Week 5

The lecture this week had some great tips on how to teach animation. Greg recommended getting children enthused by showing them examples of animation done by professionals or other students. Showing sophisticated animations will excite children. Showing the structure professionals use to make animation is also incredibly beneficial for students. Simple animation can be done as simply as using a telephone book and drawing stick figures - turning it into a flip book. As a teacher you can even address serious issues such as bullying, unfairness, and mental health through a story or animation. There are competitions students can enter their movies and animations into.

The lecture also highlighted that it is so important when students create something you celebrate what they have done and then help them to extend it further. Some of the things pointed out in the lecture students could work on include things as little as passing the microphone with no interference, to sound, making text stand out and how to film different angles. Another good suggestion from the lecture was to film students throughout the year so they can practice and develop confidence talking in front of a camera. They could even talk about their goals and then the next time they are filmed they can reflect on their previous goals. This would be easy to do, not too time consuming and I think students would really benefit from watching and listening to themselves in a film (it could even go in their ePortfolio).

REASONABLY CLEVER _LEGO
During the workshop I made a Lego character using Classic Kid-Safe Mini-Mizer (http://www.reasonablyclever.com/?page_id=29) see below. I liked this website as it was kid safe and it was user friendly. Students can build a character and describe them or they could write a play. I experienced on my teaching rounds that some students really struggled with what to write about and I think something like this would help reluctant writers.












MAKING A MOVIE USING DVOLVER
Whilst I enjoyed using Dvolver to make a movie I would not use it with my class as it has inappropriate images that can be selected when choosing the characters (http://www.dvolver.com/).

SKETCH SWAP

Sketch swap( http://www.sketchswap.com/) was an interesting idea but like Dvolver is not something I would use in the classroom as it sometimes sends you a sketch back that is not appropriate. For example in mine below there is someone shooting somebody else. I really like the concept of doing a sketch, sharing it and getting something else in return though.

MAKING A MOVIE
Another movie making website we looked at was http:www.zimmertwins.com/movie/create. This website is something I will definitely use with my future students as it is appropriate for students and easy to use. It allows students to choose characters, alter their facial expressions and make them move. Students can also choose different scenery. Students can type into the speech bubble the dialog for the characters. It promotes creativity and encourages students who are not confident writers. It is also free and easily accessible. The picture below is from when I was creating my movie.

BUILD YOUR WILD SELF

Another interesting website we looked at was http://www.buildyourselfw/ild.com.

This website allows you to be really creative and express yourself with animal body parts. Students can replicate themselves easily using the program. It can be used as an introductory activity at the start of the year or can be used as a literacy activity where student can write about their made up animal. They look great so they would be nice as part of a classroom display or the class could even make a class book about them.

ZIPTALES
Ziptales is a student friendly website that you have to subscribe to use (http://www.ziptales.com/). It seems stimulating and would benefit year 3 and 4 students. It has lots students can do from story machine, puzzles, puppet plays, to things you can make. For instance (without subscribing) you could make a Tiny Teddy which would be great linked to an early years literacy task on teddy bears (could even use the instructions to discuss procedural texts)

ROLLEMACHE
I was very impressed by the ABC website Rollemache (http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/inspire.htm). It is user friendly and has lots of great resources. It shows students what real Australian animator professionals do and use to create animations. I like how the website is broken down into 3 areas: Inspire, Plan, and Create. It has resources for planning such as storytelling, story boarding, character development and props and sets. Its resources for creating stage include information on animation, editing and sound. It also has videos students can watch. This is definitely a website I would use with students as it offers students information on how they can produce an animation and is free. It teaches students about the process and fosters student’s creativity, team work skills and ofcourse technology skills.

TYPING ACTIVITIES

Greg recommended students do dictation for 10 minutes a day. Dictation with the computer screen off was quite enjoyable. The ‘Ode to Spell Checker’ also made it interesting as there was an amusing difference between the words we typed and the poem. Students practicing their typing skills in not the only benefit of this dictation. It can be used as an introduction to spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Greg also suggested another activity in which students start typing a story and then are asked to move to another persons chair and continue on with that person's story. This is a fun activity that I actually saw in action on my placement. The Grade 5s had a lot of fun and some of the stories were great. An activity like this ties in well with teaching critical thinking as students will notice changes in their thoughts when they move to a different location and have to keep going with an idea that was different to their own.

In just 5 weeks of EDU4PLT I feel I have learnt so much about integrating ICT in the classroom and current issues with technology in education.