Digital Storytelling: Synthesizing My Multimodal Journey with #WalkMyWorld 2016

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou

WEEK NINE: Collect and curate how you used different modes (i.e., images, text, video, and audio content) to reflect on your past, present, and future identities. This week, #WalkMyWorld invites you to produce a digital story that synthesizes your journey over the past eight learning events.

Digital storytelling weaves multiple media sources into a compelling narrative that moves beyond stating a sequence of events by inviting the audience to think about what they believe and challenges them to consider a different point of view. When you have time, watch Emily Bailin's 17 minute TED talk as she explains her research with the power of digital storytelling.


Notice how Emily Bailin starts with a question,"Where am I from?," and then applies the inquiry process to examine her life's journey as an educator, until the finished digital story has a captivating beginning, a compelling middle, and a convincing end. Using the same mentor poem, Where I’m From, by George Ella Lyon, I synthesize my digital story using three different mediums. How does your engagement with my story change when you engage through different mediums:
1. I used Storify to collect and curate a few tweets from each learning event, click HERE.
2. I used Google Docs, to write my poem using words, click HERE.
3. I used Animoto and Soundcloud to create my digital story, click below.

Invitation: COLLECT your multimodal content from the past eight learning events. CURATE your digital story using digital tools like Storify or Diigo Outliner. SHARE your creation on Twitter using the hashtag #WalkMyWorld #LE9. It’s time. What will you share? Explore.Play.Create.Learn.

Interested in learning more about #WalkMyWorld, visit: walkmy.world

#WalkMyWorld 2016: Past.Present.Future

The best part of #WalkMyWorld is the social scholarship (i.e., community, discussion, and reflection) that occurs. Although teachers talk all day to students, they rarely make the time to talk to colleagues. By keeping #WalkMyWorld open, others may stumble on our discussions and learn, grow, or even join in. If you want to read more about how I created my Personal Learning Network (PLN) from #WalkMyWorld, click HERE.

Should #WalkMyWorld remain open or move to private streaming? 

I keep thinking about where to post #WalkMyWorld information...this answer is vast. In the past, some participants created a new Twitter profile because they didn't want their followers to be a part of their class work or see their students' information. However, some participants didn't like having several different accounts and used the one they had already established. Finally, there were participants who didn't want to post, they wanted to keep everything on paper. So I guess the question is, "What is our purpose for #WalkMyWorld?" Is it to collect data for research, then we should set it up to make the data collection process easy. If our purpose is to teach others how to make meaning from multiple modes through an online learning environment, then we need to use the medium that people will easily share their thinking. Twitter is a platform that is becoming more accessible to educators and classrooms. To me, Twitter is still a valuable medium to share, explore, and play with multimodal meaning-making and digital tools.

As we reflect on the PAST #WalkMyWorld in order to plan for the PRESENT learning events and build a foundation for the FUTURE, I feel the picture below captures the answer. Let's stand in the middle by using Twitter, not only to collaborate and communicate, but to begin to show others about new digital tools like Medium.

How did you get involved in #WalkMyWorld? Did you start as a participant or facilitator? I started out as a participant because I was following Greg McVerry and Ian O'Bryne on Twitter after I met them at an LRA conference. Ian responded to one of my posts and I became more involved. By the end of Learning Event 10,  Ian invited me to help analyze his data. That analysis became a paper, “Social Scholars: Educators Digital Identity Construction in Open, Online Learning Environments," that we presented at the 2014 Literacy Research Association Annual Conference. The paper was recently published in Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, a peer-reviewed publication of the Literacy Research Association. 

How have you grown as a teacher because of #WalkMyWorld? Each day I participate in #WalkMyWorld, I become a more knowledgeable teacher:  1) technological knowledge - everyone shares new tools or aspects of a tool I didn't know I could use; 2) pedagogical knowledge - I read about how other teachers are creating and managing an online learning environments; 3) content knowledge - I have witnessed lesson plans for incorporating technology in science, social studies, math, and English Language Arts. These knowledge components are also known as technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK; Koehler & Mishra, 2009) which provides a framework to understand the domains of knowledge educators should have for authentic technology integration.  

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How have your tech skills grown?
My engagement in #WalkMyWorld integrated my theoretical understanding of multimodal composition and my passion for poetry. The #WalkMyWorld community held me accountable for increasing my creativity. At the same time, #WalkMyWorld collaboration gave me support as I tried new techniques and technologies. For example, Kevin Hodgson's interactive poem inspired me to write an interactive poem about the sunrise. Even though Twine was easy to use as a multimodal composition tool, I struggled to embed the poem on the Internet. I used Twitter to contact Kevin for help and we spent several days collaboratively working to solve my technical issues. I also used Twitter to invite the #WalkMyWorld community to write a poem on Goggle Drive. This way I was still involved in the learning event but I shared the responsibility to write a full poem. I was so excited to see how the poem grew and changed as different authors added their voice.  Click HERE if you want to read or write more into the poem.

Interested in other discussions about the planning of #WalkMyWorld 2016? Check out the planning meetings on Google Hangout: Day 1, Day 2 or read the blog posts below:

Kate Booth
Greg McVerry
W. Ian O'Byrne
Carolina Orgnero 
Stephanie Loomis

#WalkMyWorld Learning Event #3: Struggling Doesn't Mean Stupid

Welcome to Learning Event Three in the #WalkMyWorld Project! For this learning event we invite you to reflect on your identity. Do you have one consistent identity (online and offline) or are they different? Does the identity you share publicly represent who you are inside your head?  The facilitators of #WalkMyWorld are challenging you to open up by sharing a piece of your past or your goals for the future. Today I felt like sharing a piece of my past with a picture of me in 5th grade, when I first realized my brain struggled with letters.

Present identity: This is me at an International Literacy Association conference (formally known as the International Reading Association) with my good friend and mentor, Dr. Jerry Johns. I am a third year PhD student, the president of Pennsylvania's Reading Association, and a leader in the field of literacy.



Past identity: This is me as a fifth grader (with my younger brothers). Despite the dimples and the feathered hair, this was the year I was anything but an average 5th grader. For the first time I realize my brain was always going to struggle to process letters when I had to walk down the hall to a 4th grade reading class. I loved school, but no matter how hard I tried, or the hours spent with tutors, my brain still struggled to spell simple words. I also struggled to recall subject-matter content for tests. As a result, I was placed in a lower academic track for middle and high school.

My guidance counselor said I shouldn't waste my time applying to college. My college accepted me on a one year probation after I pleaded in an entrance interview that:

I HAD to become a teacher so I could tell students who struggle with letters that they are brilliant.

I HAD to become a leader in literacy so I could show educators how to look beyond poor spelling.

I HAD to become a researcher so I could find evidence that struggling doesn't mean stupid.

Struggling just means I need more time to process letters. I need technology to spell my words, and I need multimodal opportunities to show my brilliance.

Take some time this week to think about who you are and share your reflections with me at the #WalkMyWorld Project. You can click this link to read more about Learning Event #3: http://wiobyrne.com/walkmyworld-learning-event-three-2015/

Happy reflecting,
Julie

A Few of my Favorite Things: #walkmyworld

I just learned about #walkmyworld project, exploring the use of digital texts and tools as a means to connect, collaborate, and share. I have learned so many new ideas and tools to use in my classroom that I had to share the project with you. Even though this is week 5 in a 10 week series, you are all invited to join in the fun. You can do it by yourself, do it with your students, or just watch and learn.

Here are some suggestions:
1. If you want to learn about the project, check out this blog post by Ian O'Byrne: http://wiobyrne.com/walkmyworld/ 
2. If you want to watch what people are doing, follow the Twitter feed for #walkmyworld
3. If you want to play with new tools:
Learn how to make a kinetic poem-
http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/2014/02/07/walkmyworld-kinetic-poetry-i-walk-with-wonder/#.UvS2nZLz_7A.twitter
Collaborate on PoetryGenius -
Add your thoughts, vidoes, or pictures to #walkmyworld week 5 poem: http://poetry.rapgenius.com/2787849

Let me know what you think about #walkmyworld.

7 Twitter Terms for Novice Tweeters

When browsing Twitter, you might see words that seem foreign to you. Don't worry, this blog will teach you everything you need to know about the art of tweeting. Here are some things you might see:

Follow/Follower - To follow someone on Twitter is to be able to see what they tweet. If someone is following you, they are subscribing to your tweets.

Tweet - A tweet is a 140 character message you post, that can be seen by your followers.

@ - The @ sign helps you to refer to another individual on Twitter, whether as a mention or a reply. It appears before someone's username.

# - The # or "hashtag" is used to group tweets by keywords. It is very useful for events.

RT - This stands for "retweet" and is used when you like something that someone else posted. When you retweet it, it is like re-sending it for your followers to see.

Favorite - To "favorite" someone's tweet shows that you like it and want to be able to view it later. When you favorite a tweet, it doesn't re-post that tweet.

DM - A DM or "direct message" is a private message that you can send to one of your followers without allowing the public to see it.

Hopefully this helped you with some of your Twitter confusion, but if you would like to watch a video on Twitter lingo, check out this video:
This was a guest blog by high school student, Kirsten Myers. We would love to hear your ideas for using Twitter to grow professionally or to engage your students. Make sure to follow @readingsecrets on Twitter. Happy Tweeting!

9 Reasons to Use Twitter in School

If you are already on Facebook, than you have the skills you need to create a Twitter account. More than one billion tweets are sent every 2-3 days across Twitter, which has become a social network of significant importance in every continent, and almost every country around the world. Twitter isn't just all fun and games, it has many benefits for educators on the go. In addition, you NEVER have to Tweet a thing, you can just follow researchers, organizations, and authors. If you do not have a Twitter account yet, watch this tutorial to help you sign up:



 Laura Walker's blog,  gives us 9 reasons to use Twitter in schools.
1. Together We're Better - Teachers can access a stream of links, ideas, opinions, and resources from global professionals. When I am standing in line at the grocery store I scroll through my Twitter feed to discover new ideas shared by the leading researchers in literacy. This is so much faster than typing in Kelly Gallagaher's website and then Kylene Beer's website. This feed is similar to Facebook's newsfeed. 
2. Global or Local: your choice - It is up to you who you choose to follow, you can connect with people from around the world or you can follow local people. For the first six months I typed in researchers and authors I liked to see if they were on Facebook. If they were, I followed them. Now I can see what topics are being researched and or written about. Here are a few people for you to start to follow:

@Scholastic -  The official Twitter account of Scholastic, including Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs. Tweet us with your thoughts on books & education!

@judyblume - Are You There, Twitter? It's Me, Judy

@The_Pigeon (Mo Williams) C’mon! Just once around the block!

@donalynbooks (Donalyn Miller) reader, teacher, blogger, author of The Book Whisperer, #nerdybookclub and #bookaday facilitator, #titletalk co-host

@KellyGToGo - (Kelly Gallagher) I teach, I write, I travel, I talk—to help kids become better readers and writers.

@KyleneBeers - Educator. Speaker. Author. Tech-savvy wanna-be. Sometime blogger. 2008-2009 NCTE Pres. 2011 CEL Leadership Award.

@gailandjoan (The Daily Café)

@TheScienceGuy Bill Nye, Science Educator seeks to change the world.

3. Self-Awareness and reflective practice - Reflect on what you are doing in your classroom and see what needs improvement. Teachers on Twitter can share these ideas and support and challenge each other. 
4. Ideas workshop and sounding board - Twitter is great for sharing ideas and getting instant feedback. You can get different opinions and criticisms to help you improve what you're doing in the classroom. 
5. Newsroom and innovation showcase - Twitter helps you stay up-to-date with the latest news or developments in your point of interest. 
6. Professional development and critical friends - Teachers can talk about what they are working on or struggling with and get helpful ideas from other teachers or professionals. 
7. Quality-assured searching - Trust the people you follow so that you can value their ideas. This will provide you with higher-quality information than a Google search would. 
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate - You will learn to become better at expressing your professional thoughts to others in 140 characters. 
9. Getting with the times has never been so easy! - Twitter is not complicated at all! Go to twitter.com and create an account. Also, there are plenty of websites that offer advice for getting started.

Thank you for reading this blog, now go make a Twitter and tweet all your professional thoughts and ideas! Don't forget to follow me: @readingsecrets

Two Birds, One Stone: Digital Poetry for ELLs

Over the past few years, school districts in 46 states have been reshaping their literacy instruction to align their curriculum with the Common Core State Standards (CCSSI, 2010). Two of the more significant changes to English Language Arts standards are in the area of writing and multimodal instruction. CCSS place a stronger emphasis on writing and indicate a broader definition of literacy. For example, fifth grade students are expected to analyze the author’s manipulation of media, create a multimedia presentation, and produce a two page typed document (CCSSI, 2010).

In addition, new literacies challenge our relationship with the writing process. As a result, educators need to re-evaluate and expand their understanding of literacy to include multimodal composition. In traditional poetry, composition is mediated on a piece of paper. The author’s goal is to evoke feelings and mental images through the printed text on a page. In digital poetry,  composition is mediated on a screen and meaning is defined by the author’s use of sound, images, and textual motion (Hayles, 2008).Click here to interact with a digital poem by Jason Nelson. http://www.secrettechnology.com/sydney/

Curwood and Cowell (2011) maintained their iPoetry project increased 10^th grade students’ awareness of audience, a greater attention to mood, and self-reflection. Findings from this study suggests multimodal composition afforded students a meaningful tool to explore poetry within a collaborative, multimedia environment. In addition, digital poetry connected out of school literacies with classroom instruction and added relevance to the study of poetry as a genre.

Canadian researchers, Hughes & John (2009) implemented digital poetry with 6^th and 7^th grade students. The results highlighted the development of critical literacy and collaboration skills. According to the authors, the use of multimodal composition taught students how the use of multiple modes could increase the mood, imagery, and voice of the poem. In addition, the quality of students’ writing improved along with their ability to edit.

Is poetry instruction still relevant in a time when we are preparing students for high-stakes testing in school while we read and write on cell phones, iPads, and laptops out of school? According to these two studies, the answer is, “Yes.” Digital poetry bridges new literacy skills with traditional poetry instruction in a collaborative environment. Any opportunities educators can build a bridge between out of school and in school literacies could increase student motivation and engagement to learn. The affordances of digital poetry instruction can provide the collaborative digital environment students’ desire while meeting the academic demands of the CCSS.

For a blog response choose one of the options below:
1. Choose one of the six principles of writing from chapter 5 in Li & Edwards' (2010) Best Practices in ELL Instruction, and make an Animoto video to represent your learning. 
2. Use an Animoto video to compare your process of typing a blog response  to making and Animoto video for a response. What did you notice? Which did you like better? Why?

3 Tech Tools To End Your School Year With A Bang

Have your students become restless and apathetic toward learning?  Are you counting down the last few days of school? Put the pleasure back into learning by taking these three technology tools on a test drive.

During the 1920s, cars weren't used for practical purposes like going to the grocery store or getting to work, they were used to give the driver pleasure. Car owners would take their car on a leisurely test drive Sunday afternoons. This type of recreational driving was created to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. There was no pre-established destination and therefore, no expected time of arrival.

The last few weeks of school is the perfect time to test drive technology. Don't create a project with a due date, just enjoy the beauty of the online landscape.

1. Year in Review: Ask students to pick their favorite topic or the subject in which they learned the most and display their thoughts by making a 30 second video with animoto.com. Animoto offers free accounts to educators (scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on Education). All pictures, videos, and music can be accessed right from the site, no scanning, filming or downloading necessary. Click here to view a past blog about animoto.
2. Curriculum Notetaker: Why not create a classroom blog to keep parents informed of daily activities and hold students accountable for taking notes during class.There are wonderful classroom blogs already established to help you get started. Click here to see Miss McFatridge's 4th grade student led blog created on Blogger.com. Blogger.com offers free accounts but may be blocked by some schools. If it is, check out Edmodo.com which offers the same services as a blog with a facebook structure. I have two past blogs that will give you more information, just click on the blog type you are interested in using: Blogger or Edmodo
3. Recreate Reports: If you want to take the fear out of giving a report, require students to create their own Avatar. Voki.com is another free site for educators and offers detailed lesson plans for classroom use. Have fun exploring different voices and famous faces. Students type in their report and then sit back while their Avatar shares the information with the class. Vokis can be embedded into blogs and other online sites. For more information, click here for a past blog about avatars.


In 1903, Michigan Savings Bank said, "The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad." In 1977, Ken Olson said, "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. " You can't afford to think like these naysayers. Be an innovative, creative educator by taking these technology tools on a leisurely test drive.

I would love to hear about your results. Pop over to my facebook page and tell me about your discoveries.

4C's for Relevant Teaching

I feel like I am drowning in the letter C. First the message was, "Make sure students can COMPREHEND what they read." Then I was told to, "strengthen CORE instruction through CORE reading programs." Next I heard about teaching 21st CENTURY skills through, "COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, CRITICAL THINKING, and CREATIVITY." Now, the whole nation seems to be getting involved with the adoption of the, "COMMON CORE state standards". Are there any more C's left? This blog attempts to put all the recent talk into a simple plan.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has built a simple framework of lessons that blend these C's into four main topics:

1. Communication: Sharing thoughts, questions, ideas and solutions

2. Collaboration: Working together to reach a goal - putting talent, expertise, and smarts to work

3. Critical Thinking: Looks at problems in a new way, linking learning across subjects and disciplines. One sample lesson suggests students visit www.kiva.org and select a person to support. Each group creates a presentation to persuade classmates to choose that proposal.

4. Creativity: Trying new approaches to get things done equals innovation and invention.Help students bring the text to life by visiting these sites. Google Lit Trips provides a new approach to reading. There is also Google Historical Voyages and Events for history teachers.

For the iPad generation and those who educate them, what does it mean to be literate? Yesterday’s definition is no longer relevant and tomorrow’s definition hasn’t been created. Given the ever-changing definition of literacy, perhaps it is easier to define the set of skills needed to be literate rather than defining literacy itself.

Keep in mind, each C requires a lot of modeling, practice, and facilitation. Without a teaCher, C is just a letter. Let me know how you use these four C's in your classroom.

3 Ideas to Ponder for Game Based Learning

In 2001, Marc Prensky wrote an article about the difference between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Since then he has gone on to be an activist for the importance of game based learning.


If you don't know much about game based learning (GBL), watch this video for a definition and an explanation of three types of GBL.

Here are three ideas to ponder for GBL:
1. Involvement: One cannot play a game without DOING something. Active participation gets students involved in solving real world problems right from their computer. When students are involved in the learning process they are more motivated, build stronger neuro-pathways and remember more.
2. Interest:Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) theory states there is a continuum of learning between what the student can do with help to what the student can do without help. When students are in their ZPD, they are interested, involved and willing to take risks. As a result, educators strive to keep a balance between modeling what the students should do, then guiding them while they do it and finally allowing the students to try the activity independently. Unfortunately, every student has a different ZPD, which makes it very difficult for educators to meet every student's needs. GBL allows the computer to match the appropriate level for each student which keeps them in a consistent balanced state of "just right" tasks.
3.Individual FeedbackSharing ideas during class can be extremely risk taking and giving feedback to every student, every minute of class is virtually impossible. However, GBL creates a low risk state because they are only interacting with a computer. GBL also gives incremental feedback regularly. Students are able to monitor their progress as they try different strategies. If the strategy doesn't work, students just restart the game and start again. Each time students pass a level, they are intrinsically motivated to pass the next level.

One of my favorite author's for understanding the how the brain learns is neurologist and teacher, Judy Willis. I feel this whole video is important, however if you are short for time and only want to watch the information about gaming, scroll forward to the 8:40 time.


How do you feel about game based learning? Do you feel there is a place for it in your classroom? What do you think about the role of technology and our students' ability to sustain attention? Leave your comments below or join the conversation on facebook.com/myreadingsecrets

For more information on GBL, check out GamesParentsTeachers.com

3 Ways to Ring in Spring with Twitter!

This is a guest post written by Katherine Haun, a third grade teacher at York Township Elementary School.

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

By now, you have heard of Twitter. You’ve seen the hashtags, like #edchat, and the @ symbols. You’ve even got your own account and username. But what good are they to you? Here are three reasons to ring in spring with Twitter.

First and foremost, build your Personal Learning Network (PLN). As an educator, the fastest way to learn about new topics in education is to follow other educators. You will feel even more connected if you join in a Twitter chat session with other educators. Scared to join the chat? Start easy, by reading others’ tweets, marking your favorites to reference at a later time. Then, tip-toe a little farther by retweeting something that is interesting to you that your followers might also be interested to read. Once you’re comfortable with that, start tweeting! Share useful websites, your own blog updates, even your animoto videos. To read others’ thoughts and resources on education topics, here are some hashtags to search on Twitter: #edchat, #edtech, #edpolicy, #edreform, and #digitalliteracy. The following are some people I follow on Twitter for ideas about education: @peteandc, @thenerdyteacher, @AngelaMaiers, @edutopia, @ChrisBiffle, @readingrockets, @readingsecrets, @web20classroom, @globalearner, and @kathyschrock. These are just a few to get you started…

Second, get your students involved! Create a class Twitter account and invite student volunteers to tweet a 140-character or less summary of each of your lessons throughout the day. Get your parents involved! Have them follow your class. Make sure that you adjust your privacy settings appropriate for your grade level, send home permission slips, and double-check your school district’s acceptable-use policy.

Third, are you interested in topics aside from education? I don’t know about you, but I basically missed the #GoldenGlobes. Now that football season is over, I’m not up-to-date with the most recent #NFL news, either. How often do you read before bed? Or over your morning coffee? Try searching your favorite topics on Twitter this spring, and I bet you’ll find that you will be reading for pleasure much more often than you did during the winter!

If you like this post, join our mailing list for more digital literacy tips. I would love to hear how you use Twitter for your classroom so take a few minutes to join the conversation on my facebook page.

3 Tips to Improving UR Netiquette

Technology is wonderful. We have instant access to news, videos, and music. I love Christmas shopping with a click of a button. But with all this access comes a lot of responsibility. This blog is a call to action to educators to step up and teach students how to be kind, gentle, and supportive while online. The following video will help activate your schema.

1. Teach students what it means to become digital citizens. A quick youtube search of "digital citizen" will produce over 2,800 videos you can use to begin a discussion. Post the videos on your moodle and put links in parent newsletters to help the conversation continue at home.
2. Establish norms for online responses to blogs, reviews, and other social communities like facebook and twitter. The digital fingerprint students leave could cost them friends and even jobs.
3. Infuse the revolutions that have taken place through social media in your history class. Make sure to include cyberbullying into your school wide acceptance plan. Increase awareness about online societies that support anorexia, suicide, and child abuse during health class.

Let's take back control and teach students positive netiquette. If we won't do it, someone else will. We can't afford to ignore this any more. What are your thoughts on our professional responsibility of creating digital citizens? Join the discussion on facebook.com/myreadingsecrets.

Fast reading isn't good reading?

Hey, this is your brain here. I need to talk to you. It really bugs me when you assume I can do all the reading myself. Reading is a two way street. It takes both me (the brain) and you (the reader) to make meaning from these squiggly lines on the page.

You read too fast. What do you think I am, a NASCAR? After awhile, I’m so confused I crash. I take all that new information and throw it into the junkyard. If you expect me to remember, you need to adjust your reading speed and apply strategies to keep me from thinking about other things.

We have a long road ahead of us. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

If you agree with this post, leave your comments below or share how you adjust your reading speed on facebook.

3 tips to Eliminate Distractions

A distraction is when someone or something blocks your mind from paying attention to the text you're reading. The best way to pay attention to what you're reading is to avoid being distracted by other stimuli.


Your mind is naturally going to be drawn to three specific stimuli:
1. New or novel thoughts:-Your brain loves to think. Control what your mind thinks by drawing pictures about the text you are reading and writing notes in the margin.
2. Loud sounds:- Sit in a quiet room with the TV off, computer off, cell phone off, and head phones out of your ears. Yes, I said OFF, not low, muted or on vibrate.
3. Fast moving objects:-When choosing a seat in class or the library, sit far way from doors and windows. This way your mind won't pay attention to people walking down the hall or cars driving on the road.

What does this mean to you as a reader? If you want to remember what you read, you must remove the distractions from your environment. By removing distractions, your mind will pay attention longer and remember more.

Remember, multi-tasking while reading is as dangerous as multi-tasking while driving! Be a safe reader and remove all distractions before you read.

How to Create a Video in 5 Easy Steps Using Animoto

This is a guest blog by Kelly Bortner, an elementary art teacher at Conewago School District. We would love to hear how you use animoto in your classroom. Please leave your comments below or visit facebook.com/myreadingsecrets to post on my wall.

As my anniversary rapidly approached (Lucky #13?!) I had to do some quick thinking…what to give the Love of my Life for our special day without breaking the piggy bank. You see, my Sweetie had missed a LOT of work due to the nature of his job & the weather…(apparently he decided THIS should be the year to test out the “for richer or for poorer” vow with the emphasis being on the “for poorer” part! Thanks, Honey!) And then it was as though the anniversary gods smiled down upon me …I was introduced to the wonderful world of ANIMOTO- a site that claims it is “Making Awesome Easier” where I could make a FREE (can’t do any better than FREE when attempting to save the piggy bank!) video of our first 13 years together. And almost as great as the fact that the piggy bank would be spared was the fact that it was EASY! (And for me to say anything that even remotely resembles technology is EASY- well you can bank on it!) If making a video for your special someone’s birthday, anniversary, or just because sounds like something that might interest you (did I mention FREE & EASY?) just read on… and have fun!

5 Easy Steps:
1. Log on to www.animoto.com
You will need to take about 2 minutes to open an account to enable you to use animoto. (But hey, I’m guessing those 2 minutes are WAY less time than it would take you to drive to the mall to actually BUY a gift!)

2. Choose Your Video Style
There are approximately 30+ styles from which you can choose. Just find a video style that looks interesting and “CLICK”…you get to preview it so no worries if you don’t love it- just hit the “X” and try again!

3. Choose Your Music
Each video comes with music pre-programmed, but if you feel like dancing to your own beat, then GO AHEAD, and name that tune! There are other songs on animoto that you can choose or you can download your own.

4. Add Your Photos (or video clips) & Text
You can download your photos or videos or even add clip art instead to suit your needs. Each photo and text box is its own slide so go ahead & just start adding- you can just click & drag your way to the perfect arrangement once everything in loaded on there.

5. Click “Produce Video”
Click “Produce Video” and in the 10 seconds it takes you to ponder what a GENIUS you are for making this video, you will receive an e-mail telling you your video is ready to view & share. You can post it to You Tube, Facebook, etc…or just save it in “Your Videos” to view/share at a later time.

6. What is this Step 6 Nonsense?!
(Okay, okay- I KNOW I said “In 5 Easy Steps,” but Step 6 is so BEYOND easy I didn’t even think it should count!)…Now all you have to do is sit back and listen to how wonderfully CREATIVE, TALENTED, & THOUGHTFUL you are for all the “hard work” (wink, wink ;) you did to make your Honey’s anniversary (or birthday, etc.) so special! So that’s it! Anyone can do It- including you…so what are you waiting for?! I would LOVE to hear all about how your visit to animoto went so keep me posted! Happy Creating!

3 Steps to Creating an Engaging Critique

This is a guest blog by Katlyn Wolfgang, a high school art teacher at Central York High School. We would love to hear how you are infusing technology into your classroom. Please leave your comments below or visit facebook.com/myreadingsecrets and post your comments on my wall.

Critiquing in a high school art classroom.

Commence all groaning by students AND teachers.

As a teacher of high school art students, engaging the students in a discussion about their artwork in a constructive manner is one that takes skillful planning, questioning and trickery to avoid the sound of crickets and blank stares for an entire class period. I have spent countless hours searching for and experimenting with different ideas to engage my students in a critique. Some of these tactics worked, some failed and others served a purpose but I would never touch again with a 100ft pole.

I was never completely satisfied with a critique until VOICETHREAD.

The best way I can describe VoiceThread (a conversation in the cloud) would be as an interactive PowerPoint in which all can collaborate through comments. Comments can be typed, drawn, video recorded, or recorded by a microphone or a phone.

Take a look at a VoiceThread of student work and their constructive feedback to one another STUDENT CRITIQUE

Did you like what you saw? Want to create one of your own?

FOLLOW THESE 3 EASY STEPS:

1.CREATE A VOICETHREAD
Sign up. Create your own VoiceThread by uploading your desired pictures.

Sidebar: I set up a lighting area, camera and tri-pod for students to take pictures of their work throughout a class period or two. From there I keep all of the pictures on my desktop in a folder for easy selection. Saves me time AND it teaches students about framing an image and using a digital camera.

2. SHARE THE LINK
Choose to share your thread by copying a link and post it in an easily accessible space.

3. STUDENT ENGAGMENT
Have students sign up for an account and access the link. Once on the thread they can leave comments to their classmates work.

Sidebar: I have my students respond to the 5 pieces that are featured after their work. Their comments must be either warm or cool feedback and relate to the Elements of Art or Principles of Design.

And, DONE!

The students LOVE it. They can sit back and develop their ideas in a mode that is comfortable for them. I have found that the quality critiques are much greater and our time in class is used more efficiently.

Course Correction

Did you know while an airplane is in flight, it’s off course 80% of the time? Let’s say you are going to take a flight to Hawaii. If you arrive at the right destination at the right time, you would say it was a successful trip. What you don’t realize is that for 80% of the time, you were actually off course. Luckily for you, the autopilot realizes there are outside influences that force the plane off course. The plane flies for a little and then checks to see if it’s still on course and if it’s not, it makes a course correction. Then it flies a little more and makes another course correction. This continues until the plane lands at the correct destination.

Creating a radical routine is great, but it won’t get you to your destination. It’s time to make some course corrections by evaluating your radical routine and making adjustments. It may take a few weeks to work out scheduling conflicts until you get use to making school a priority. Here are some helpful tips when adjusting your radical routine:

· Do you have a long chunk of study time? Studying is a sprint, not a marathon. Research shows the brain does better with short bursts of studying. Keep your scheduled study time to 20 minutes of intense, distraction free studying, and then reward yourself with a break. Doing this allows the brain to process information and transfer it into long-term memory.

· Are you specific with which class you are studying? It’s easy to avoid reading if you aren’t committed to a certain class. Review your radical routine and make sure you list each class 3 different times throughout the week. Research on the brain has found, “one could increase the lifespan of a memory simply by repeating the information in timed intervals. The more repetition cycles a given memory experiences,” the easier it is to recall the information (p.100, Medina, 2008).

· Are your study times as close to class as possible? Again, brain research has discovered that, “a great deal of memory loss occurs in the first hour or two after initial exposure,” (p.130, Medina, 2008). In other words, if you begin to study new information right after class, the easier it will be to transfer this information into long-term memory. If you wait even one day to begin studying, you may not remember what you learned in class. This schedule also establishes opportunities to get help. When you study, make sure to mark questions you have or concepts that are confusing. Then you can contact your teacher prior to the next class and get the answers you need.

Keep in mind some classes need more study time then others depending on your ability and interest in the content. Let me know what course corrections you make to your radical routine. Leave your comments below or share your thoughts on my facebook wall.

Resource:

Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

Automatic Pilot

The idea behind creating a radical reading routine is that it shifts the student from being reactive to being proactive. As Cal Newport explained, “I no longer have to expend any scheduling energy to make sure I accomplish all of these regular tasks. They run, in effect, on autopilot — getting done when scheduled.” When you set aside time to read, you can’t make excuses for not reading. As a result, the reading gets done. If you missed the blog explaining how to create a radical routine, click here.

The radical routine establishes three key ideas:
Guidelines: Everyone has 24 hours in a day, but its how you choose to spend your time that matters. Creating a radical routine limits your options and removes the stress of making decisions.
Boundaries: You can’t be everything to everyone. When you don’t have boundaries, you are more willing to do things for other people and push school work until the night before its do. The radical routine forces you to honor study time and removes the stress of feeling overwhelmed.
Discipline is defined as a regiment that develops or improves a skill. If you hate to read, do it every day. Instead of having to make a decision to read, you establish a daily reading routine. As a result, you train your brain to anticipate reading at a certain time every day and remove the stress of procrastination.

Are you having trouble with your radical routine? I am here to help you work out the rough spots so you can get shift school work into automatic pilot. Leave your comments below or share your thoughts on my facebook wall.

Do You have a Radical Reading Routine?

When I ask students why they don’t read on a regular basis, they always say their daily schedule is too full with no time to read. In fact, Beers’ (1998) study of aliterate students found that students’ most common reason for NOT reading was that they didn’t make time to read, not because they couldn’t read. That’s why I created a radical reading routine that shows students exactly how to schedule their time to finish required reading.

Here are 6 quick steps:
1. Print off the Radical Routine Chart.
2. Write in all major time commitments.

For example, class times, sports practice, scheduled work time, meal and sleep times.
3. Next, reserve time to read/study for each class. Make sure to be specific as to which class you

are studying. It’s easy to brush off study time if you don’t identify the class.

For example, MATH from 4:00 – 4:20, not STUDY from 4:00 – 4:20.
4. Follow the 3x3 rule, which means you should study 20 minutes 3 days a week instead of studying one day for 60 minutes.

For example, Math from 4:00 – 4:20 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
5. Then, list minor commitments like time spent with friends, time spent on facebook, watching TV, or taking naps.
6. Finally, put the schedule to the test. After each day, reflect on how the schedule worked. Did you reserve enough time to read? Did you miss any events that you need to add? Continue to adjust the schedule until you find a balance between school, work, and social time.

When students can control their schedule, stress disappears. Click here to discover ways students have taken control over their schedule. I would love to hear what you think about your radical reading routine. Leave your comments below or share your thoughts on my facebook wall.

References:
Beers, K. (1998). Choosing not to read: Understanding why some middle schoolers just say no. In K. Beers & B.G. Samuels (Eds.), Into focus: Understanding and creating middle school readers (pp. 1–27). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Rebel Reading Challenge

I dare you to turn off your cell phone for twenty minutes. It will make you smarter! Did you just say, “No?” What are you, chicken? What’s the worst thing that could happen? Speak up, I can’t hear you. Did you just say, “My family and friends might try to contact me and if I don’t answer, they will start to worry.” Are you serious? You’re telling me that your “peeps” can’t wait twenty minutes while you read a small section of a textbook?

Your cell phone isn’t holding you back from studying; it’s your desire to avoid reading! You sit there, staring at the textbook, just praying that someone will call you so you can stop reading.

Rebel! Go against your desire to avoid reading.

It can be difficult to disobey the ringing vibration of the cell phone, especially if you are not rebellious by nature. That’s why I am asking you to take the seven day rebel reading challenge. In one short week you can take control of your studying and improve your memory. Click here to discover how others met the rebel reading challenge.

REBEL READING CHALLENGE

Day 1: Become aware of how often your phone rings and interrupts your studying. Tell the caller you are studying and will call them back in twenty minutes.
Day 2: Make a commitment to rebel by posting a message (via Facebook, Twitter, email, text, etc.) that you will be unavailable to respond to calls for the next twenty minutes. Notice how often the phone rings, but don’t answer it. After twenty minutes, respond to the callers.
Day 3: Repeat the above process, but turn your phone off for ten minutes. Check your phone after ten minutes and then turn it off again. Respond only to emergencies. (BTW, your friend’s call about which shirt to wear is NOT an emergency!)
Day 4: Don’t post an alert that you will be unavailable to calls for twenty minutes. Just turn off the phone for ten minutes, check it, and turn it back off for another ten minutes. When you are finished reading the section, jot down a summary sentence and then return important phone calls.
Day 5: Repeat the above process, but increase the turn off time to fifteen minutes. Continue checking the phone and reading until the whole chapter is finished. Reward yourself by taking a break to respond to your callers.
Day 6: Keep the turn off time to fifteen minutes and be aware of how quickly you finish the chapter and how much you remember.
Day 7: Continue the rebellious reading but increase the phone free time to twenty minutes.

You have the power to turn off the cell phone, remember what you read and discover your inner genius. Don’t wait for the phone to stop vibrating! Be proactive. Become a rebellious reader and blog about your results.