DCF 2008
Using Fun Technology to Promote Student Engagement
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference
May 2nd, 2008
Notes & Selected Resources There are many other tools you can use, these are just my favorites.
Booktalks
I make slideshows for my booktalks with ppt (there are plenty of other fine slideshow apps) that are very image-heavy. I never use text in a slideshow if I don’t have to. I can’t stand having kids trying to read something when I want them listening to me. I choose creative commons-licensed images that are evocative of the book, I show the book cover, and I read selections. Sometimes I use short book trailers. I keep it simple. A little media really captures the kids’ attention and gives them a way to remember the books they want to read, too much can distract them.
Flickr search for Creative Commons images: compfight.com
Alternatives to powerpoint: Google Docs, Keynote, Neoffice.org, Openoffice.org
DCF Blog
I have my students write drafts of short blog posts in Word first. I check grammar & spelling and encourage them to write honestly & with their own voices. I love having the kids write comments. It gets them to share their opinions in a casual and frank manner. Posts are approved by a moderator before they appear on the blog. All comments are anonymous.
This year’s DCF blog: dcfbooks.edublogs.org
Want a blog of your own? I recommend the free blogs at edublogs.org (they use Wordpress software)
If you’d like to host your own blog, you can install Wordpress software on your webserver (many hosting services will allow you to do this.) Download it from wordpress.org
Last year’s DCF blog: dcfbooks.blogspot.com
Wikis
We use wikis for a number of projects. For the DCF project, each student adopts a book and creates a page with links & info on that book. I give them a model of what their pages should include. They search the web for author & publisher sites, reviews and other sites that might related to the subject of the book and provide links on their wiki pages.
Once their “alternative book report” projects are finished, they’ll be posted on this blog as well. Wikis are great for long-term units. The students work as a team and pick up many “mad tech skills” along the way.
Marlboro School’s DCF wiki: marlboro-dcf.pbwiki.com
Free wiki hosting: pbwiki.com
Pam’s Wiki presentation handout (pdf)
Alternative Covers, Bookmarks & Posters
The ideas for many of these originally came from Read Write Think. Each student reads a book and chooses at least one of these projects to work on. They use a variety of software - some are listed below. The final step to each project is to digitize it (if not digital already) and post it to the wiki.
Drawing software (free) www.tuxpaint.org
Word Processing: Office or iWork
or Neo Office / Open Office (free)
for Macs: www.neooffice.org
for PCs: www.openoffice.org
Flickr search for Creative Commons images compfight.com (use “safe search” with the students)
Other sources of copyright-free images:
Boston Public Library on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library
Library of Congress on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress
www.morguefile.com
Lesson plans (including the book report alternative lessons that I borrowed from) www.readwritethink.org
Comic Strips
Creating a comic of a scene, chapter or summarizing the entire story is one of the most popular projects with my students. Comic Life is an incredibly fun application, I recommend it for many units - it’s a wonderful creative writing tool, and the kids think it’s cool (very motivating). Creating comics gives them good experience writing dialog as well as telling stories visually. I recommend images be drawn by hand (or you could use photographs) then imported into Comic Life. Drawing pictures for comics with Tux Paint was difficult and time-intensive for my students, though they all wanted to give it a try.
Comic Life for Mac: www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/comiclife.html For PC: plasq.com/downloads
Free online comic creators: www.makebeliefscomix.com
www.pixton.com (for older students. This will give you more creative control, but the sharing feature might not be something you want.)
Book Reviews
Showing the students models for projects gives them a great starting point. After playing book review podcasts for my students, we discussed what they liked & didn’t like in the reviews they heard, and their writing improved significantly through the process. They write their own reviews and format them for display. They include an illustration (could be drawn by hand or with the computer) and we display the books on the shelf with the review. When the books are checked out (and they often are!) the illustration is there for a visual.
We have not created podcasts of our reviews, so far there doesn’t seem to be much interest in our community. What’s more effective for us is having the students read their reviews weekly at All School Sing. But I’ve included some podcasting resources here for those interested in trying them out.
Examples of book reviews by students (podcasted)
Voices from the Inglenook: csslibraryblog.blogspot.com
Brookline Book Reviews:www.runkle.org/Podcasts
Podcasting / Video
All you really need to be able to do is capture sound with your computer. Most newer machines have some basic sound recording capabilities, including built-in mikes, but I recommend Garage Band for recording.
apple.com/ilife/garageband
Ideas for podcasting at Apple’s Podcasting in Education:
www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/podcasting.html
Here’s kind of a YouTube for Podcasts, where you can post your Podcasts for free: www.podomatic.com
Videos (vodcasts?) can be hosted for free on www.teachertube.com