Challenge #5: A is for Animations

Go!Animate is free web tool (there is a paid version with some extra features) that allows you to create short animated videos that can be used to enhance any lesson. Students can use this tool to demonstrate their understanding of concepts. They can express their ideas in a creative way that promotes higher-order thinking skills.

This Edtech Challenge is to use the Go!Animate web tool to create a short animation to use as an introduction to a lesson of your choice. If you are feeling ambitious, you can also have your students use Go!Animate to demonstrate what they learned (formative assessment). For example, you may be planning on teaching your students how to add fractions. You can create an animation to introduce the concept and hook your students. Then, at the end of the lesson, the students can create an animation that demonstrates their learning of that concept or skill.

Including multimedia such as this into your classroom instruction is a powerful way to increase student engagement and make the curriculum accessible to students with different learning styles. Integrating short video clips and animations into your lessons is a very effective practice and can enhance any lesson in any subject area. It is very easy to add these animations (or any online video clip)  to your interactive whiteboard slides so that the flow of your lesson is maintained. You can use links and embed code from the online source to embed the videos to your website or blog in just a few steps. You can find video clips and animations to add to your lessons and you can also create your own with tools like Go!Animate, Xtranormal, Blabberize, Voki, and Kerpoof.

Here are some things to consider as you attempt this Edtech Challenge:

• Go!Animate and other similar tools often allow you to login with your google apps account, so you won't have to create a new account.

• Many of these animation tools have a text to speech option, so you do not need a microphone to create your animation.

• Model how to use this kind of web tool with students and use think alouds to model problem solving and troubleshooting. 

Check out this sample I made to show how GoAnimate can be integrated into the classroom.

Go Animate in the classroom by rsd6techteacher on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.

Challenge #4: Writing with Word Clouds

This week, the Edtech Challenge is to integrate a word cloud generator tool into a writing lesson or unit of study. Word clouds can be used in all subject areas, so if you don't teach writing, then try it with something else. Most teachers are familiar with word clouds, but even if you have never tried it before, I am sure you will find it very easy and fun (and free). Keep in mind that the fun doesn't have to end with this one lesson. The purpose of this challenge is not just doing a "wordle" with your students, it's about integrating a tool that enhances learning. If you find this tool to be effective, continue to use it throughout the school year.

Here are some ways that you can use word clouds during Writer's Workshop:

• Create a word cloud with the lesson's learning objectives.
• Turn your anchor charts into word clouds (or have your students do this).
• Students can create a word cloud of their writing ideas and keep it in their writer's notebook.
• Students can discuss the essential question(s) of the unit and generate a word cloud based off their discussion.
• Create a word cloud from a writing rubric.
• Students can create word clouds from their writing pieces.
• Spice up your word walls with synonym word clouds or word family word clouds. 
• Students can use word clouds to create a visual of their word choice.
•  Enter a passage from a book or a poem to discuss word choice, ideas or other writing traits.
• Have students copy and paste a chapter from one of their favorite books (using Google books) and then write a story using the top 10 key words.

Here are some things to consider as you attempt this Edtech Challenge:

• Explore different word cloud generators. Wordle.net is a popular one, but there are others out there with some interesting features such as choosing a shape for the cloud. Here are a few to try: Word it Out, ABCya Word Clouds, Tagxedo, and Tagul.

• How will use display the word clouds? Save the images as jpegs to insert into your websites, blogs, wikis, and smartboard files. Save as pdfs for printing.

• Check out some other online resources about using word clouds in the classroom. Here are some examples: How to Make Word Clouds in the Classroom by Jonathan Wylie, 108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom by Michael Gorman, Edunology 

Have a great time with this Edtech Challenge. Please share your experience by posting comments.