Build your Wild Self Stories : 6th graders collaboratively create Avatars w/ Pages

6^th Grade Media Arts students utilized the web site “Build Your Wild Self” to design themselves as a regular avatar and one that features animal characteristics. The students took screen captures of their avatars off of the web site and then imported them into the publishing app – Pages

Jaden_Animal.pdf Download this file

Within Pages, the students got to digitally edit their photos, such as inserting borders on them and cropping out parts of the photo that they didn’t want. Once the photos were laid out, the students collaborated with a partner to write a story about how they turned into a monster.

Kristina_animal.pdf Download this file

One student would write the intro to the story, then exchange iPads to write the final paragraph on how they became a monster.  Check out some of these great and colorful published works that will soon become an iBook.

Animal_Vanessa.doc Download this file

NEW_Aliyah_animal.doc Download this file

Timothy_Animal.pdf Download this file

Trinity_animal.pdf Download this file

Addison_animal_.pdf Download this file

Elijah_d_animal.doc Download this file

Megan_Bright_animal.doc Download this file

Ryanator_Moss_Animal.pdf Download this file

Student interview creating Greek Myth on Animation Creator w/ Lesson Plan

p2940.mov Watch on Posterous

 I interviewed one of my students that was using the Animation Creator app on the iPad to create a cartoon inspired a Greek myth. I found some great resources for the project that perhaps you can use Myth, Writing or Digital Storytelling in your class.

Here are the instructions, along with rubric and pre-writing handout

Myth_Video_Rubric.pdf Download this file

I_Need_A_Hero_student_prewriting.pdf Download this file

I_Need_A_Hero_student_directions.pdf Download this file

7th grade student gallery of Mai'Nada Comics Sketch #edtech #web20 #artsed #digitalstorytelling

7th grade BWMS art students got to experiment with the Comics Sketch tool on the Mai'Nada web site. 

I thought this would be a great web site for students to create an illustrated version of their formerlly created comic strips.

 

Alex's work

 

What the site actually does is it records every single "pencil stroke" that is created in the drawing, and then plays it back in an embeddable movie.

Users can add several panels like a comic strip, or just focus on one of them. The students can then embed their comic strip, such as onto Edmodo - but I wasn't able to get their work off of the Edmodo site afterwards.

Students do not have to create a username to start working, but then their work can get lost as some times the site just hangs up. My afternoon class had a few students that got to use the site, but only two of them could remember their log in info.

I think it is a nice site, but it could be very powerful with a stylus pen and if you wanted to show the individual steps on creating a detailed sketch.

 

Rebekkah's work

 

13 great web 2.0 and open source programs for your classroom

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]Come check out my latest lens on Squidoo, where I incorporated a lot of the web 2.0 and open source software articles that I wrote on my Bo Gorcesky profile page on Associated Content.

This lil Squidoo covers articles on web 2.0 sources to help edit film such as Jaycut along with a video tutorial and other great digital storytelling tools. I also have several articles on the great educational social networking tool Edmodo.

I also discuss some great open source programs like GIMP, the free alternative to Photoshop. SO again, check out my latest Squidoo page on web 2.0 and open source software articles so that you can make your classroom a better one for the 21st century.

8th grade Prom Decoration Commitee Commercial on April 1st created by Go Animate

Go Animate is a great site where students can easily create cartoons by typing in their scripts and the cartoon characters will automatically speak it out. There is a difference between Go Animate and GoAnimate4Schools, and there is a more advanced GoAnimate4Schools that my students will be participating in so that they can make longer and more creative animations.   Listed below is an example of the work that I did with this web 2.0 tool

Here is a commercial that I made up for our school in order to get 8th graders to create work for their prom

GoAnimate4Schools.com: Prom Decoration Commercial by James Gorcesky

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate4Schools. It's free and fun!

The Best Tools to Digitally Edit Movies with Your Students: Windows Movie Maker

A Free Essential Tool for Your Latest Animation or Digital Storytelling Project

Over the course of the next few weeks, I would like to discuss a few sources for programs that can be used to edit film and for your students to create forms of digital storytelling in your classroom. Going back to my previous career of an independent film maker, I have used programs such as Windows Movie Maker, Flip Share, IMovie, FinalCut Pro, Ulead Media Studio, Dell Movie Studio, Picasa, Quicktime Pro and there are also some great sites out there such as Jaycut.com and Animoto.com. You can use a variety of software and/or hardware for this project, but for the sake of argument, I have four Flip Cameras, which I purchased through the great web site of www.digitalwish.com, which has one of the best deals to buy two Flip Cameras for the price of one......

 

If you would like to read more, please click here for my Associated content article. And again, thanks so much to everyone for always checking out my stuff so that I can make money off of my writing.

How to Create Digital Storytelling Videos Using the Ipod's Storyrobe and StoryPages Apps

How Students Can Create Movies Out of Narrations and Digitally Altered Images

If you read my previous article on utilizing the Animoto app on the Ipods to create propaganda films, you can see how Storyrobe may be more of a digital storytelling alternative for you.

Digital storytelling seems to be the entire craze with teachers that work within education 2.0. There is this shift to go from simple show and tell presentations, speaking in front of the classroom with poster boards/tri-folds and really trying to make education exciting, engaging and teaching our students the tools that they will need through technology in our ever expanding and demanding twenty-first century work place.

Storyrobe is one of those apps that hopefully you, and perhaps the other teachers in your school, will see the potential for creating presentations or stories rather than the "old fashioned way." I had first learned about this app through Mr. Junkins, who also helped me on the creation of this product. What makes Storyrobe so easily accessible is by doing just what the app promotes: "Create a story in three steps."

If you would like to read more, please click on this link

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7724884/how_to_create_digital_storyt...

To my article on associated content. And again, thanks for always clicking so that I can make some money off of my writing

If you would like to see samples of this project, check out my posterous site

http://mrgsblog.posterous.com/saving-energy-psas-with-storyrobe-app-on-ipodipod