Instagram and Vine

Instagram, what a cool app!  It is one that I have not really played with much until this week.  Here are some of my photos that I have posted!  I have used it for personal use so far, but plan to start using it for educational use.

Of course, I have to support my Texans for game day!

Let's go Texans!!!

A photo posted by misty carter (@mscooter) on Nov 16, 2015 at 3:48pm PST

We are leaving soon for our Disney Cruise and couldn't be more excited!  I made these door hangers using my Cricut!

Getting ready and excited!

A photo posted by misty carter (@mscooter) on Nov 16, 2015 at 3:26pm PST

This is one way I could see it being used in the classroom....posting pictures of anchor charts for parents to be able to help their child with homework!  Other ways include posting pictures of happenings throughout the day, capturing memories, or anything that you need a picture of to share!

A photo posted by misty carter (@mscooter) on Nov 16, 2015 at 4:04pm PST

I used Twitter's video app, Vine to create this short clip with Tellagami.  The disadvantage is that it has to be very short.  It does allow you to cut the video though.  Students could also use this to practice vocabulary, make quick book summaries, or act out a scene from a book.


If you are looking for ideas on how to use Instagram in your classroom, look no further!  This website has so many great ideas from field trips to student progress.  Check them out!

If you are interested in using Vine in your classroom, check this and this out.  They have some pretty cool ideas on how to incorporate them.

For me personally, Vine has too much going on.  I have a hard time focusing with so much movement on the page.  It is not something that I will probably use, but am sure that it works great for others.  Instagram, on the other hand, I enjoyed and think it would be cool to use in the classroom to get a home to school connection.

Screencasts

Screencasts allow you to capture video of your computer screen while narrating what you are doing.  I had so much fun with this assignment!  I recorded over and over again until I finally decided that I am not an actress and it would never be what I considered "perfect".  I am an everyday teacher, just trying to spread some wealth of knowledge, hoping to reach someone.  And in order to do that, I just need to get the point across, not necessarily perfectly.

I looked at three different screencast websites.  Here is my take on each of them:

1.  Screencast-o-matic

This site does not require you to login or create an account to get started.  Literally, you can click a button and work away!  They offer a great demo video that walks you through the steps quickly.  You begin by dragging the screen to the area that you want recorded.  Then, you simply press record and it starts your countdown.  You are able to have full control of whatever you are doing at that point and show your viewers anything you want.  You are able to pause and restart your screencast and save as a video file, which is great!  Screencast-o-matic allows you 15 minutes of recorded screencast time.  It was super easy and I highly recommend using this site!

Check this one out that I made on how to search our school database, Destiny Quest.

2.  Screenr

I tried to use this site, but unfortunately they retired the site on November 11th due to Java Script issues.

3.  Jing

Jing was also a quick download  and then it puts a little ball at the top of your screen for you to easily manipulate the screencast.  When you first begin, there is a interactive step by step tutorial for how to use Jing and the features.  It was easy to follow and great that it was interactive.  Just like Screencast-o-matic, you begin with drawing your screen area that you want to be viewed.  You can capture an image or a video with an easy click.  This site was also super easy to use.

Here is a screencast that I made using Jing to teach students about PebbleGo

PebbleGo ScreenCast

Honestly, it is hard for me to choose which one is my favorite, as they were both very easy to use and manipulate.  I am going to go with Screencast-o-matic because you can access it easily and begin right away.  Students would be able to do this with little to no instruction to create their own screencasts.

Happy  Screencasting!

Cartoons and Comics

Cartoons and comics has never been something that has interested me much.  They are cute to look at, but I always feel as though they are so busy.  That being said, this was a hard task for me to come up with something to put in my cartoon strip or comic.  I explored three different sites that allow you to create your own.  Here are my thoughts about each of them:

1.  ToonDoo

This is a joke that my son always tells.  He got it off the walls of one of our favorite breakfast restaurants and it cracks him up every time!

You do have to sign up for an account and can save your creations on site.  ToonDoo offers several layouts (number of stripes), characters, backgrounds, props, or you can upload your own.  It is easy to use, but does take awhile to load, and I even did it from different locations to see if that made a difference.  Students would love the look of the interface, as it is appealing and easy to navigate.  You are able to save to a file or email your toon to yourself, making it easy to use it.

2.  Pixton

This toon was from a personal experience.  As I was searching through the backgrounds, I saw this beautiful ski/snow scene and thought it was perfect!  We went skiing 2 years ago and my husband fell, tearing is AC Joint in his shoulder.  Of course at the time it was not funny, but now we laugh about it.  He thought this was a good poke at him!

For this site, you also have to sign up for an account.  They have different types of accounts:  personal, educational, and business.  The account is free, but you do not get access to everything.  That is the one thing I did not like, you cannot save it to a file without being a paid customer.  You are able to choose from different formats:  comic strips, story boards, graphic novel, poster, or photo story, so that is an advantage for this site.  There are many colorful backgrounds to choose from and you have the choice of using one, two or three characters.  It too was easy to use, but I prefer to be able to download my toons.  I could not get anything to work and ended up taking a picture with my phone to get it up on the blog.  I am sure there must be an easier way, but technology was not being my friend today for some reason.

3.  Make Beliefs Comix

No funny story behind this one.  I just thought this little baby was cute and I love Christmas time! 

The great thing about this site is that it does not require you to sign up for an account.  You can get started right away making your comic.  They offer some choice, but not as many as the other two sites.  You also cannot upload your own image, from what I could tell.  I did like that you could create color or black and white comics.  You are able to print and download the file to use it freely as you wish.  Each panel offers advice and tips on how to create your comic strip, which is a nice feature to have to cut back on some time trying to figure things out.  There is also a great tool for educators on  how to use it in your classroom.  This would be easy for students to use, but they are limited in options.  

I love the idea of using these in the classroom!  The first idea on Make Beliefs Comix's site suggest using it to create an autobiography for the beginning of the year.  I definitely plan to do that next year if I am still in the classroom.  I plan to test it out this year at some point!  This could be great for teaching summary and letting them create a strip for the beginning, middle and end of a story or passage.  I would prefer to use ToonDoo because it seems a little easier to navigate and there are many choices for the students.  It was also extremely easy to save and share.  

Another cool app that I used this week is Tellagami.  You can upload your own photos or choose from their backgrounds and then record your voice.  The character then moves its mouth, as if they were speaking, repeating whatever you recorded.  I have used this app before in my class and the kids love it!  It is great for explaining things or giving book talks/reviews.  Really, the possiblities are endless.  

Check out the Tellagami that I made for Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch, one of my very favorite children's authors!