Tuesday 26 February 2013

GOANIMATE

Voice recording and animation:

Each time I teach Grade 11 I normally like to do a project on mixbook, where students write about their childhood, but having two grade 11 classes this year I decided I would do the mix book scrapbooking with one class and I would try GOANIMATE with another class.Since last year I have been meaning to use the site: GOANIMATE.  I have had the opportunity to have my students use the site twice.

I had my Spanish 11 class work in pairs to create a story using the grammatical components we had learned in class. I had them do this as an end project. I found that they really enjoyed working on this and I love that it was a change for them, as they could use audio recording and incorporate some writing if they wanted to.


espanol by harman on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate. matt & ann by IN on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.



I also used it with my grade 10 class, as a way for them to review on what they had learned in Spanish 9, they were to introduce themselves and get to know a friend. I turned out well!

Grade 10

spanish by nicole1 on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate.

Saturday 9 February 2013

My childhood project

MIXBOOK

I found this fabulous site to do a scrapbook online, which was perfect for a spanish 11 project I had in mind. In Spanish 11 students need to use preterite vs. imperfect and what better way to have them do this than to have them write about their childhood.
www.mixbook.com was easy to use and the students really enjoyed doing a project about their childhood. It's also good for those students who may not be so artistic. Overall the students loved working on this project and reminiscing about their childhood en espaƱol.


Advantages:
It's easy to use, students e-mail to you
students can share and have other students collaborate on their project [peer editing etc...]
it's easy to upload their photos
it has pre - made scrapbooks so students choose a theme but can still personalize it.
it works well for students who feel aren't too artistic so that they can focus on their grammar

Disadvantages:
students have to create their own accounts
the site was very slow when students were all logged in at the same time [very very slow on laptops]
you can't have students record their voice which would be a cool feature to have.



Mixbook - Create Beautiful Photo Books and Scrapbooks! | Learn About Mixbook Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book



Providing students control over their learning

This year I decided that I would be more flexible in how I would have my students hand in their projects. I decided that I would allow my students to hand in projects in the format in which they felt comfortable using. After teaching them a few web 2.0 tools, such as toondoo and prezi.  I gave my students a mini project in which they were to write about their family, I gave them the criteria and then I I told them that they could choose the format they wanted to: such as glogster, prezi, toondoo or any other web 2.0 tool they were familiar with.

It was incredible to see the various ways students chose to do the project. I had about 30 students and I had about 10 or more use a web 2.0 tool and the rest still chose to do it by hand.  It was interesting for me to mark and it was great to see that they included all the required criteria  even though it was done in a different format.

I believe that giving them choices is important because it allows them to have some control in terms of how they want to show their learning. I think this is definitely something I will continue doing in my class as it helps students feel more engaged in their learning because they have a say in how they can demonstrate their learning.  I also love that the format they choose to do their project also makes their project a little more personal. I believe that students would be more likely to hand in projects if they have a say in the format of their project.


Here is an example of one using toondoo.