Technology Showcase Jan 27

In addition to presenting at the tech showcase (see post below), I was also able to attend a session on the Livescribe Pen and Bit Strips. I was able to use my pen and get a taste of what the livescribe can do and how it can be used in the classroom. I think it is an amazing tool, but it needs to be used in numbers. No more then a group of 4 can use the pen to its full potential. For literacy, its a great tool for wordwalls, literacy circles, and to assist those students who have trouble processing oral information. Below is a pencast that the presenters Lisa Molnar and Krystal Kay created for us.





In the bitstrips session that I attended I got a bunch more then just bitstrips. Below are some weblinks the presenters shared with us, that are great tools for everyone to use!

Titanpad 
This website was one of the coolest discoveries of the day! It is very similar to google docs, but it is a real time document. It's ideal for teachers because the students are given a totally random link (preventing just anyone from joining) and each student that enters is given a different colour. This allows us to see what the students are writing (great for seeing who is contributing in group work) and for assessment!




 Soungle and Royalty Free Music
Are websites where you can download sound effects and music. They are free and are licensed

Kerpoof
Is a fun website that a student shared with one of the presenters. It appears you can do a lot with the website, you just have to play around with it.

 

Technology Showcase- Digital Storytelling

Last Friday, I attended the technology showcase at Brock! I had a wonderful time, I presented on digital storytelling in the classroom As promised, here area list of the digital story telling websites we talked about and many we didn't look at!
Voki 
A website which allows for students avatars to read written work back to them.

Pixon

A comic resource for those of us who don't have access to bit strip

Voicethread

Upload your work and record your own voice

Blabberize

Record your voice and manipulate the photos mouth

Tikatok 
Digital Storytelling- write your words and upload your drawings


Photopeach
A picture slideshow with running commentary. Upload your photos and write captions about them to tell your story

Zooburst

A pop-up book for story telling

Ourstory

upload a picture and write a blurb describing your photo adventure

Toondoo

Create Cartoons!

Mainada

Sketch your own comics

Storybird 
Great for the P/J/I

Scribblitt 
Digital Storytelling website (see post below)

Scribblitt...heard of it?

 Scribblitt what a wonderful children's story website! I created a children's story assignment which I would give to a grade 9 or 10 class using scribblitt. I got to dabble with the tools that the website offered and discovered that its a wonderful and SAFE tool for students to use.
-If your under the age of 13 you need a parents email in order to join the website.
-You are required to create a pen name, which allows your students to keep their personal information safe
-You can choose to post your story to the public library, which only scribblitt members can view
-The website allows you to write a traditional story, an illustration story, or a comic strip
-The website offers pre-writing activities and brainstorming ideas for the students to use
-It even gives you the option to publish your stories and get the "experts" opinions on your writing 

The limits:
-You can only professionally print them in the states
-All of your students would need to create a scribblitt account
-Internet access and access to computers is essential if you want to use it in the classroom

If you would like to check out my scribblitt, it's in the public library under "Children's Story: Unit 3"