Animoto

I am finally experimenting with actually making a video with Animoto. This tool has been so easy to use. I need to make sure to take more pictures this year. I took a webinar class offered by Discover Education this week. They have a huge library of pictures that would be great for classroom teachers to include in Animoto videos to go with units of study.

Doug Valentine's Videos

When I first found this site, I didn't bookmark it (I mean Delicious it), and then I couldn't find it again. I raved about it over lunch with my friend, Barbara, and she found it. She was as excited as I was about the creative and motivating possibilities that this technology could provide. After I commented on his blog, Doug wrote back to me with information about the tools that he uses for animation. I'm hoping to keep in touch with him. He's close by (in Melissa ISD) and is obviously an exciting, talented, and fun elementary librarian.


Find more videos like this on Texas School Librarians

Thing 23: Summarize Your Thoughts About This Program

I’ve reached Thing 23! I know that I’m not finished learning about all of these "things." I’ll be going back to explore them and making plans for ways to use and share what I’ve learned.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I’ve enjoyed so many of the exercises! My favorites include the image generators, Delicious, LibraryThing, and creating videocasts. I know that these will all be part of my plans for this year.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has cemented my belief that there is so much to learn and discover in the world. Learning is what makes life exciting and each day a new day.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was surprised at the number of people who are involved in Library 2.0. I’m taking away a hope of strengthening this community of support. Every “thing” that I explored provided something unexpected and helpful.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I loved the concept of this program! Everything was presented so thoroughly. There were a couple of links that didn’t work for me, but other than that, I can’t think of any way that the program’s format could be improved.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
If another discovery program like this was offered in the future, I would love to participate. Please let me know if this happens! I like the idea of maintaining this blog as an educational journal and sharing it with my colleagues.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD ?

One word to describe my experience with the 23 Things learning activities would be “ENERGIZING!"

Thank you so much for your help and for providing this opportunity!

Thing 22: Nings

I liked the Teacher Librarian Ning. I found a group of Elementary School Librarians and several groups interested in Web 2.0 in the library. I liked the shared ideas and the support that the members offered to each other. I can see that a Ning would be a good tool for groups with an interest focused around a specific topic. We could use a Ning among our faculty centering on a teaching or curriculum concept of interest to, not only share experience and knowledge, but strengthen our community.

Thing 21: Podcasts and Videocasts

I agree that the possibilities for using podcasts and vidcasts are endless. I was thinking about some of those possibilities as I was trying to get to sleep last night. I know that I'll be experimenting with Photostory and Audacity for the rest of the summer so that I'll be ready to go with some fun projects when school starts. This Photostory is about a reading program for Parish students in kindergarten through second grade - "The Panther Paw Award" which is modeled after the Bluebonnet Award. The goal of the program is to encourage Parish students to read and explore a variety of recently published books and to provide the opportunity to discriminate among the books in order to identify favorites. Parents are also encouraged to join in the fun with their children and to read some of these books together at home. There were 20 titles on the 2008-2009 Panther Paw Booklist. Any child who read or listened to at least ten books was able to vote for his/her favorite one. Watch the Photostory to find out which book was the 2009 pick!

I'm still working on my vidcast. It is not showing the first page first when it is uploaded...although it does show the correct first page on my computer. Ideas?

Thing 20: YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

I loved this video. I think that it will be a great introduction to the book and to the study of alphabet books. YouTube and TeacherTube offer so many opportunities to make lessons exciting. At our school, I can ask to have access to YouTube for specific time periods.



This video from TeacherTube made me excited about having a SmartBoard in the library this year. A goal for this year...post a video on TeacherTube using our new Flip camera.