Wednesday, July 9, 2014

New Free App - Shadow Puppet Edu

Shadow Puppet Edu



I heard about the Shadow Puppet app awhile ago but didn’t really pay any attention to it because it had all the same features as 30Hands or Storyrobe (which used to be free).  Basically you take pictures and put them together to narrate and create a movie.  It’s great as a layering app to take pictures created in other apps like Doodle Buddy, Popplet Lite, Haiku Deck or even the camera roll and combine them.  It’s easier to narrate them in an app like this vs iMovie because it automatically sets the time that the picture displays for as long as your narration (in iMovie, you have to change the time setting for your picture after you narrate.) 

Shadow Puppet just added several features that I think make it superior to 30Hands so I’d recommend that everyone check it out.

First of all they’ve created a special Edu version with features only available for free to teachers and students. 

Secondly, you can combine not only images but also video clips from your camera roll.  That means that you can take videos created in other apps like Tellagami, Chatterpix Kids or Doceri and combine them with images.  

It’s easy to use.  Just pick your images or videos. Tap Start and narrate the story as you flip through the pictures.  As you’re recording, you can add drawings to your images, zoom in or add text. There are a variety of sharing options (tap the more icon to choose the option “open in” and save directly to Google Drive) or you can save your final project to the camera roll.   

You can add up to 100 items and up to 30 minutes long.  There is a built in search that includes the Library of Congress, NASA and “Web Images”.  Be sure to use the “Web Images” search with caution.  There is a possibility for finding inappropriate images.  I would recommend limiting your students to the Library of Congress and NASA sections and find other images on a website like http://schools.clipart.com (using the GCISD login) or http://pics4learning.com.  

Check out my presentation with suggestions for finding copyright free images here (you'll need to be signed in to your GCISD Google account to view):  
https://docs.google.com/a/gcisd.net/presentation/d/11qZF9zZ5vz5V-W6MIeYEHYpgvrrflyMxCx-oCT18MiA/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 

Monday, July 7, 2014

Google Forms - Are they anonymous?

I LOVE Google Forms.  There are so many great uses for teachers and students in the classroom.

 Some of my favorites are:

  1. Collect parent information - Google automatically combines all the responses into one simple spreadsheet.
  2. Reading response journal - Use a "Choose from a list" question type to give options for students to respond to their reading.  (example here: http://www.thebestclass.org/bana.html)
  3. Collecting data - Students create forms to gather real world data.  Teachers can tweet the link to the form to encourage responses from all over the world... go global! (example here: http://langwitches.org/blog/2013/05/18/amplification-transportation-survey/)
More resources:

Are They Anonymous???

Since we've "Gone Google" in the district, several people have wondered about the anonymity of the forms.  When a form is created using our district Google accounts, there are 2 options at the top:  Require GCISD login to view the form and Automatically collect respondents GCISD username.


If only the "Require GCISD login to view the form is checked, you'll be required to login to your GCISD account but your username will NOT be collected.  

 Here's what the form looks like for the person filling it out:

 And here's what the response spreadsheet looks like for the person who created the form:

 If the "Automatically collect respondents GCISD username" box is checked too, your username will be collected but you WILL know it.  If your username is being collected, there will be a message at the top of the form telling you.

 Here's what the same form looks like for the person filling it out when this box is checked:

 Here's what the response spreadsheet looks like now for the person who created the form:


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Pinterest



I'm a Pinterest addict.  (Are you noticing a trend here?)  I've got almost 4000 pins neatly organized on 113 boards.  :-)  You can check them out here:  http://www.pinterest.com/amypintx/  Some people create separate school and personal accounts but that's way too much trouble for me.  I've got everything from Google Drive resources to recipes to photography tips to Pokemon party ideas (my son is 8!)  

 Here's some Pinterest tips:

• Create boards for specific topics rather than general ones.  For example, rather than having a generic "School" or "Education" board, have specific boards for subject areas, classroom management, educational technology, etc.  My opinion is that it's better to have more boards with fewer pins than fewer boards with a ton of pins that you have to search through.

 • In the "Pin it" window, boards show up in the drop down list alphabetically.  Name your boards so that similar boards group together alphabetically.  For example, all of my education related boards start with "School-_____", like School- Google Drive, School- Google Forms, School- Classroom Management.  All of my recipe boards start with "Food-___", like Food- Crock Pot, Food- Sweets, etc.

 • Don't follow a ton of people.  Follow only those who pin things you love.  The more people you follow, the more bogged down you'll get in stuff that you don't care about.

 • Unfollow specific boards.  When you follow someone, you usually follow all their boards by default.  If there are boards that you aren't interested in, you can unfollow those specific ones. 

 • When re-pinning, change the description text if it's too vague or doesn't apply to you.  The more specific you are, the easier it will be to find the pin later.

 • If you notice that you're pinning a lot of stuff from the same blog, consider adding that blog to your Feedly so that you don't miss any good stuff!

 •  Add content... don't just repin.  When you find a blog post you like, pin it! I use the Chrome Extension "Pin It Button" to make it easy.
What are your favorite Pinterest tips?

Friday, June 20, 2014

Feedly and How to Save Favorite Blog Posts


I'm a blog addict and have over 350 feeds in my Feedly in various categories from education to technology to iOS to cooking to digital scrapbooking. I've been using Feedly since last summer when my beloved Google Reader shut down.  I don't love it but I tried practically every alternative (literally!) and it was the best option for me.     

My biggest complaint is the "mark as unread" link.  If you want to mark an item as "unread" to come back to later, you have to scroll all the way back to the top of the article.  How hard would it be to add the same "mark as unread" code to the bottom of each post???  It's a small thing but it drives me crazy.

 Also, I hate the app so I use the paid app Reeder instead. It's a much simpler interface and worth the money to me considering the amount of blogs I read.

 The big question is what do you do with blog posts that you like?  How do you mark them so that you can find them later?  I'm not a fan of browser bookmarks because they're so hard to search through.  Here's what I do with blog posts I want to remember later:

 •  Pinterest - I'm a Pinterest addict as well as a blog addict so it's great that Feedly has a built in Pin It feature.  Hover over a picture in a feed and you'll see the "Pin It" button appear.   Tip:  Occasionally a Pin It button won't appear because the picture is smaller than the minimum requirements for Pinterest.  If you want to pin that post, you'll have to click the post title to open the actual blog site and pin it from there.

•  Pocket to Evernote -  I also love to use Evernote to save things for later because it's so easy to search for exactly what you want. The Save to Evernote feature is a "Pro" feature in Feedly meaning that you have to pay for it.  Since I'm a super geek, I work around that by using a combination of Pocket and IFTTT (If This Then That).  If you're a super geek like me, here's how: 

    1. Create Evernote.com, GetPocket.com and IFTTT.com accounts. 
    2. In IFTTT, go to the Channels section and activate your Pocket and Evernote accounts. 
    3. Create a recipe in IFTTT to send anything you add to Pocket to your Evernote. There's a bunch of already created recipes that you can use if you search "Pocket to Evernote" when you click the Browse button. Here's what my "recipe" looks like:


Once you've got that set, anytime you click the "Add to Pocket" icon in Feedly, a new note will automatically be created in your Evernote.  IFTTT can be a little complicated at first but once you get the hang of it, you can use it to automate many online functions. 


How do you save posts you want to access later?





Thursday, May 15, 2014

GCISD Virtual Voyage


The GCISD Virtual Voyage is a summer opportunity for you to have fun and step outside your technology comfort zone!  Challenges can be completed in any order at any time. Do as many as interest you.  The only rule is that you must share your learning with others via your blog!

Wanna join me on a Virtual Voyage? Click HERE for more information.