Screencasts, Instagram, and Flipagram
Screencast-
A couple of my professors at SHSU have incorporated How To Videos into their lessons and I always wondered what program they used. For some reason I thought it was something only accessible to professors, but what was I thinking? When I read up on what Screencast-o-matic was, I was thrilled and concerned at the same time. For some reason I thought it was going to be difficult and not user friendly. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that it was rather simple. And I love it! As a matter of fact, the screencast I created will be used by my students the next couple of weeks since we are about to start research paper.
For the screencast I chose to do a tutorial, please be kind, this is the first time I do one! The tutorial is to show students how to navigate the resources that our school distsrict provides for our students free of charge. The first one I covered was Follet Destiny, our OPAC catalog. The second thing I covered was our access to Britannica Online which can be accessed from school and from home as well, with the password. The third one was the GALE databases. I believe that these are great resources that our students have access to and unfortunately not everyone is aware that we have them. It is shocking to see that my students, who are seniors, are always awed by the fact that the reseach paper process can be so easy with the correct resources. So this tutorial will come in handy since they will more than likely be able to access it from home in case they need extra help. So if I were to ask myself what is the best possible use of this application to incorporate in your classroom and the best answer I have for that is tutorials!!! Short lectures can come in handy as well. I also thought of perhaps using them for the unit on Sonnets I did last week. Record the lecture notes so that the students can have a backup reference guide in case they missed something on the notes. For now, I think I will stick to tutorials until I learn more about what other options I have when using it.
I did a second screen cast (Look at me!) and yes, the second time around was just as easy. On this one I chose to do a tutorial on how to add images and videos to our blogs since one of my classmates did not know how to do this and she had a sort of mini panic attack when the professor of our Children's Lit Class informed us we needed to add them to our blogs. And like I said before, I love this app to do tutorials. It rocks!
Instagram-
Instagram is a social media application that allows you to share images and videos with your followers. Unlike facebook, you do not have to befriend people in order to see the content of the account. You can follow a person that doesn't follow you back or vice-versa.
I have always wanted to incorporate social media into my classroom, and I have before by having students create MySpace accounts (back in the day) of characters of novels and short stories we had read (back when MySpace was cool. I haven't ventured into Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, however, I saw this assignment as the perfect opportunity to start. So what I did with the Instagram I created was to add images of characters of novels we have read in class. I only chose two: The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird. Students are to respond to what the caption on the image asks them to do. I think this is a great way to steer away from the conventional journal writing and have students use resources that they like.
Flipagram
Flipagram is an application that allows you to record videos and create videos using images. It is time though, so you can't do extensive videos.
For this project I used a mini how to on Follet Destiny, which I also reviewed in a more detailed way on my screen cast. I have an idea also on how this can be used in the classroom. Maybe we can incorporate it so that the students can create a mini book trailer for the works we covere in class using pictures that they can take on their own staging the most important scenes from the work. I think this would be very interesting.
I honestly loved all three sources.
I do feel though that the students might respond more positively to the activities that can come off of Instagram, simply because it breaks the monotony of journal writing. So I do see myself using this with my seniors.
For Screencast-o-matic, I see myself using it more as a means to review material with my students or giving them tutorial. As of right now I can't think of a solid way in which I can have my students use this in my class, but I will continue searching for a way.
Flipagram is something that I'm excited to implement in my classroom to have my students create book trailers of the novels and even short stories that we have read in class. I believe that because they are computer and app savvy, this will make things easy for them.
These are the links to my Screencast-o-matic, Instagram, and Flipagram.
A couple of my professors at SHSU have incorporated How To Videos into their lessons and I always wondered what program they used. For some reason I thought it was something only accessible to professors, but what was I thinking? When I read up on what Screencast-o-matic was, I was thrilled and concerned at the same time. For some reason I thought it was going to be difficult and not user friendly. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that it was rather simple. And I love it! As a matter of fact, the screencast I created will be used by my students the next couple of weeks since we are about to start research paper.
For the screencast I chose to do a tutorial, please be kind, this is the first time I do one! The tutorial is to show students how to navigate the resources that our school distsrict provides for our students free of charge. The first one I covered was Follet Destiny, our OPAC catalog. The second thing I covered was our access to Britannica Online which can be accessed from school and from home as well, with the password. The third one was the GALE databases. I believe that these are great resources that our students have access to and unfortunately not everyone is aware that we have them. It is shocking to see that my students, who are seniors, are always awed by the fact that the reseach paper process can be so easy with the correct resources. So this tutorial will come in handy since they will more than likely be able to access it from home in case they need extra help. So if I were to ask myself what is the best possible use of this application to incorporate in your classroom and the best answer I have for that is tutorials!!! Short lectures can come in handy as well. I also thought of perhaps using them for the unit on Sonnets I did last week. Record the lecture notes so that the students can have a backup reference guide in case they missed something on the notes. For now, I think I will stick to tutorials until I learn more about what other options I have when using it.
I did a second screen cast (Look at me!) and yes, the second time around was just as easy. On this one I chose to do a tutorial on how to add images and videos to our blogs since one of my classmates did not know how to do this and she had a sort of mini panic attack when the professor of our Children's Lit Class informed us we needed to add them to our blogs. And like I said before, I love this app to do tutorials. It rocks!
Instagram-
Instagram is a social media application that allows you to share images and videos with your followers. Unlike facebook, you do not have to befriend people in order to see the content of the account. You can follow a person that doesn't follow you back or vice-versa.
I have always wanted to incorporate social media into my classroom, and I have before by having students create MySpace accounts (back in the day) of characters of novels and short stories we had read (back when MySpace was cool. I haven't ventured into Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, however, I saw this assignment as the perfect opportunity to start. So what I did with the Instagram I created was to add images of characters of novels we have read in class. I only chose two: The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird. Students are to respond to what the caption on the image asks them to do. I think this is a great way to steer away from the conventional journal writing and have students use resources that they like.
Flipagram
Flipagram is an application that allows you to record videos and create videos using images. It is time though, so you can't do extensive videos.
For this project I used a mini how to on Follet Destiny, which I also reviewed in a more detailed way on my screen cast. I have an idea also on how this can be used in the classroom. Maybe we can incorporate it so that the students can create a mini book trailer for the works we covere in class using pictures that they can take on their own staging the most important scenes from the work. I think this would be very interesting.
I honestly loved all three sources.
I do feel though that the students might respond more positively to the activities that can come off of Instagram, simply because it breaks the monotony of journal writing. So I do see myself using this with my seniors.
For Screencast-o-matic, I see myself using it more as a means to review material with my students or giving them tutorial. As of right now I can't think of a solid way in which I can have my students use this in my class, but I will continue searching for a way.
Flipagram is something that I'm excited to implement in my classroom to have my students create book trailers of the novels and even short stories that we have read in class. I believe that because they are computer and app savvy, this will make things easy for them.
These are the links to my Screencast-o-matic, Instagram, and Flipagram.
Screencast-O-Matic:
Josie,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your screencast! I was nervous too talking on the computer. What wonderful information you have to share with your students. It is exciting that you have found such great uses for Instagram and Flipagram in your lessons. I would love to be able to include Instagram as a learning tool, but it is blocked in my district.
Oh all of that is also blocked on my district, I would probably have to ask for special permission from them in order for students to be able to access it, or just simply have them work on stuff like that at home for extra credit. That is the one thing I hate about technology use in the classroom. It is very limited :(
DeleteJosie, what a clever way to get students to respond to questions quickly and easily! I feel the same way about technology; some days it serves as a great way to break the monotony of paper based work. At the middle school level we are blocked from Instagram, and I have a feeling that the high schools in my district they are not allowed to use it either. This would be a great opportunity to advocate for it's use in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Yes, I know students can get easily distracted with other apps, but if we monitor closely, we can prevent that. Right? Just last week my students were writing a sonnet and I allowed them to use their phone to get on Rhymezone.com and warned them I better not catch them on other websites or apps and let me tell you that it all went SOOOO smoothly. I think they don't give our students enough maturity credit! But yes, we should be our students' advocates!
DeleteI thought Instagram and Flipagram were great resources for students to use. It would be a break from writing. They could find adjectives that describe a book, build the setting, or create the plot. Unfortunately, both Instagram and Flipagram are blocked at my district. Screencastomatic is a great resource for teachers to share how to tutorials for students. This would help with having to repeat yourself over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. It breaks the mononony and it makes things so much easier and the students would benefit from it. And we would have yet another way to assess comprehension. Too bad everything is blocked :(
DeleteJosie, like you, I've had professors use screencasts in previous classes as well. My son uses Screen-O-Matic when playing his online games. He's trying to go viral! LOL! I do want to incorporate Instagram and Flipagram into my library (when I have one to call my own ;))
ReplyDeleteOh my God Corie! That's my Nathan! Except he wants to be a profesional YouTuber. He wants to start his own channel! See kids know more than we do!
DeleteYes, I found these to be super helpful!
I liked your idea to create a mini book trailer using Flipagram. I have recently been introduced to Flipgrid. Its very similar but its meant for the classroom. The video length isn't as restricted and they are shared directly with the teacher so you aren't trying to hunt them down. You can still share the videos and the students can see what their classmates have done as well.
ReplyDeleteI shall try Flipgrid! Thanks for sharing!
DeleteGreat Screencast. We have been exposed to many great technology tools in this class and I know we are all excited to use them. Unfortunately some of these apps are blocked by the technology administrators in the school districts. Sometimes you have to ask for permission to get these sites unblocked. That could be a reason teachers may not be using these methods to engage students in the classroom. I know just recently our school started using Twitter to create educational connections with the students, and parents.
ReplyDelete