Final Reflection

This 10 week course went by so fast.  When I was looking at the syllabus and the assignments there were a lot of things that were familiar, but a few that were not.  Some of the ones that I thought were the most exciting were Screencasts, Cartoons/Comics, and Podcast.  I really liked Screencast because I can already see myself being able to use it this year in the classroom.  Also, with Comics/Cartoons and Podcast I was already thinking of assignments my students can use these tools with.  I loved that everything we learned already benefits us in some way, shape, or form.  I thought Infographics and Twitter were the most difficult.  Once I figured Infographics out it wasn't to bad.  I just had a hard time with that assignment.  For Twitter I just have a hard time getting involved and using it.  I find Instagram and Facebook much easier to use to reach the community, parents, and students.  I thought everything was beneficial, but the things I can already see myself using are the comics, screencasts, QR codes, Animoto, and Podcasts.  Also, my school has a Facebook page that we use to communicate with our parents and community.  Technology is such an awesome thing that we get to teach our students.  I am so happy that I learned about more apps, websites, blogs, and so much more to share with colleagues and students.  The article really puts into perspective the impact we have on all our students.  The students we teach are the "people" of the future.  They are going to be the ones affecting our community.  We are working on the now, but the difference will continue to be made in the future.    

Podcasts!

When exploring all the podcast options I decided to use Soundcloud.  I have used Podomatic which is known as Podbean, so I decided to use one that I have not.  I really enjoyed Soundcloud because the page was very easy to navigate.  You were not having to go through loop holes to find the upload button or to get back to your podcast once you had uploaded it.  It was also relatively easy to find the share button.  It gave you plenty of different options to share your podcast.  I also think that Podbean is easy to navigate.  It is also a very organized page with everything you need.  I like how there is more than one way to get to different spots.  I thought Soundcloud was a little more organized, but I enjoyed both.  I love how on Soundcloud there is a place for your collection.  It has it organized by what you have liked, who you are following, playlists, stations, and your history.  This would make it so easy to refer back to a podcast that you have listened to.  I did not care for Audioboom.  I thought it was confusing the way it was set up.  The more you explored the easier it got to navigate, but I liked how Soundcloud and Podbean were pretty easy from the get go!  If I were to have to recommend just one I would recommend Soundcloud! I think it would be easy for students to explore and figure out too! Searching was easy because you just search with the search bar, but I wasn't finding what I wanted too.  I think it would be good to talk to other people about who they follow or search individual people.  Also, checking out different librarians blogs, Twitter, magazines to find some good podcast to follow.  For my podcast I made a "Meet the Teacher" to share with my parents this year.  Overall, I think podcast are a great way to share information because it will stay on your channel for others to refer back too.

Cartoons/Comics

ToonDoo:

I really enjoyed exploring with ToonDoo.  I made a quick little comic about a mom telling her son to walk his dog.  I think it's really cool how you can add so much detail to such a simple picture.  You just start with a simple background and then you make it the way you want.  I added the dog in the top picture just hanging out by his food bowl.  Showing he was bored and needed something to do, so the mom tells her son to walk him.  Students need programs like ToonDoo to add all their own details and thoughts.  Once you made your ToonDoo it was pretty easy to save, but I was having a hard time finding it after I saved it.  They are able to create something that has happened to them or use their imagination.  ToonDoo has a lot to offer and I think the more you explore with the website the easier it is to navigate.  

Pixton:

I think Pixton would work really well with older students.  It has a lot more advanced features.  Such as you can move the body to any shape you would like to.  If you just wanted to move the hand you could just move the hand.  I did really like how you could just add a panel when you were ready.  Your characters would go ahead and be in your new panel as well.  Pixton was easy to save and to refer back to your comic because it was on your home page.  I did think it was a little harder of a website to navigate than ToonDoo, but still a really cool website to share with your students and teachers.

MakeBeliefsComix:

 Link to my Make Beliefs Comix: https://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=33615875C2503085

I personally thought this one was the hardest to use out of the three.  I was having a hard time getting the website to work on google, so I went to Safari and it was working, but wasn't letting me click things.  Finally, I was able to make one on my iPad.  This might have been all technology issues, but I thought it was odd.  The website did offer some cute and creative little characters, backgrounds, and objects.  However, I felt that the other two offered a lot more.   It wasn't to hard to save and you could email it to yourself or someone.  I always think this is a great feature because then you know you won't loose it.  I think the more you explore with this page the easier it would become.

Tellagami: 
Check out my Tellagami: https://tellagami.com/gami/Y8JKZZ/  

I thought Tellagami was so cool! It is really easy to use and navigate.  You could use this app for a number of reasons.  It is totally worth exploring and using in your classroom or library.  So happy that I decided to make one.  I decided to just do one for fun because so many features were locked and I could not figure out how to upload a photo.

Summary:
Using cartoon comic strips in the classroom and library are really good tools.  They allow students to use their imagination and show creativity in their own way.  I think a really good way to use this would be to give students a writing prompt and then they can create a story.  Another way might be to use a book with no pictures, so then they create a comic strip to match. I would share this with my teachers and colleagues by making a few and showing them the web cite.  I would encourage them to teach a few students and then let those students teach others.  Overall, these were all awesome tools!    

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

YouTube:
1. Norman High School Library:

I think this video would be most helpful to students because she is walking you through the website.  Even though it is not super detailed you are still getting to know your way around it.  Sometimes websites are tricky and some things that you would think would be easy to find are a little harder.  I like that it was short, sweet, and to the point.

I think this would be the video that the students like the most because it is their teachers that are sharing different books.  Students love to see people they know in the videos.  This video also discusses different books that might get a students attention and then they would want to read that book.


2. The Unique Library:

I think this video would be most helpful for students because it is very detailed and explains everything step by step.  The only thing that I would change is maybe perk up my voice, so it sounds kind of interesting.  This is a great video to have on your channel, so students know right where to go when they need to find it.

I think this would be the video that the students liked the most because it is their classmates sharing about their projects.  Seeing your classmates do something could get you really interested and curious.  Most of the videos on this channel are tutorials on how to do something.

3. Pikes Ville Hight School Library:

I thought this video would be the most helpful to students because it is explaining all the course work they are going to need to graduate.  They are talking about it early because you want to make sure you get it all done.  It is very informative and talks about who you need to talk to if you have any questions. It also gives you a hashtag at the beginning to use if you have any questions.

I think this might be the students favorite video because it is a celebration.  This page had a few different videos that were celebrating or this kids were having fun.  I liked this one because it was a picture slide show with music and it had a little video clip.

4. BBMS Media

I thought this video would be most helpful to students because it is guiding them on how to create a website citation. It is using a program called NoodleTools that I assume is something they use at the school.  This would be very helpful to students because they can refer back to it when they need to.  Citations can be very tricky, so I think this is an awesome video to have on your channel.

I think students would enjoy this video the most because it is so creative and fun.  I am not a huge Star Wars fan and I still really enjoyed it.  It is a great way to get kids attention about overdue books.

Some ways I would use YouTube in the library would be to share what we are doing.  It might be a video about an event or activity we have going on or something we did.  I think this is a great way to reach the community because you can put the video on your website or share it on social media for the community to watch.  Another way I would like to use it is letting students create videos.  Maybe they are creating one for a project or creating a video about a book they really enjoyed.  You could put the videos of students sharing different books on the website or on social media.  YouTube is also great for sharing those tutorial videos.  You can create then and leave them on your library channel for students to access when they need them.


Animoto:
Use my QR Code below to check out my Animoto!

 

I chose to do my book trailer on Finding Winnie.  Finding Winnie is one of my favorites and such a cute book.  Read this synopsis from the publishers: 

"In 1914, during World War I, Captain Harry Colebourn, a Canadian veterinarian on his way to serve with cavalry units in Europe, rescued a bear cub in White River, Ontario. He named the bear Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war. Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter Lindsay Mattick recounts their incredible journey, from a northern Canadian town to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England . . . and finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made a new friend: a boy named Christopher Robin. Gentle yet haunting illustrations by acclaimed illustrator Sophie Blackall bring the wartime era to life, and are complemented by photographs and ephemera from the Colebourn family archives. Here is the remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh."

QR Codes:

QR codes are one way we can really make things interesting for our students.  One way that I came across that I really enjoyed way simply about reflecting.  Instead of just giving your students reflection questions, you can give them a dice that has QR codes on them.  They would simply roll the dice and then scan the QR code.  A question would then come up and then they would discuss.  Another way to use the QR code would be to lead to book trailers about different books.  This might really help students decide if they want to read a book or choose another one.   Another way would be to use them to guide students right to the website they need.  Sometime you have to click so many times to get somewhere.  For our younger students having a QR code to get them there quickly will save a lot of time.     

Screencast, Instagram, and Flipagram(Vigo Video)

I started with a Screencast because I had never made one before and I thought it was going to be the most challenging.  I have watched a lot throughout our program, but never made one myself.  I have always thought they were very helpful, so I was excited to create my own.  I made this one as if I was going to share it with my own students.  I used Toondoo because I thought it was a really cool site for my 2nd graders to use.  I watched the tutorial Screencast provided and it was very helpful.  I did not think it was hard to navigate at all.  I think you could use this in the classroom by explaining how to navigate different websites or programs.  You could also use this for parents, so they could access different educational websites at home for their kids.

If you like listening to books on audio then this book is a must! It is a quick one, but different actors play the different characters. You are sitting at the edge of your seat the whole time! #walterdeanmyers

A post shared by Lauren Baker (@missbakerslibrary) on Jul 6, 2018 at 2:45pm PDT

I have a personal Instagramm, so I was pretty familiar with it.  I really enjoy Instagram because you can see what everyone is doing, really cool trips they have taken, cool things they have seen and so on.  I think this works the same way for you as a teacher or a librarian.  You can share things you are doing in the classroom, in the school or library, and different things that are going on in the community.  I thought Instagram would be a great way to share different books you are reading with your students and parents.  You can upload a picture of the book and then share a little bit about it in the caption.  Something else that I thought was really cool is that you can hashtag the authors name.  When you click on the hashtag it takes you to other post that have that same author hashtag.  Now you are seeing more books by that same author.  It's a neat way to share what different books you are reading, new books you get in the library, and books the students are reading.  Overall, I think Instagram is a great way to reach our and share with your community, parents, and students.  

The last one I worked on was the Flipagram, now known as Vigo Video.  I thought this was similar to Instagram, but with a lot more features.  I think this app would be a really great one to share what is going on in your school, classroom and library as well.  I decided to upload a little video from Dr.Seuss' birthday.  I was able to play a birthday song in the background which was really neat.  This app took me a little time to play around with and figure out, but once I did it was pretty easy to navigate.  You could also add stickers and different things to your video if you wanted.  You could use this in the classroom by having your students create different ones to show their parents.  This would be a great motivator for students because they would get excited to create a video with music. 

I personally enjoyed all of them.  I would have to say screencast was the coolest for me because I can see it being very beneficial in the future.  I think Instagram and Vigo Video are great apps to reach out and share what is going on at your school with the community.  

Infographics

I really enjoyed making an Infographic.  I think when we make things visual it makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand.  Piktochart was the one that I liked the least.  I didn't like how dark the page was because I didn't feel that it was welcoming and I also thought it made it kind of hard to read and navigate around the page.  I felt that it was not as organized as the other two possibly because it was really busy to me.  However, it did include a YouTube tutorial right away.  This was helpful, but I still liked the other two more.  I thought Easelly was very user friendly.  I like how Easelly was welcoming and their colors were bright.  It was simple to navigate and you could include anything you needed to.  I decided to use an Infogram and I really enjoyed it.  I thought it was easy to use and navigate.  It also had the dark colors, but I felt that because the page wasn't so busy it was a balance.  All offered templates you could start with.  There were plenty of different options to fit what you needed it to.  You could edit and change the template you chose to work with your information.  You could also start with a blank page on all three if you needed to.  Overall, great experience!

Check out my Infographic: https://infogram.com/flow-dark-1hxr4z9wd89e6yo?live 

Facebook/Twitter

Until this assignment I had never really searched different library pages on Facebook.  I learned that our county library has a Facebook and even though I know this is existed because we are a pretty big county I never thought to go look and check it out.  I also came across a lot of school library pages.  One high school library page that I came across was Cinco Ranch High School.  I really enjoyed this page because they were sharing what is going on in their library and in the community.  These events they were sharing are going on in the summer, so students can get plugged in else where during the summer.  This library is also open during the summer, but has different hours, which were posted.  I thought this was super cool because our libraries in my district are closed during the summer.  Another page I came across was Swenke Elementary Library in Cypress.  I also liked this page because it shared different activities or events that were going on at the school.  With the majority of the post there was a picture or a meme with it.  I thought this was great because pictures catch our eye.  All the Facebook pages I came across were fun and informative of what was going on in the school, the library, and the community.  Some just had more school things posted.  One advantage to having a Facebook page is that it gets the word out for your parents, students, and community to see.  This is a page they can go look to when they have a question or are curious about what is going on.  A disadvantage is that not everyone has a Facebook or might not allow their children to have one.  You would just want to make sure your important "need to knows" were on your website.     Overall, I think having a Facebook page for your school library is a plus.

Twitter is something that I am still getting comfortable with.  Most of the professors I already followed.  I love following them because I really enjoy how they post about all the different books they are reading.  I also like how if you have a question about a book, technology, or anything education you can post it and someone is quick to reply with an answer or lead you to an answer.  Twitter is so beneficial when it comes to wanting someone else's opinion about something.  If they don't know how to help or guide you they will lead you to someone who does.  I really enjoyed Jim Lerman's Twitter page.  Her shared about math, science, and critical thinking tools.  Something he shared that led you to his scoop that I explored deeper with was a post about De Bono's Critical thinking.  It discussed they different hats of critical thinking.  It told you what each color meant.  Jim Lerman (@jimlerman)   sco.lt/7bDtIn I enjoyed this one about critical thinking because it is something that I struggle with from day to day with my students.  You can use a lot of his stuff in the classroom and the library.  I felt that he shared a lot about taking your students the extra mile with creativity.  I also really enjoyed Kathy Schrock's page.  She shares different things and explains them a little.  I really liked this because it gets you more interested when you know a little bit about it.  For example, she posted about Padlet and Jabber and explained both in her post.  Twitter is just a great "go to" to be familiar with because you can find anything that is going to pertain to you about technology, books, and education in general.  I like that they all shared a little bit about their personal life too and what they are doing! Overall, I need to get more comfortable with Twitter.