Tales of a Travelling Teacher

Numeracy/Technology

  • Home
  • Book Recommendations
  • Literacy Blog
  • Numeracy/Technology Blog
  • Contact Me

1/27/2014

Bring Your Characters to Life with Chatterpix and Morfo

3 Comments

Read Now
 
Another snow day in sunny Manitoba.  Might as well make the most of it and write another blog post. I got to try out an awesome app with a class of Grade 2 students this week, and we had so much fun!  Chatterpix and ChatterKid are basically the same app, but there are more sharing options in Chatterpix. To use the app, you upload a photo of, well, anything really.  Then add a mouth and record your message.  When you hit play, it seems as though the character is speaking, as the mouth moves appropriately with your words.  It's a hoot!
The day I was there, the students used Chatterpix to record a reading response.  They had read a story and then illustrated the main character before I showed up.  When I got there, I showed them how to take a picture of their illustration with the camera app on the iPads, and then we uploaded them into the app.  The students drew a line with their finger where they felt the mouth should be and recorded a summary of the story.  That's it!  They caught on so quickly that within a 40 minute class, they were able to make several recordings. One of the best parts is the add-ons after you've recorded.  Add stickers, frames and more.  When you're all done, export as a video to your iPad's camera roll, or send directly as email or to Facebook.

I tried it out at home with our pets, and I started wondering about other possibilities for this app in a classroom setting.  How about a can talking about recycling?  How about an ice cube telling about changes in matter?  So many possibilities!  And lots of fun!  Did I mention that both versions of this app is free?!!
Picture
Morfo is the other free app I'd like to share with you today. This app is similar to Chatterpix, but a bit more sophisticated.  I think Grade 2 students would have trouble with it, but probably Grade 4 and up would be able to handle it.  To use this app, you upload or take a photo.  This app requires a certain type of photo, however.  The face must fully be faced forward, and it's best if the mouth is closed, or at least mostly. Once the photo is uploaded, you use your fingers to resize the face shape and match exactly where the eyes, nose and mouth are.  Your next step is to record the voice.  Then hit play.  Now, not only is the mouth moving, but the eyes and head as well.  It's even a bit creepy at times! You can add stickers and there's an in-app purchase of other options.

Wouldn't it be great to use this app to make historical characters come to life?  I tried one out with Louis Riel (for those of you not in the know, he was a respected Metis leader and one of the founders of Manitoba). You can see above the original photo and how I've changed the eyes and mouth, making the video match the audio.  It would be so fun to do historical projects this way.  Upload them to YouTube and add a QR Code to a paper project! Or add them to your class blog or school website. Oh, I get so excited about this stuff!  Let me know if you have other suggestions for these great apps!

Share

3 Comments

1/16/2014

Communication in Math Class

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Picture
More and more I'm becoming convinced that the way to get kids to understand (really, thoroughly, completely) is to get them to communicate their thinking. All of the professional development I've had the opportunity to take during my year and a half as Numeracy Lead Teacher has pointed me in that direction. 


At a workshop this week, the participants were asked to look specifically at three of the six goals that our province has set out for mathematics instruction, which are:
  1. Communicate and reason mathematically.
  2. Use mathematics confidently, accurately and efficiently to solve problems.
  3. Become mathematically literate citizens, using mathematics to contribute to society and to think critically about the world.
                  Source: Kindergarten to Grade 8 Mathematics: Manitoba Curriculum Framework of Outcomes
One activity to meet these goals would be to simply arrange the students into small groups or pairs, and ask them to list all of the ways they can think of to solve a mathematical equation.  I'd like to take it a step further and ask them to use technology to gather and sort their ideas.  Once they're convinced they've got all the ways they can think of, have them present their ideas to the rest of the class.  In the picture above, I've used the app Popplet to record some possible ideas students may generate.  Once the popplet is created, it can be shared through the iPad and an LCD projector, or saved as an image or pdf and emailed to the teacher, or saved to Dropbox.  

The last step could be to make a list of all the strategies the students have discovered as a whole class and sort them by least efficient to most efficient.  There's sure to be some good debate going on there!

Communicating, reasoning, efficiency, mathematical literacy and thinking critically, while integrating mathematics and technology.  What a lesson!  And all from one equation.

Share

0 Comments

1/12/2014

Creating Book Trailers with iMovie

4 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
I have finished an amazing week with a wonderful bunch of Gr. 3- and 4-ers! Their teacher and I planned a reading response activity for them which included creating a book trailer for the book they had just finished reading. Before I arrived at their school, they had read the book and created a new book jacket for it.   I made a trailer for a book as well, to show them what a trailer might like like.  Here is the one I made for them about Goldilocks and the Three Bears, retold and illustrated by James Marshall. (I didn't take the time to make my own illustrations, as the students did, so I have to say the students' trailers are much, much better than mine! )

Together with the students, we created the criteria for their trailers, which we would make using iMovie.  We decided that about half of the illustrations in the trailer should be their own. The trailers had to include the author's and illustrator's names, and we discussed the Fair Dealings copyright laws of Canada, which states that "short excerpts" of printed material can be reproduced for educational or review purposes.  Because we wanted to upload the trailers to YouTube, we also discussed parental permission for putting their work online.  Parents were asked to indicate exactly what their children could put online, including their work, their first name and their image. If permission was not granted, that child's trailer would only be viewed in class and not uploaded. If no name was to be used, the students used an alias.  And if no image was to be included, we just made sure that no photos included the child's face. We really hoped that we could upload to YouTube, as we wanted to create QR codes for the trailers, as discussed below.

Picture
Then we got to work! Students learned how to take photos of their own and the illustrator's work, as well as how to resize, rotate and crop.  Illustrations were created, and the trailers were viewed and reviewed many, many times! They also created some puppets of the characters in their books and videotaped scenes.   Each student created their own trailer, as the school has 1:1 iPads on loan for several weeks.  This meant that if they needed to videotape, collaboration between students would be required.  It was busy and messy, but the learning in that classroom (including the teacher and me!) was amazing! Remember Bloom's Taxonomy? Creating is at the top.  And while using the trailer templates didn't allow for complete creativity (lots of drag and drop), these students were definitely creating! Here's a great blog on using Bloom's Taxonomy with digital tools - the Bloomin' Peacock. 

Lastly, once the trailers were completely finished, we uploaded to YouTube, and then used the share code to create a QR Code on goqr.me.  We printed out the code and attached them to the inside cover of the books.  Now, when students want to check out a book from the school or classroom library, they can use i-nigma or another QR Code Scanner app to easily view the trailers.  (I wrote about using QR Codes in the classroom here.) I should mention that when we uploaded the trailers, we decided to make them unlisted.  That means that if someone searches for the trailers, they can't be found.  The only way someone can watch them online is if they have the link (or the QR Code).  

Share

4 Comments

1/6/2014

iPad Document Stand

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
This is my new favourite thing - my document stand for the iPad. I have wanted a document camera ever since I saw one at a conference several years ago.  The price tag was prohibitive though, and I learned to make do without one.  This fall however, I purchased a Justand iPad Stand for less than $100.  By fitting my iPad into the stand and setting it at a right angle (see picture left) my iPad becomes a document camera.  I just have to turn the camera function on and connect my iPad to my LCD projector with a 30-pin to VGA adapter (sells for about $35). Now, whatever I have going on under the iPad is projected onto the screen for my students to see.  This is a super option for demonstrations and shared reading.  
The Justand can also be lowered so that it is just an iPad stand, making watching videos nice for small groups of students.  It is also excellent for students to record video or stop motion animation.  See why it's my new favourite thing? :) 

Share

0 Comments

1/1/2014

Sunshine Blog

1 Comment

Read Now
 
Happy New Year!  I have been known to procrastinate, but hate when things are hanging over my head, so it's definitely time to respond to the sunshine blog in which I was mentioned.  A sunshine blog is kind of like a Twitter chain letter.  @tjthiessen mentioned me in her sunshine blog, so now I will repay the favour (thanks Tanis!).  Here is the protocol:
  • Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you.
  • Share 11 facts about myself.
  • Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created for me.
  • Nominate 11 bloggers to respond to your questions.
  • Post 11 questions for them.  


So here goes:
11 Random Facts About myself.
  1. I am married and have 3 wonderful children, all grown, all in post-secondary education.  I am so proud of them for furthering their education.  One is in education, one in early childhood education and one is an electrical apprentice.
  2. I love creating things - baking, quilting, crafts, photography... You name it.  It relaxes me, and I get a deep sense of enjoyment from the finished product.
  3. My favourite place in the whole world is our cabin at the lake.  It is not a cottage, it is a cabin.  By that I mean that it is not some grandiose building.  It is an old, many-times renovated, filled with second-hand stuff that we didn't want any more, cabin on the shores of Lake Manitoba.  The flood of 2011 made for a terrible sumer, but the sandbags held, and the cabin survived! 
  4. I have been teaching for 26 years, which is odd, given that I feel about 26 years old.
  5. I am extremely close to the one sister that I have.  She is three years younger than me, and used to be a real pain in the butt, but she's pretty cool now.
  6. I love pets, but wish we didn't have so many.  Our children keep bringing more and more of them home. My husband and I own a cat, but right now we have in our house 3 cats, a dog and a fish that we are currently dog-, cat- and fish-sitting. Whose turn is it to clean the litter box?
  7. I am a social media and technology junkie.  It takes a serious amount of time for me to check all my sites each day.
  8. Traveling with my husband is the best fun in the world right now!  We celebrated our 25th Anniversary with a European cruise.  I honestly had to pinch myself many times to be sure I wasn't dreaming about the amazing things we were able to see.  I was also able to visit Mexico, St. John's and the US last year.  Lucky girl!
  9. I drink too much coffee.  Need to work on that...
  10. I like control.  I am trying to let go of that, but it's so hard.  I just have such good ideas...
  11. My favourite movie is The Sound of Music.  I have watched it seriously about 15 times.
Picture
Photo: One of the free-loaders, Lumen.  You can see the free-loading dog's rubber chicken in the background.

My Replies to 11 Questions
  1. My first memory of school is playing in the sandbox in Kindergarten.  It was a like a sand table, I guess, and I had to stand on my tip-toes to reach into it.
  2. I am pleased with the current education system's support of  technology in our schools.  I hope that continues.
  3. The change I would love to see occur is the way public education is funded.  Public education should mean a similar education across our province, or country.  Funding for our schools should not be based on the value of my, or my neighbour's, home.
  4. Hands down favourite app is Explain Everything.  This app can be used across all grades and across all subjects.
  5. Between multiage clases and changes in teaching assignment, I taught a particular student for four years straight. His home life was less than ideal, and he moved several times and was placed in foster care during that time.  This little guy came so far in those four years that he blew me away with the dedication he showed to his own education, proving that the school environment can be the safest and most comfortable place for many of our students. Something to think about, and not take lightly.
  6. I have respect for a great many educational leaders, but I suppose the one who shifted my thinking to the greatest extent would be Loris Malaguzzi, who developed the Reggio Emilia approach to education.  If you are not familiar with Reggio Emilia and are an early years educator, I encourage you to learn all about it! 
  7. Coffee, tea or water?  Coffee.  But trying to increase my water intake. :)
  8. I plan to retire as soon as I can, and sub, or consult afterward.  I hope to have the freedom to travel and create whenever I want!
  9. I have to say my life is pretty good, so there's not a lot I feel the need to change.  As far as professional dreams go, I hope to make a difference in the math and technology education of our division's students, and to get into real classrooms more often.
  10. I blog mainly as another medium to getting the message to the teachers in our division.  If I can share what I've learned with a larger audience, then I am happy to do so.  I have learned so much from other bloggers, and the opportunity to connect is such great PD!
  11. My New Year resolution is an (hopefully) easier one to keep than other year's resolutions: to drink more water, less coffee!


And finally, here are the questions I'd like these bloggers to answer:
1. Favourite holiday
2. Professional book you'd recommend to others
3. First teaching job
4. Favourite website or app
5. New Year's resolution
6. Your best teaching quality
7. A lesson your students have taught you
8. Best trend in education today
9. Past trend in education you're glad to have seen disappear
10. Personal choice: movie or book?
11. Retirement dream

Thanks again Tanis!  This was a great reflective opportunity, and fun!
Happy New Year everyone!
Lori

Share

1 Comment
Details

    Lori Emilson

    Travelling Curriculum Support Teacher

    Archives

    April 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    Assessment
    Comprehension
    IPads
    Literacy
    Math Anxiety
    Mathematics
    News
    Problem Solving
    Technology

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Book Recommendations
  • Literacy Blog
  • Numeracy/Technology Blog
  • Contact Me