Student Display Work...See It, Scan It, Hear it

With the year kicking into high gear, I've decided to redesign a classic display that I have used in the hallway. Most years I have the students complete an "I Am" poem as an introductory assignment and nice display to have in the hallway. This year, I plan on taking that project and implementing two new features. One facilitates integration of the Common Core Standards (by encouraging and demonstrating fluency) and the second facilitates the integration of some excellent technology--QR Codes.

My plan is to post the decorated and typed poems in the hallway.  But as an added feature, I am also going to have my students record themselves reading their poems.  These recordings will be stored in a QR code that links to those recordings.  With the QR code displayed on the wall near each student's poster, anyone with a smart device can scan the QR code and hear each student's recitation.

How to do it:

#1. Here is the organizer for the "I Am" Poem:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/19459636/I-Am-Poem

#2. For the recording, I have downloaded a free app called Audioboo.  Students are NOT required to create an account to use this app, they simply press record and read their poem.

#3. Once they have finished recording, they give their "boo" a title, save + upload.  Audioboo will give an option to copy the link to this uploaded recording when you press the share symbol.  I am having my students save this to a 'note' on the ipads so they can use it later.

#4.  In my building, we do NOT have the ability to print from our ipads. So for this next step, it's off to the desktops!!   The students will then use the site kaywa.com.  By typing the link to their audioboo into Kaywa, they can generate a QR code, print the code and adhere it to their "I Am" poems.


Viola....a multi-media student display.  Anyone with a smartphone and 'scan' app can hear the students reading their poems as well as see them.    See it....scan it...hear it!

Want to hear mine?? 

 

Now that's using your Smarticles!!

 

 

Bursting into Another Project - ZooBurst Style

Sneaking quietly onto the Web 2.0 Tool scene, is a relatively new tool called ZooBurst. Zooburst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books. Essentially authors can manipulate and insert characters, setting, design and background as well as write story lines to accompany their stories. In addition to allowing for a narrative or explanation on each page, creators can also add speech bubbles featuring text OR uploaded .mp3 files for sound. The Pièce de résistance of the site is the augmented reality feature. Once a book is published, the site provides a target. When the target is ‘seen’ by a web camera, the book bursts open allowing for a three dimensional view of the story.

Implemention in my room
In my classroom, I was quite enthusiastic about giving the site a try, but was initially struggling with a way to creatively use the site in a way that was effective and meaningful. The compromise for me was a digital poem. Inspired by my FAVORITE writing site, writingfix.com, I used the following lesson with a few modifications. http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/ManyColoredDays3.htm

Step #1: Read the mentor text: My Many Colored Days, by Dr.
Seuss. This gets the students thinking about the concept of assigning colors to moods. I also point out how one must make an inference on several pages in the book. “On other days I’m other things, on bright blue days I flap my wings.” The feeling or emotion is implied, not directly stated. It’s a good mini-lesson on making inferences.

Step #2: Distribute the Writing Assignment Sheet Go over the assignment expectations

Step #3: Distribute the Pre-writing organizer. This organizer is GREAT! It breaks the poetry writing down into 5 steps:

Here’s a layout of the poetry writing process

Select a color....we used crayon colors: CERULEAN FROST
Select an adjective or character trait: DETERMINED
Select an object as a basis for comparison: HOCKEY PLAYER
Select and action for your object: DIGGING FEROCIOUSLY
Decide where and when the action is taking place: AT A LOOSE PUCK AROUND THE NET

On Cerulean frost days I am determined.
A hockey player digging ferociously
at a loose puck near the net.

Step #4: Create Zooburst books. Place the one stanza per page on the narrative section of the zooburst book. Encourage kids to include .mp3 sound files**, speech bubbles including onomatopoeia or comments that fit the poem. Have them change the background of the book to fit the described color and add details to fit.


Step #5: Share. We’ll have a poetry reading day where the students will be allowed to share their work…in augmented reality mode, of course. This site allows you to ‘embed’ the books into other locations. Chances are that we’ll share via Edmodo but we’ve yet to cross that bridge.

Sample Zooburst

**A word about pricing**
ZooBurst has free accounts for teachers…up to 10 books can be created. Their premium account is $9.99 for a month or $49.99 for a year. The advantage of the premium account is sound integration, ad-free browsing, unlimited books and the ability to create individual student accounts with individualized usernames and passwords. I wrote a grant and had it funded for me.


Here is that grant verbage that I used if you are interested: GRANT


I also sent home a Web 2.0 Tool permission slip at the beginning of the year to ensure that it was okay with parents of children under the age of 12.

Now THAT'S using your Smarticles!!

Digital Class Book of Poetry

Our recent class efforts involved the writing of poetry!! Inspired by the work of Jack Prelutsky's book, Scranimals, my students were encouraged to create a creature that blends an animal with a plant or any other item.

Students were given this assignment sheet to assist them in their task: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/79948458/Scranimals-Assignment-sheet

The resulting project, poems and images were quite wonderful and my initial objective was to create a class book. Instead, I went virtual and created a Voicethread. If you are unfamiliar with Voicethread, it is a collaborative slide show that allows people to share images and comment on the images. The student's drawings were uploaded into Voicethread and each student then recorded themselves reading the poem that they wrote.



Once the virtual collection was created, I embedded the voicethread on my educational website to share with students, parents and colleagues.

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks. -Plutarch

Read more: Brainyquote.com