iLearn Technology

What it is: Sometimes students just need a place to get out some creative energy.  Bomomo is the perfect place to send them.  Bomomo lets creativity run wild with a new kinds of painting tools.  Students imaginations will run with the possibilities that this site offers.  There just isn’t any other painting program like it.  Try it out for the full effect.  Student masterpieces can be saved to the desktop offline, these would make great customized desktop images.

How to integrate Bomomo into the classroom: Allow students to create their own desktop images for classroom computers using Bomomo.  Teach your students about abstract artists and art, then let them create their own with Bomomo.  Ask older students to describe (in writing) what each tool does, how it works, what happens when they click or move their mouse.  Have students compare their finished descriptions finding common language and differences.  Students can come up with common definitions for each tool.  This is a great exercise in descriptive writing, explanatory writing, and observation.  My students asked if they could use Bomomo to create CD covers for the music that they created in GarageBand, of course I said yes!  This is a fun site to explore as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector.

This site is so calming and captivating, I wonder if it would be a good one for students to play with before taking tests?

Tips: There are two ways to save student creations: normal and high quality.  Normal saves as a jpg and high quality saves as a png image.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bomomo in your classroom.

What it is: LEGO Education is looking for 10,000 contestants for its 2010 LEGO Smart Creativity Contest.  You can sign your classroom up to participate from now to July 2010, challenging your students to be LEGO Smart.  When you sign up, you will receive a free LEGO Smart kit to use for the contest.  Beginning in August 2010, your students will be challenged with a variety of activities that will encourage them to think creatively.

How to integrate LEGO Smart Creativity Contest into the classroom: Take a look at the activities from last year, there are math, geography, science, collaboration, and social studies projects.  The activities are all a lot of fun.  The contest is a fantastic way to get your students thinking outside the box, in new and creative ways, while working together to accomplish tasks.  Your students will be working collaboratively, solving problems, and creating solutions.  Students will be demonstrating their understanding of technology, math, engineering, science and math.  I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t enjoy LEGOs.

Tips: For most of us, the contest won’t start until the next school year, sign up today and have some awesome activities ready for next year.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using LEGO Smart Creativity Contest in your classroom.

I’ll be honest, today’s Webspiration Wednesday was a flop.  I wanted to introduce teachers to Daniel Pink’s a Whole New Mind and did a quick video search to see what I could find.  I came up with an interview that Oprah did with Daniel Pink about his book.  It would have been great if Oprah wouldn’t have opened her mouth.  I think she mentioned that she donated 4,500 books to Stanford grads no less than 50 times.  The interview wasn’t great, Oprah didn’t focus enough on the book, she was leading the questions to get the answers that she wanted. A flop.  On the upside, teachers got enough of a glimpse into the book that they were left wanting to read it.  So even though the video was a flop, the inspiration was still there.  Our local library offers digital downloads and A Whole New Mind is one of the audio books available for download.  My hope is that the staff will listen to it and think about how it relates to our classrooms and education.  Daniel Pink has a discussion guide for educators that is free to download on his website.    In the next few weeks, I hope to show Daniel Pink’s TED Talk on his newest book Drive (also excellent).

In A Whole New Mind, Pink asks us to consider the world that we are living in. He calls the age we find ourselves in the Conceptual age.  In this age, many left brain jobs are disappearing.  If a computer can do it faster, someone overseas can do it cheaper, or what you are offering isn’t in demand in this age of abundance, the job will become obsolete.   So then, creativity becomes the competitive difference that can differentiate commodities. Pink outlines six essential senses that need to be developed:

1. Design – Moving beyond function to engage the senses.
2. Story – Narrative added to products and services.
3. Symphony – Adding invention and big picture thinking (not just detail focus).
4. Empathy – Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition.
5. Play – Bringing humor and lightheartedness to business and products.
6. Meaning – the purpose is the journey, give meaning to life from inside yourself.

As an educator, I am interested in how we can help our students develop these senses so that they can be prepared for the world ahead of them.  Here is a clue: it has nothing to do with standardized testing!

Have you read A Whole New Mind?  What take aways do you have for us?

If you haven’t read A Whole New Mind, I highly recommend it.

What it is: Who are the Zimmer Twins, you might ask?  Edgar and Eva Zimmer are 12 year old twins who appear normal but have developed psychic powers.  Strange things began to happen when the twins adopted a black cat named 13.  On the Zimmer Twins website, students can create their own cartoon movie endings to a story starter or create their own animated movie from scratch.  Students can create and edit movies solo or “Collab-o-write” and work together creating a collaborative movie.   Zimmer Twins runs well in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari making it easy to get to and use in any classroom setting.  You will need Flash 8 (or higher) installed for the Zimmer Twins to work properly.  

How to integrate Zimmer Twins into the classroom: Your students are going to love this site!  They can direct and produce their very own animated movies.  The easiest way to start using Zimmer Twins in the classroom, is to use it as a story starter.  Students can watch a “starter” video and finish the story however they would like.  The first time you introduce the site, it might be fun to complete a video as a class.  Then students can take over and create their own ending to a Zimmer Twins movie.  These video clips make excellent story starters for journal writing even if you can’t take the time to make it into an actual video.  To use as a story starter, show the beginning of the short animation to your students on an interactive whiteboard or projector, then let students take over on classroom computers, working together, or writing a journal entry.  After your students are familiar with the Zimmer Twins website, they can start a story from scratch.  Students could direct “screen plays” of their writing, as a way to publish their finished work.  Zimmer Twins would make an excellent alternative to the traditional book report.  Students could create a movie where the main character is being interviewed, the story is being summarized, or retold.  Students could also create movies about historical events, describing a science experiment or concept, in math as a story problem, to demonstrate understanding of character education or for vocabulary practice.  My students have really enjoyed creating movies to show what they have learned on any topic, it is always a sure winner!  Are you looking for new ways to engage your students? Why not create a Zimmer Twins original yourself to introduce a new topic.  If you are looking for more great ideas for using Zimmer Twins in your classroom, be sure to check out the lesson plans on the teacher page, there are some good ones.

Tips: Students can create a movie on Zimmer Twins without registering; however, they will not be able to save their creation.  Creating an account requires an email address.  If this presents a problem in your classroom you can do a few things: 1. create a classroom account that every student logs into and saves their videos on.  Students will need to include their first name or a class number in the title of their video to differentiate it from others in the class.  2. Set up an account for each student using your email account.  You will have to check this email account to provide your students with their passwords. 3. Ask parents to set up accounts for their kids to use at school.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Zimmer Twins in your classroom.

Last week, I instituted Webspiration Wednesday at CHC.  To find out what exactly Webspiration Wednesday is, check out my original post here.

Today we gathered over a TED Talk by Tim Brown on Creativity and Play.

Tim reminded me of something very important, there comes a point in schooling where we begin discouraging play.  We ask students to sit in their seats, to fill in the circles completely with a number two pencil, and to stay on task.  There is very little time in schools for play.  I think that by making schools void of play, we harm our students.  There is a lot of important learning that happens during play and discovery.

In the video, Tim shows some pictures inside some major design firms (Pixar and Google).  At the beginning of the year, I asked students to describe what their dream school would look like.  I was very sad to learn that most of them couldn’t conceive of a school that looked different.  In our first brainstorming session, most of them talked about having more recess or a longer lunch and that was the extent of their wishes.  I really tried to impress on them that their school could look and be structured any way they wanted.  I was met with blank stares and confused looks.  The problem in the first brainstorming session was that students were doing what they do all day long in school.  They were trying to guess what I was thinking.  They wanted to give me the right answer.  But in this instance, there wasn’t a right answer, every answer was right.  I showed my students pictures of Googleplex and Pixar and explained that there was a lot of work and creativity that came out of both companies.  What they saw was a playland.  Nearly all of my students declared that they would work at Google or Pixar when they got out of school.  One of my students asked if I would help her write a resume so that Google would have it on file when she was ready to work there (she is 9).  We brainstormed a dream school again.  This time the students understood that there wasn’t a right answer, that the sky was the limit.  Few of them included desks in their dream school, nearly all of them included animals of some kind, and most of them wanted slides and piano stairs to get from one floor to another.  We collaborated on Wallwisher and dreamed together.  At the beginning of the project, I told the kids the school could look like, and operate, any way that they wanted, but there were two restrictions: 1. it had to be a place of learning, and 2. they had to justify why they included everything in their school.  Most of them cited an increase in creativity and innovation (we learned that word as we looked at pictures of Googleplex).   One of my students wanted  a huge cylinder tropical fish tank in the lobby with clear pipes branching out and winding around the school and through the classroom.  She thought the fish would be interesting to study and an inspiration for learning.  Another student wished for swing chairs hanging from the ceiling so that they could move while they learned.  Several kids wanted dogs in the school that they could read to because, “dogs won’t make fun of you when you make a mistake reading out loud.”  Once the students felt comfortable with not having one right answer, they let their imaginations run wild and came up with excellent ideas and suggestions.

We need to help kids understand that there usually isn’t only one right answer.  They have been so primed to believe that every problem has one correct answer because we overload them with tests and worksheets that tell them that it is so.  We squash creativity.  Pretty soon they become adults who don’t know how to play and as a result, aren’t creative.  How do you encourage creativity and outside the box thinking in your classroom?

What it is: DomoNation is a free animation website that is powered by Go! Animate.  The site is very intuitive to use and makes impressive cartoon animations.  Students can create animations with backdrops, characters, dialogue, props, music, and special effects.  Students can create on scene or several to make up their animation.    The interface is very simple to learn, the drag and drop platform will be familiar to students.  To make their cartoon come to life, each character has a set of actions and emotions that can be added by clicking on the character and choosing from a drop down menu.  Special effects, such as weather occurrences or zooming, are simple to add to the project.  Animations can be saved for personal or public view on the DomoNation site. This is an impressive little web application that makes students the director of their very own movie.

How to integrate DomoNation into the classroom: Allow students to present their knowledge creatively using DomoNation instead of requiring the traditional report, diorama, or poster plastered with pictures and information.  Students can create an impressive alternative book report by creating an animated book talk, interviewing a character from the story, or re-creating an important scene in the story.  Students can display their knowledge about a historical figure by “interviewing” the historical person of interest or an eye-witness of a historical event.  DomoNation would be a great platform for creating public service announcements (how about the importance of hand washing with the H1N1 outbreak?) or short video commercials that persuade in a debate. Students can write a screen play and then transform it into an  animation. Animations are also a great way to illustrate vocabulary words and story problems in math.  In the foreign language classroom, students can create short cartoons practicing the new vocabulary they are learning.   The possibilities are endless!  Hold a DomoNation premier party day in your classroom so that students can watch each other’s finished animations and learn from their peers.

Tips: Direct your students to the Create page of DomoNation, some of the content created by other users may not be appropriate for your school.

Related Resources: Kerpoof, Shidonni, XtraNormal, DoInk

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using DomoNation in your classroom.

What it is: Creaza is a suite of web-based creativity tools.  There are four tools in the Creaza toolbox that will help your students organize knowledge and tell stories in new creative ways.  Mindomo is the mind mapping tool.  Students can use this tool to organize thoughts, ideas, links, and other information visually.  Mindomo is the perfect tool for exploring new material, looking at connections, and organizing thoughts for further development.  The mind map topics can contain media files, links, and text.  Cartoonist is a cartooning tool that students can use to create multimedia stories.  Cartoonist can be used to create comic strips or more personal digital narratives.  The finished product can be viewed online or printed out.  (Check out the video demo to learn how to use this tool.)  Movie Editor helps students produce their own movies based on Creaza’s thematic universes, video, images, and sound clips.  Students can use the Movie Editor to edit a short film, create a news cast, a commercial, a film trailer, etc.  Movie Editor can import film clips, sound clips and images to tell a story.  Audio Editor is the final tool in Creaza’s creative suite.  Audio Editor is a tool that allows your students to produce audio clips.  Students can use Audio Editor to splice together their own newscasts, radio commercials, radio interlude, etc.

How to integrate Creaza into the classroom:  Creaza is a great suite of online tools that allow students to display learning creatively.  The Media and Audio editors follow established conventions for sound and media editing complete with timelines.  Using this online software will be a nice introduction to more robust media and audio editors.  Mindomo is a great way for students connect new and existing knowledge.  It is also a nice place for students to plan out a story.  Cartoonist and Movie Editor are great tools that provide students with a creative outlet for telling a story.  Allow students to show their understanding of a period in history by creating a cartoon about it.  Display a new science concept in Movie Editor complete with voice over.  Students could create a short video or radio type commercial for a book that they read in place of a traditional book report.  The uses for are limitless, you will think of many ways for your students to use this creative suite to display knowledge.

Tips:  Cartoonist is the only tool that has a video demo, this is a great way to teach your students how to teach themselves.  Encourage students to learn how to use this tool by watching the video demo first and working with the tool.  Movie Editor does take a little bit of playing with to figure out how to use it, give your students a day to play with the tools so that they get a handle on how it all works.  

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Creaza in your classroom.

What it is:  Artopia is an interactive website that lets students learn more about and interact with different mediums of art virtually.  “Students can closely examine important works of art and take part in activities that teach about styles, principles and processes of each art form. They can write about the artworks online, collect art cards in a virtual portfolio and view videos of professional artists at work. Teachers may exhibit their students’ artwork in a virtual gallery and both students and teachers can communicate with other artists in an online message board.”  Artopia teaches students about dance, media arts, music, painting, sculpture, and theater.  This is an outstanding addition to an art classroom!

How to integrate Artopia into the classroom: Artopia is a nice addition to any classroom.  The site can be used to develop a greater appreciation for the arts.  Students can be recognized and encouraged in their own art in the sites online art gallery.   Artopia introduces students to important works of art and teaches them how to think about art.  This site would be wonderful for working on critical thinking skills, creativity, and innovation.  

Tips:  Check out the Teacher Resources for lesson plans using Artopia in your classroom.  Pass this site on to an art teacher, they will be thankful you did!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Artopia in your classroom.

What it is:   Pic Lits is a really neat creative writing site that provides pictures and a word bank for students to create a enriched sentence or sentences about the picture.   “The object is to put the right words in the right place and the right order to capture the essence, story, and meaning of the picture.”  Students can choose to only drag words from the word bank to create their sentence or compose a sentence freestyle. 

How to integrate Pic Lits into the classroom:   Pic Lits is a great way to get students to think creatively and critically about writing.  Students can choose any picture and then use the word list to create a sentence.  Pic Lits is complete with punctuation and any word can be capatalized.  Students can use Pic Lits individually on computers, as a whole class with a projector, or as a creative writing center in the one or two computer classroom.  When using Pic Lits as a class, choose a picture for the day and have students write their sentences on paper using words from the word bank.  Take turns sharing to hear the combination of words and the different meanings that students gathered from the picture.  This is a great writing exercise to use  in your classroom every day!  Here in Colorado, we often have indoor recesses for bad weather.  Use Pic Lits with an interactive whiteboard and invite your cooped up students to choose pictures and create sentences.  

Tips: Students can sign up for a free account and save each Pic Lit they create.  At the end of the year, each student can create a book of their Pic Lits to take home for creative inspiration. 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Pic Lits in your classroom.

What it is:   Primary Access is a tool I learned about today while attending one of the K12 Online conference sessions.  This incredible site has a web-based tool that offers students and teachers simple access to digital images and materials that provides them the opportunity to create personal narratives.  The idea behind the site is that if students are offered primary source documents, they develop better historical thinking skills.  I highly recommend you watch the presentation on k12 Online, to see just how accurate this belief was in a case study of the site.  Students use Primary Access to create digital movies (historical narratives) that help add to meaningful learning experiences.  The site is very simple to use, intuitive enough that even a student (or teacher) who has never created a digital movie would be successful.  

How to integrate Primary Access into the classroom:   Use Primary Access as a tool to bring history to life for your students.  Using the site, students can create a short digital movie that explores some event in history.  The digital movie will only be 1-3 minutes in length and can contain images, text, movies, and narration recorded in the students own voice.  Students have a place to write, research, narrate, view, and search a time line and idea map right in Primary Access.  The finished product is educational and entertaining for the creator and viewers.  The results with this site are truly amazing!  It really does bring history to life.

Tips: It isn’t obvious how to create a teacher account on Primary Access, to create an account go to http://primaryaccess.org/teacher.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Primary Access  in your classroom.