Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Why not be Animated!?

I have found one thing about students in the classroom. They like to draw. Often they are not happy with the quality of their work, but I always encourage them to work at it and keep moving forward. They also have an interest in animation.

However, I have also found that most schools do not have the funding to provide animation software for their students. I have found an interesting site off my del.icio.us account that I have posted. Go Animate is an interesting animation program that students can use to get the flavor of creating unique animations. There is an account setup that must be gone through and there may be some student privacy/viewing issues that teachers/administrators will have to del with locally. It is still worth a look as students seem to be genuinely engaged in learning when animation is used.

Leaves are Gone...Where is the Snow?...

The fall semester is moving alone quickly and by all accounts this term is proving to the busiest of my time as a technology mentor. There is so much going on with technology integration and that integration is taking on many different faces. Here are a few examples:

-geocaching in various subjects
-a new on-line report card for teachers
-wikispaces as a communication tool
-google documents as collaboration tools
-1:1 laptop integration (year 3)
-digital storytelling
-interactive white boards(SMART Boards)

This is just in the last 6 weeks. I am working on a module on how to geocache in the classroom and I will upload it soon. There is so much going on!