Cell Phones as Learning Tools
Session Four
"Going Green" Activity
In this activity, you will create your own photo collection. Using your phone’s camera, record examples for how your students, school or neighborhood are making efforts to be “green,” whether by lessening waste, saving energy, or recycling. Take a few photos and share your photostory with the group using FotoBabble, StoryKit, or PicCollage.
Please include a learning reflection (your experience in using the tool) and suggested potential classroom activities.
Also you can create a "quick link" to your product by typing in the following:
<a href="http://wvlearns.k12.wv.us/index.asp?logout=1">WV Learns</a>
The first highlighted area is the URL address for your fotobabble. The second is the name you want to display.
http://iphone.childrenslibrary.org/cgi-bin/view.py?b=t72ulofsglsenpa57n7c
ReplyDeleteAfter playing around with the different apps for this assignment, I seemed to like Story Kit the best. It was easy to use and I had the ability to upload the story to different sites. Also, my model student loved playing it up for the camera and watching the story. =)
An activity that could be used with this app woud be scavenger hunt and creative story writing. You could give the students items to take pictures of around the school and community. The students would then compile the pictures and create a story using only the items they took pictures of.
With Story Kit, I also thought it was great that you could upload the story to different sites.
DeleteI enjoyed your podcast and can tell you thought it was as beneficial as I did. You even gave me a great idea! You mentioned creating a scavenger hunt and I think that's great. It might also be fun to create those fill-in-the-blank funny stories (insert noun here, adjective here) where students take pictures of items instead!
Going Green Estep
DeleteI like to see that so much is going on with recycling. Good job!
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ReplyDeleteBig Elm Going Green
DeleteBig Elm Going Green
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned in my discussion post, I really enjoyed this week's session. I was being somewhat of a nerd and playing around with all of the different apps just for fun! I often use pictures with my instruction anyway, but using pictures with a cell phone is new and exciting to me.
After finding a good picture of Big Elm's recycling station and playing around with the different apps, I decided that I liked Fotobabble the best. It was easy to navigate, easy to edit, and produced a product immediately. I had no trouble uploading my pictures, editing my pictures, or even recording my podcast. I even like the fact that it can be edited after it is already created.
If I loved creating this activity as much as I did, I know my students would, too! The reading teacher in me immediately imagines creating stories that correspond with images that students take with their cell phones. These stories would be written, re-written, and recorded in order to teach reading and writing simultaneously while also working on fluency skills. However, I could also flip the activity. Instead of writing a story based on an image, my students could even read a story and take pictures based on the story. This would open the opportunity for creatively writing alternative endings.
I loved this week's session and will use this technology in my personal life and my school life!
I've reposted this and created a shortcut for the hyperlink. :)
DeleteI didn't realize that you could edit with Fotobabble after it was created. I like that idea. I also like your idea of reading a story first, then having students take pictures based on what they have read. It would be a great way to show comprehension.
DeleteI like fotobabble too. I also enjoy pic collage. They are both user friendly. I enjoy combining the 2 too. I also like that you can record your voice on fotobabble, even though I don't like recording myself.
DeleteI think that is the best thing about these activities is that we are given a few different options to choose from. I liked Fotobabble too. It was very user-friendly and you know when introducing apps to students, user-friendly is very important. It is not fun muddling through an app that is hard to use and it eats up your class time.
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ReplyDeleteGoing Green Estep
After playing around with the different apps for this assignment, I seemed to like Story Kit the best. It was easy to use and I had the ability to upload the story to different sites. Also, my model student loved playing it up for the camera and watching the story. =)
An activity that could be used with this app woud be scavenger hunt and creative story writing. You could give the students items to take pictures of around the school and community. The students would then compile the pictures and create a story using only the items they took pictures of.
Reposted with Hyperlink
DeleteThe hyperlink wasn't difficult at all. I'm glad I learned how to do that!
DeleteI like to write, as well, and like to teach reading and writing simultaneously. Your idea of older students taking notes through this app is great, too! It would be a nice visual tool for students who learn through auditory, visual, or kinesthetic senses.
ReplyDeleteWow! Your school really does a lot to be green! I liked the idea of using StoryKit as a notes to study from! I think that having the kids not only write, but also record their notes would really aid in their learning.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fotobabble.com/m/K0paRU1XcGhRNjQ9
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this assignment. I love taking pictures and videos and using them on different applications. I actually used pic collage and combined it with fotobabble for this assignment. I like both apps and I like being able to record your voice on fotobabble. I use the applications often in my P.E. classes so that my students see how they are progressing on exercises such as push-ups and curl-ups. The students at Ghent are already familiar with pic collage and fotobabble. They are very easy to navigate and the students have no problem using them.. This is elementary so my students do not carry around a cell phone so we use the iPads for pictures and video recording. The students record each other performing push-ups, sit-ups, and other activities and then they evaluate themselves on how they are progressing. They can see exactly what they are doing wrong and correct it. This has helped my 4th and 5th grade to improve tremendously on the Fitnessgram Test Some of the older ones have actually created a slideshow of themselves as they progressed and I played it on the Apple TV for everyone to see. The students love using the iPads so it is great I can incorporate technology like that in my P.E. class.
Now as far as cell phones go, no my elementary students won't use them in class but it would be excellent for a middle/high P.E. class. The students could use them the same way that my students use the iPads. Students love taking pictures, sharing them, and making videos so this would be a great technology tool and it would be beneficial for the improvement of the students on the Fitnessgram Test.
I love your idea of using this in your gym classes so students may improve on their exercises. I think kids like to see themselves in pictures and using pictures to improve on techniques is a great idea! It would also be beneficial in our personal lives when wanting to improve on our own exercises.
DeleteI enjoyed your post. It is refreshing to see students taking pride in their school and community. Keep up the great work!
DeleteI LOVED THIS ASSIGNMENT! What a wonderful tool to use in the classroom and my head has been buzzing with thoughts and ideas on how to implement it in the classroom! I downloaded all three apps but enjoyed the user face of StoryKit the best. The link to my assignment is below:
ReplyDeleteGlover StoryKit
I agree with other classmates that the activity lends itself well to storytelling/scavenger hunt activities. I think it could also be used as a reflective tool for students to plan a project. I teach a lot of hands on problem solving activities in my TAG classroom. Usually I get them to write down their plan of how they will complete the task. Typically this ends up as a scribble on a page and a brief vocal interpretation. I think if this App was used it would encourage my students to plan the problem solving process much more effectively. For example, in the WVU Pumpkin Drop I could make them sketch a design for each element of their device, parachute, exterior/interior structure, padding etc and they could describe how it will be used to help their pumpkin survive!
I was just as enthusiastic about this week's session! Using this tool as an instructional opportunity for real world situations is a great idea. I also think this type of tool gives students a great chance to take responsibility for their own learning.
DeleteI agree Cera, allowing the students an opportunity to hear back their notes would help facilitate audio learners and stimulate their learning!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this activity. I experimented with all three apps, but ended up using Pic Collage. It was very easy to use. I feel that my students would enjoy using this app to show the progression of projects.
ReplyDeleteI used this tool to illustrate some of the recycling opportunities in my community.
Recycling
I liked using pic collage as well! I actually have used it to create a collage to give to a friend for their birthday!
DeleteI really enjoyed your Pic Collage. It was interesting visually and I liked the use of text!
DeleteI really enjoyed the Pic collage also. It was easy for me to create and I will be using it more with personal photos. You did a nice job on showing recycling on you Pic collage.
DeleteFinally was able to upgrade my phone. Enjoyed using piccollage and flickr. Was able to make the activity using only my phone.
ReplyDeleteThinking that the piccollage app or some similar application could be used by students to make a visual summery of the major events in a chapter or unit as a project.
My photo collage
Maybe you could allow students to photograph things in their home or neighborhood or at the school, and then write about how that object or person is like a character or part of the book they have read. That would be higher-level thinking on their part, which admins really appreciate. haha.
DeleteRecycling and Going Green
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to my PicCollage assignment. I integrated pictures I took on my camera with pictures I found on the Internet. I liked being able to have the option to do both. I did not play around with the backgrounds and layouts too much, but it seems like a really easy way for students to share information.
I really liked your picture collage. It's nice when you can edit and rotate pictures like that.
DeleteYour picture collage was really good and easy to understand. I kept having trouble finding my link, and looking at what your link looked like really helped me to find out how to post my collage, so thanks. I agree that being able to use images from both the internet and camera are a huge advantage.
DeleteOur green community
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this activity very much, however, I am still having trouble linking the activities. Please let me know if you have any ideas. I will continue to try so you may see posts being deleted. I had no trouble with putting pictures together in the actual collage. I used pictures from the internet as well as from the camera. Its seems very easy to do.
I would probably use this in my math classroom to introduce a new chapter. I would use pictures of various topics of the new chapter to preview with the students what they will be covering.
DeleteI was struggling with thinking of ideas to incorporate this with my math classes. Your idea of introducing a new chapter is a great idea! It would be nice to highlight specific topics and important vocabulary.
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This was a pretty easy task to accomplish. I downloaded Fotobabble to my phone. I went around the house, taking pictures (Luckily, I have a bunch of junk that fit this lesson nicely). Once I took the pictures I uploaded them with ease, then adding a recording to them.
I did five photo recordings in about ten minutes total. I think this would be a brilliant way for students to have a flipped class room. A teacher could text the link and the students could receive and view the information. Maybe that could then give them a site to log on to that would provide the reading for the next days class. I could also see this used as an anticipatory set, to get them interested in what you are doing in class tomorrow.
This was a lot of fun and very easy to use.
You did a very nice job!
DeleteI used Fotobabble as well and like you I found it very easy. I liked your pics and thought you did a good job with the assignment.
DeleteI used FotoBabble, too, and loved it! I understand why you did so many, though.
DeleteI liked all of your Fotobabble images and your voice recordings. I think this would be great for the classroom as well. I ended up using Pic-Collage because it seemed easier to me, but if it had a voice recording option like Fotobabble, I think it would be a nice option. God job.
DeleteI agree students love to have their work published (if they are proud of it) anywhere and everywhere. I did a video project and they wanted to show everyone!
ReplyDeleteSissonville Recycling
ReplyDeleteI tried all of the apps but found that StoryKit was the easiest and most fun to use. I thought that PicCollage was easy to use and my students would enjoy using it but didn't think it would be that effective in my high school classroom. I tried Fotobabble but I didn't like that it would only include one picture (or maybe I couldn't figure out how to use multiple pictures).
I found StoryKit to be most effective in my high school classroom because I could assign small virtual projects to my students. For example, they could create virtual tour of their small neighborhood or community to promote a sense of pride. Some of my students may not like to record themselves though. We could even use it to create a short story showing the aftermaths of storms (derecho, flooding, etc) and also assign extra credit for visiting historical places.
I used FotoBabble and I agree with what you said about not liking that it only includes one picture. I really like the way your page is laid out with multiple pictures. In the future I would go with StoryKit as well. Great job.
DeleteGoing GrEen StOrYkIt
ReplyDeleteI used the storykit app to create my story using my apple iphone. I found this app to be very user friendly. It was easy to add pictures and audio to my story.
I would love to use this app in my classroom. I could use this app in Kindergarten with having students take pictures of objects that begin with our letter of the week. The audio would help to let me know if the students are pronouncing their letter sounds correctly.
going green story kit
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ReplyDeleteComposter
Cardboard
I really enjoyed this activity. I thought it was easy to use and I could easily see myself utilizing this in my classrooms. I chose to use Fotobabble. It was easy to take pictures, record myself and share links. However, after looking at others pics on this blog, I believe I prefer StoryKit because you can see multiple pictures on one page rather than having to view multiple links.
In my music appreciation class, I would have students to use StoryKit to show different ways music is in their daily life. For example, listening to music while doing homework. I could also have my guitar or band students show me pictures of them practicing outside of classtime for extra credit points.
I had some reservations about the multiple links also, but I went ahead with Fotobabble due to the ease of use for anyone wanting to check out your links. I also believe they are all easy to use once you have tried them out.
DeleteI see that a lot of people preferred Story Kit. With Story Kit, it is nice that there are multiple opportunities to create many picture options. I like your cardboard one!
DeleteI also didn't care much for the multiple links but I used it due to the ease of use.
DeleteI love creative writing and I love the idea of using story kit for creative writing lessons. I think that students would really enjoy this.
ReplyDeleteHHS Trash Art Project
ReplyDeleteMy collage was used with pic-collage. My Art III class made robotic trash sculptures. They brought in items from home that could be recycled, and combined them together. They then added motors and connected them to a motherboard, which allowed the parts to move. It was a really fun project that taught the kids that trash can be re-used for art purposes. They really liked incorporating technology into the project as well, breaking up the monotony of a sculpture that just stands still. In the collage, there was a dog that tail wagged, a mad hatter that turned his cup upside down, and a white rabbit that had the hands on the clock rotate.
I can see apps like pic-collage and story kit being used to communicate ideas with visual story-telling, such as All About Me projects at the beginning of the class to introduce everyone. It could even be used as visual exit surveys such as, what were your favorite projects that you made this semester? In Art class where everything is mainly visual, this type of technology could be used for students to express themselves in yet another venue in class.
I will say that finding the link to post this collage was a chore and a half, and once I found it, typing it correctly into the hyperlink was even more tasking. But after three posts, I think I got it lol.
DeletePicCollage isn't as straight forward as I'd like it to be as far as sharing a link to the collage. I'm impressed with your students' work. These apps will go along way to engage students and assist them with their visual storytelling!
DeleteI think the work your students are doing is great. An art teacher I worked with last year had her students create "junk sculptures" using recycled items.
DeleteRecycle the Land
ReplyDeleteI chose PicCollage for my collage. The process of entering and editing the photos was fairly simple, though it's a bit difficult to share the picture as a simple link here. So I opened an account on Flickr for sharing. (I hope this shows up as I imagine it.. haha)
As for the pictures, if you're wondering, this is a reclaimed strip mine from somewhere in Mingo/Logan counties (I am not familiar with the trail my group followed). This area, once mined, has been converted to a recreation and trail riding haven. I think of this as "re-greening" the area that had been mined - the ultimate recycling project. There were even "wild" (to me) horses milling about!
For a classroom, I can see this as a method to illustrate progress on a project, or a simple way to make a poster. This could solve the problem of messes (or kids eating paste) in younger grade levels and give students valuable time with technology that can be used in a real-world and useful way. These type of apps really make everyone out to be an artist. And that is not a bad thing!
I enjoyed your project. A lot is made of the ugliness of active strip mines but seeing the reclaimed land is nice. Your comment about the hazards of paper collage processes like kids eating paste reminds me of my nephews.
DeleteIt's great to see that something is being done with the strip mines! I live in Boone County now, but I hadn't heard of that before!
DeleteLoved your project! I work in Boone County and grew up in Mingo County so I appreciate strip mining and the wonderful things that have been done with the reclaimed work. Have you ever gone ti or seen pictures of Twisted Gun Golf Course?
DeleteLisa, this site was close to Twisted Gun. How close, I have no idea how close. Haha.
DeleteI also enjoyed your project. I work in Mingo County and my dad works on a strip mine, so, like Lisa, I appreciate mining.
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ReplyDeleteour green community.jpg
ReplyDeletehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2AeI_2kZPBjXzZIbUhxdEFZeDA/edit?usp=sharing
I am still not sure if this is right, but here goes. I really did like this session. I used the Pic Collage and it was very easy to do. I like this idea for introducing new chapters and previewing what is involved in the chapters. I also think this might be a good tool for showing off projects that the students have worked on. You can show the progress they are making and then the final project.
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I feel that I can use Fotobabble in my classes. I see a great use of photos when students have long weekends or vacations. When the students are gone from school for an extended period of time I could assign the students to find different examples of public health advocacy in their community they could take a picture of it and tell us what they saw and what they think. This could be a great tool to use as an assignment from home.
I used Fotobabble, too, and really liked it! Did you have trouble using multiple pictures with this resource? I had some difficulty.
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ReplyDeleteI think I finally got it
DeleteI used Fotobabble for this project. I found it real easy to use. I could see myself using this in my classes, especially in the Careers in Education class I teach. If there was something I didn't like about the app it would be that each photo had to be posted separately.
ReplyDeleteGreenhouse
Turn Off Lights
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I didn't like that each photo had to be published separately either. However, it's a great educational tool that has more benefits than negatives.
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ReplyDeleteLisa Graley
ReplyDeleteI also chose PicCollage for my photos with Flickr for my upload.
My students had fun using my phone to take photos (like they always do...I leave my phone on my desk and have new "selfies" every day) of our room recycling.
The can at the top of the picture is for aluminum cans, which we don't have many of at school.
We have always recycled paper so that is nothing new. However, when we had the water crisis and had to use bottled water after our month off school, we started recycling plastic water bottles.
One of my students wanted to start saving the caps from the bottles, and we did start saving them, for cancer treatments. I checked around on the internet and found this was a hoax, so we quit doing that.
All in all, this was a fun easy project. I would like to try to incorporate some of my new phones photo options into my projects next time. I NEED more time to figure it all out though!
http://www.fotobabble.com/m/Z2FBQ3VVN3ZmN
ReplyDeleteI checked out fotobabble and Pic Collage and decided fotobabble was the best for me. After showing it to my three kids they all agreed that this would not only be usefull in the classroom but also fun. My 8 year old even said his class would use this (he is pretty tech savvy) while my daughters thought it would be excellent to use (their words) in social studies and science. I agree with them on this, and while I think it would be useful in other classes the visual aid along with the spoken lesson would help alot of students. I believe fotobabble would allow students to make that connection with what the teacher is lecturing about and their visual perception.