education, they can apply what they are learning by the interaction they are having with their Mentees. I thought of using the iPads. so they can have more of a personal arena, of course it would be nice if the connecting students had iPads. but it is not necessary. Oh and of course right now we don’t have Wi-Fi, so Skyping may have to be the tool of choice. But it can work…..time to get networking.

This is when I say Thank You to all the Aviva’s out there that share their ideas and allow us as teachers to become creative about the learning process.

What do you think about my idea? Do you see any concerns about trying this? Do you have ideas of how I can network this idea? What did you find of interest from Aviva’s site? What things can you see yourself using in the classroom and how will you tweak it toward your content or grade level?