There are many ways to engage our students! Do they
like to use a pencil and paper, use their talents, and create something
amazing? I am sure they do! But, there are many tools out there that can spark
their creativity and catapult them into the spectacular world of technology.
I'll be honest! I am totally old school, and I fear
technology. I love being in a safe place where learning and messing up is not
required. But I overcame my fears (some, not all) and gave Instagram, Vine,
Screencast-o-matic, and Adobe Spark a try. You may ask, "Wh-wh-what are
those? Don't panic!
Instagram and Vine are social networking services
that allow you to upload or share your videos and pictures. They are great
tools to share what you are up to with your friends, but you can actually use
it as an educational tool as well. The only tricky thing about Vine is that
your video can only be 6 seconds or less! Screencast-o-matic is a screen
recorder that allows you to teach others anything you want to teach on your
computer screen. The possibilities are endless! And, Adobe Spark allows to
create videos by adding your voice, pictures, change its themes, and add music!
Viola! You got yourself an awesome writing prompt if you are a writing teacher.
No more boring single illustrations that children need to create an essay from.
Can you imagine? Your students are going to be extremely excited! I know I am!
Just last week, our book fair arrived. And, it is a
great opportunity to fundraise. Scholastic brings a large amount of books to
your campus, and all you have to do is sell. And sell! And sell! If you reach
your goal of $2,500, you get $500 in cash. After many budget cuts, I thought it
would be great to use that money for new books! Instagram is a great way to get
the word out there and let the community know that the book fair has arrived,
and that they can come support their library. I also like the idea to share with kids a
little activity I came up with. I plan on using Instagram to show a cover of a
book, cover the title, and ask the kids to come up with a new title and story
using the front cover of the book. I am going to have fun with that one! I
cannot wait to see what the children come up with.
Vine is a fun tool as well. It is affiliated with
Twitter. Thanks to Vine, you can upload videos on Twitter. But, if you are a Facebook
lover, you can upload your Vine videos on there as well. You can upload it on
Pinterest too.
I love reading to my students the latest books (when possible). On Fridays, I always tell them what book I will
be reading to them the following week. But, it may get kind of boring. I show
them the cover, read to them the title, and say, "Next week we will read
this book!" Well, Vine can help me do that in a more entertaining and
efficient way. Take a look at my Vine video, but please do not make fun of my
funny "commercial" voice!
Screencast-o-matic has literally saved my life. Okay!
I am being dramatic, but it did save my voice. When I have to teach students
how to do something, I repeat it about twenty times. With Screencast-o-matic, I
say it once and show the video to all my classes!
Video Spark is probably one of my favorite tools. When
I first clicked on the webpage, I was
clueless! But after playing around with it, I realized I could easily use it in
the library. I love writing, and I am passionate about writing with my
students. Well, this is a great tool to use in writing class. Students can
create their own stories and then add more details on paper. I am also planning
on starting a story and having the kids choose their own ending. Check out my sad,
sad story. It almost made me cry!
All these tools are great! But they have unique
features. You basically have to decide what you want to do or want to teach to
the students. Once you have made your decision, it is your job to decide which
tools is best for your task. Knowing what you can do in Instagram, Vine,
Screencast-o-matic or Video Spark is a good way to start. Once you have
brainstormed ideas, you may then move on to the next step and ask yourself,
"Which tool should I use for this?"
Sources Used:
Instagram. Retrieved October 24,
2016, from https://www.instagram.com/
Vine. Retrieved October 24, 2016,
from https://twitter.com/vine
Screencast-O-Matic. Retrieved
October 24, 2016, from http://screencast-o-matic.com/
Adobe Spark Videos, images and stories
made in minutes. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from https://spark.adobe.com/
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