literary figures – iLearn Technology

Color in Motion- Exploring Color

January 31, 2011Kelly Tenkely9 Comments3784 views

What it is: Amazing really doesn’t do this site justice. No really, this might be my favorite site of the month…that is saying something! Regardless of if you teach about color or art, Color in Motion is a must see just for the creativity and brilliance of the site. Color in motion is a wonderfully animated and interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism. Have you ever looked at an art website and thought, “really, this is the best they could do? It is a site about art for crying out loud!” No? Just me? 🙂 Color in Motion is not one of those sites. The minute you begin exploring you know that this isn’t just a site about color, it is a work of art. There are three activities on Color in Motion. The Stars introduces students to the color stars (primary and secondary colors personified). When students click on a color stars profile they learn about their blood (the color(s) that make them up), what the star is hired to represent (the feelings the color gives), the positive and negative traits, and what the color represents around the world. In the movies, students can sit back and enjoy the show as they learn about the symbolism of each color in a fun animation. In the Lab, students have the opportunity to interact with the different stars. Students can direct a scene acting as a movie director based on a word that represents the color choice. In project 2, students are a color star manager. It is up to them to decide which production their star is going to participate in based on what they learned about color symbolism. Project 3 is a kaleidoscope where students can just have fun and “play” with color in a virtual kaleidoscope.

How to integrate Color in Motion into the classroom: Color in Motion is a fantastic place for students to learn more about color in a highly interactive, engaging, and fun way. Students learn about color through story. They meet each of the colors as a different character being cast for a production. The site is great for any art or design class but could be equally wonderful for a creative writing project. After your students have had some time to explore the site and interact with the different characters, ask them to choose a character to write a story about. Students should write the story based on the character traits they know about the color.

As a getting-to-know-you activity, students could choose a color that they feel best represents them personally. Students can list all of the color attributes that they feel describe them. Are they a mix of colors? Have students write down what the mix is and why.

Looking for a way to spice up spelling/vocabulary practice? Have students assign each word a color based on the word meaning and the color character traits that match. Students can compare and contrast the colors they chose for the words with the colors other students chose for a light persuasive argument.

As students study historical and literary figures, they can assign each a color based on the matching character traits. It would make a really neat bulletin board to have a color wheel with pictures of historical/literary characters on each color based on the similar character traits. These types of activities help students draw parallels and think about history and literature in new ways.

Younger students can think about what color an animal would be if it was the color of its color character traits. The creative possibilities with Color in Motion are endless.

Oh yeah, in addition to all of those “spin-off” ideas, there are great creative activities right on the site many of which would be great for whole class with a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard, for small groups in a center activity, or individually in a one to one computer situation.

Tips: Color in Motion can be viewed in both English and Spanish. If you have students learning English or Spanish as a second language, the colors and adjectives on this site are wonderful!

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

Virsona

April 19, 2010April 19, 2010Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3583 views

What it is: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down and talk to Albert Einstein, George Washington, or Susan B. Anthony? Wonder no more, with Virsona, your students have the opportunity to do just that! Virsona is an interesting tool that lets students create a virtual character of themselves (or a virtual literary character). Students answer a variety of questions about themselves (or another character). They can create automatically generated responses, greetings, and choose a personality for their virtual selves. After they have created their virtual persona, they can share the link to their virtual self. Anyone can ask their virtual self questions (via chat) and responses are automatically generated based on the answers that were given. Virsona has some excellent built in historical, political, and literary characters that students can interact with.. Students can chat with a virtual George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Pocahontas, Babe Ruth, Susan B. Anthony, and more. Students choose the persona to chat with, asking them questions about their stance on politics, entertainment, beliefs, and more. It is very cool! Try chatting with Abraham Lincoln here.

How to integrate Virsona into the classroom: Virsona can be used to connect students to historical characters. Students can “chat” with the historical character asking questions about their life, beliefs, politics, and more. Put your students on assignment as news reporters. Ask them to “sit down” with the historical character and interview them, taking notes about the answers they are given. Students can then fact check the interview, using primary sources, text books, and encyclopedia articles. Students can then write a newspaper article, a character sketch, or create a fake video interview using a tool like Xtranormal. Virsona is a tool that will connect your students to historical figures and learning in a way that wasn’t before possible. I have yet to meet a student who doesn’t love to chat. Put those chatting skills to good use by having them chat with historical figures.

If you teach in the elementary classroom, use Virsona as a whole class. Have students brainstorm questions they would like to ask the historical figure. As a class, chat with the VIP using an interactive whiteboard or projector.

For students over 13, Virsona can be used as a way to create an in-depth character sketch on a historical or literary figure. Students will have to really research the character in order to create a Virsona virtual persona. Students can answer questions as the literary or historical figure would have. As a culminating activity, students can visit each other’s Virsona’s to learn about other historical or literary figures.

Can’t find a character that you want your students to chat with? Why not create the character yourself? In one of our fifth grade classrooms, we have an invisible ninja who can see everything the kids do. The invisible ninja is an enigma that the students often want to know more about. It would be fun to take these fictional characters and let students chat with them virtually. Sometimes younger classrooms have “desk fairies” that leave treats randomly for clean desks. Enter into a spirit of play with your students and create a virtual version of these classroom characters.

Tips: To sign up to create a virtual character, student have to supply an email address, first and last name. To create a virtual character, students must be 13 or older. Students under 13 can still use Virsona to chat with pre-created characters without signing into the website.

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

Secret Builders Update

December 8, 2009December 8, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2682 views

What it is: I have reviewed Secret Builders virtual world before, but some new additions and features deserve another post. Secret Builders is a virtual world for kids (8-12) that introduces them to fictional characters from history and literature. Secret Builders has added a host of new historical characters that students can interact with including: Jane Austen, Bach, Alexander Bell, Emily Bronte, Confucius, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Hafez, Magellen, Omar Khxyam, Motzart, Issac Newton, Rumi, and Lao Tzu just to name a few. Students can actually visit the historical figures house, learn more about them, interact with them by asking questions in a virtual chat (answered as the character would answer), and take a quiz to find out how much they know about the historical figure. Secret Builders allows kids to get up close and personal with history in ways not previously possible. It allows them to gain a better understanding of historical figures than a textbook offers. Secret Builders has additional school friendly features like areas for students to write, collaboratively draw and share, and play educational puzzle games. Secret Builders also has a great Internet safety quiz that tests students on their knowledge of what online behavior should look like. Secret Builders has just added a Teacher’s Console where teachers can add and manage their students from one central location. Teachers can also set up an online reward system for students where they can unlock special Secret Builder features by completing “quests” that you assign. For example, you may be studying Thomas Edison in class. You could send students on a quest to find and learn about Thomas Edison and give the reward to those students that correctly complete the quiz.

How to integrate Secret Builders into the classroom: Secret Builders is an excellent way to bring history to life for your students. They will understand historical and literary figures better as they interact with them in this virtual world. Secret Builders is best in a lab setting where every student has access to a computer. Be sure to sign your class up under a teacher account where you can control and monitor what students are expected to do in Secret Builders. Encourage students to interact and “interview” the historical figures that they encounter. They can then write an article about the historical figure for the Secret Builders virtual newspaper. Secret Builders is a great first stop for learning about important figures in history. It will leave them wanting more and excited to learn more about these interesting people in history.

Tips: Secret Builders also has a program that is connected called “One for All” students can raise money for their school by answering math, logic, geography, and vocabulary questions.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Secret Builders in your classroom.