I Don't Know What to Create

 Time after time, I hear teachers who want to do something with students using technology but are unsure what to create. Here is a list of products students can make that show off their knowledge. 

1. Audio Recording
2. Advertisement
3. Analogy
4. Animation
5. Avatar
6. Blog
7. Book Jacket
8. Brochure
9. Bulletin Board
10. Cards (Playing/Task)
11. Character Conversations
12. Class Book
13. Creative Nonfiction
14. Collage
15. Comedy Skit
16. Comic Strip
17. Commercial
18. Concept Map
19. Conversation
20. Dance
21. Data/Analytics Visualization
22. Debate
23. Demonstration
24. Diary Entry
25. Digitally-Documented Discussion
26. Diorama
27. Doodle
28. Drawing
29. eBook
30. Essay
31. Experiment
32. Fake Social Media Account
33. Film
34. Freestyle (hip-hop)
35. Flow Chart
36. Game
37. Gif Animation
38. Glossary
39. Google Earth Tour
40. Graph
41. Graphic Organizer
42. Infomercial
43. Interview
44. Kahoot!
45. Learning Log
46. Literature Circle
47. Live Stream
48. Magazine
49. Map
50. Mock-Up/Wireframe
51. Mock Product-Pitch
52. Model
53. Monologue
54. Movie Poster
55. Mural
56. Mash-Up
57. News Report
58. Newsletter/ Newspaper
59. Panel Discussion
60. Paper Slides Video
61. Photo
62. Podcast
63. Poem
64. Portfolio
65. Poster
66. Presentation (Google Slides)
67. Product
68. Puppet Show
69. Reenactment
70. Relevant Visualization
71. Review
72. Role-Play
73. Rules/Framework
74. Scavenger Hunt
75. Scrapbook
76. Sculpture
77. Survey
78. Self-Directed Project
79. Self-Directed Short Video
80. Show & Tell
81. Simulation
82. Six Word Story
83. Social Media Branding
84. Socratic Discussion
85. Song
86. Stop Motion Animation
87. Speech
88. Tag Cloud
89. Team-Building Game
90. Time Capsule
91. Theatrical Play
92. Timeline
93. Tutorial
94. Video Game
95. Website
96. Whiteboard Animation
97. Word Splash
98. Word Wall
99. Wiki
100. YouTube Channel

9th Annual Lubbock ISD Summer Leadership Institute

August 1st through the 3rd, Lubbock ISD once again hosted their Summer Leadership Institute for the campus administrators and campus leadership teams.

I was able to present again this year. My title was probably stupid enough to keep people away, but hopefully, the ones that attended understood the message of creativity in the classroom.

Check out my presentation below.

Transformational Mumbo Jumbo

Creativity Apps for iPads

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2017. Time to start using that technology in your classroom to allow students to be creators of knowledge instead of consumers of knowledge. For those with iPads, I have a blog post from Jonathan Wylie titled Getting Creative with iPads in K-12 Classrooms. This is a wonderful list. I have used or heard of most of these apps. Some of my favorites from the list:

• Green Screen by Doink
• IPEVO Whiteboard
• ChatterPix
• All of the Adobe Spark apps
• Snapseed
• Canva
• Sock Puppets

Check out Jonathan's blog post and see if you can find a few favorites of your own.


https://jonathanwylie.com/2016/12/16/creative-ipads-apps-k-12-classrooms/

Slideshows created in YouTube

Somehow I totally missed this feature in YouTube or didn't know enough what I was doing to share it. You can create photo slideshows on YouTube. This is similar to the Microsoft Photostory software that was all the rage several years ago in the Digital Storytelling world. Basically, you log in to your Google account, go to YouTube, click the upload button, add your photos, texts, transitions, and music, and click the create video button. Looks like you would have to create separate speech files and use those for the audio if you wanted to hear student voice, but I am not sure. Something to play with and figure out.

Kelly Fitzgerald has a great tutorial on how to create slideshows in YouTube, so I bow to her expertise. Make sure to watch her video and visit her blog on creating and editing video. You will be glad you did.

ocenaudio Audio Editor

For a number of years my go to audio editor has been Audacity. And I feel I have tried many others, but always come back to Audacity because of its simplicity to edit and export.

I recently came across an newer player in the game, ocenaudio. ocenaudio is a "cross-platform, easy to use, fast and functional audio editor. It is the ideal software for people who need to edit and analyze audio files without complications. ocenaudio also has powerful features that will please more advanced users."

Looks like it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux only. It installed very easily with the .exe file and opened very quickly. The controls are intuitive with the red record button, familiar play, forward, reverse, and stop icons. There is also an easy way to drag and drop audio files, folders, URLs... instead of having to import or open.
From the file menu, users can save the file as a variety of format, export a variety of formats, and even create an iPhone ringtone.



So if you are looking for an easy to use audio recorder/editor give this one a try.
http://www.ocenaudio.com.br/whatis

Video Tutorial on ocenaudio

P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope everyone is having a great start to the year.

Animoto Plus for Educators

Looking for an easy way to create presentations that incorporate video, images, music, and text. Then look no further than Animoto. A very easy tool to use to create videos to use in your classroom. Now educators can apply for a free Animoto Plus account. Just visit https://animoto.com/education/classroom?utm_source=retention, fill out the information, and receive a 6 month Plus account.  

ClassTools.net

ClassTools.net is easily one of my favorite sites. It gives teachers and students the ability to "create free games, quizzes, activities, and diagrams". This site is free and very easy to use.

Some of my favorite tools on this site:

Fakebook and Twister - create fake Facebook and Twitter posts. Great to use for historical or fictional characters.

Random name Picker - just as it describes

Countdown timer - you can add a tune or YouTube video to your timer.

Venn Diagram Template

Citation generator

And the newest game creator, Pac-Man. This is a great review game creator. Make sure to use the help section to learn how to enter questions and answers. Students answer questions and continue to play Pac-Man until they get a question incorrect.

Stop Animation Creation

From Mozilla comes a fun little website for younger students to learn the basics of stop animation.

http://parapara-editor.mozlabs.jp/sandbox

On the site students can select their colored crayon and size of the tip to use. Students draw their image on the screen. Then students click the frame at the top with the plus sign. A new frame will appear with a shaded image of their first frame to be used for reference. Students then draw their image on the second frame. Continue this process until the stop animation is complete. Press the orange play button to see the images come to life. If animation is to the students liking, they click the OK button at the bottom right corner. They can add a Title to their animation and their name (take care with student information!) and click the send button. This apparently uploads the animation to Mozilla's website.

Students can then email the link to a person of their choosing, scan or save the QR code linked to the video, or just copy and paste the link into a browser to see their animation play out. 

While not the most feature rich program, this does give a good introduction to how stop motion videos are made. Give it a try. 

Tap Into Your Inner Creativity

Sir Ken Robertson is one of the leading experts on creativity and it's role in education. But, this TED talk from Kermit the Frog is really good. If you have an extra 20 minutes, I think you would enjoy it.
(How did he drink that iced tea?)