Thing 5: Presentation Tools
For some reason I believe I may have looked at this "thing" years ago when I took my first Cool Tools class but with all of the new technology I wanted to revisit it to see what is new and fun to use for my students. My 5th graders do a lot of mini research projects with me and their teachers so I am always looking for new tools for them to use. In the past they have mainly used PowerPoint and a few used Prezi but this year I am requiring all to use Prezi. I am so glad to see it here so that I can pick up some pointers on how to make it easier for the kids to learn how to use it effectively. I was going to explore Google Slides because I'm sure our school is headed that way in the next few years but instead decided to play with Buncee.
Tools I've explored:
Prezi
As I mentioned above, I have used Prezi in the past with some of my students but those were usually the ones that were very comfortable using technology - some would also say they were the adventurous ones. This year I had the good fortune to work with a 4th grade teacher on a collaborative project on explorers in NY. She wanted to offer the class multiple ways to present their findings so that they are learning to use various tools. We narrowed the selection down to PowerPoint and Prezi. I was surprised how many of the kids decided to use Prezi - only one of the students had even heard of it! I tried to show them the basics to get them started and some did really well with it but others struggled - I was hoping to find a tutorial that would help them overcome their fears.
I am also requiring all of my 5th graders to use Prezi on a very short research project about the United States. As in the past some are very excited and many are scared to death because it's new to them. I went on the site tonight to try and locate some type of tutorial that would help them with the basics to try and alleviate some of their fears. I did find the "Official Prezi Transitions Tutorial" which I may show to them but I found it a little confusing for them. I did however learn some new things about the transitions that would be very helpful for the like not rotating the slide too much so that your audience doesn't get dizzy. Another new item was in the positioning of the slides close to one another or far apart. If I decide not to use this tutorial I will make sure to point out the helpful tips to the kids - perhaps even write up a little cheat sheet for them to have while they are creating.
Buncee
I was going through the list of Presentation Tools to decide which one to learn more about and to play with and landed on Buncee. I really loved this tool and can see so many possibilities for my classes and school! I thought it was very simple to use for the most part - it would probably be a piece of cake for younger students because there aren't a lot of options that I'm used to using in PowerPoint, etc. I thought there were a wide variety of pre-made backgrounds and font choices. My only real issue was when I tried to search for images using Buncee - I wasn't able to pull up any of the items I was looking for - it seemed geared to general images like fairy tales or summer. I do wonder if the paid subscription for this would allow better image searching capabilities. However, once I could not pull in the image through Buncee I went to the web, saved the image I was interested in and then found it extremely easy to pull it into my design. There are other wonderful tools to use as well but I did not explore all.
I am currently doing a project with my 4th graders where they will be creating a book trailer on their favorite books in PowerPoint. I would love to use this for them or with my 3rd graders amphibian poems. However, at this point in the year I would not be able to add any new resources to be purchased for this school year. I will make a point of showing our teachers and administrators the tool and to explain the unlimited uses this could provide. I think the students would really love to create on here - it seems as if the possibilities are endless!
Screencastomatic
The screencastomatic tool allows the creator to make little videos or "movies" with either a voice recording or computer recording. I watched the tutorial on how to create these little videos and found it to be very simple. I also liked the fact that the free capabilities are pretty good so that you do not have to upgrade to Pro unless you need to. Based on the grade levels I currently work with I don't really know if I would have them create something on here but I do see great value and using this to assist them on other projects. It would be terrific to create these videos on things like how to use our online catalog or a specific database from our search page. Prior to each project I always model the process and provide a written list of instructions. What I find is that they don't pay attention or forget what they saw once we move from the library to the lab. These videos would be handy to embed on the website so that the kids could go on that to see how to do something rather than having me show them individually again. It would allow for differentiation to occur which can be very difficult when you are the only teacher in a classroom of 20+ students.
I will definitely try to explore using this over the summer as I plan out my new year in a new school!
I really enjoyed reading the Tools, tips and resources section - I have a lot of ideas of ways to incorporate more of these digital tools into my lessons and projects. I was particularly interested in the article that discussed digital poster tools. Years ago during my student teaching I used Glogster but my current district does not subscribe to that. I want to try and find free tools that I can use with the classes to enhance their learning. I know that when my daughters were younger they had a super librarian and she used Glogster with my youngest in kindergarten for a class research project on ants! My daughter still remembers this and she is now in 5th grade!
As for the tools I did look at several that I did not write about but due to fees or the devices needed did not go any further in learning about them. Our district is moving to Chromebooks next year and at this point I do not know what type of device I will have available to me in the library. I really enjoyed using Buncee and sincerely hope that I can get our school or district to provide us access to it for next year.
Tools I've explored:
Prezi
As I mentioned above, I have used Prezi in the past with some of my students but those were usually the ones that were very comfortable using technology - some would also say they were the adventurous ones. This year I had the good fortune to work with a 4th grade teacher on a collaborative project on explorers in NY. She wanted to offer the class multiple ways to present their findings so that they are learning to use various tools. We narrowed the selection down to PowerPoint and Prezi. I was surprised how many of the kids decided to use Prezi - only one of the students had even heard of it! I tried to show them the basics to get them started and some did really well with it but others struggled - I was hoping to find a tutorial that would help them overcome their fears.
I am also requiring all of my 5th graders to use Prezi on a very short research project about the United States. As in the past some are very excited and many are scared to death because it's new to them. I went on the site tonight to try and locate some type of tutorial that would help them with the basics to try and alleviate some of their fears. I did find the "Official Prezi Transitions Tutorial" which I may show to them but I found it a little confusing for them. I did however learn some new things about the transitions that would be very helpful for the like not rotating the slide too much so that your audience doesn't get dizzy. Another new item was in the positioning of the slides close to one another or far apart. If I decide not to use this tutorial I will make sure to point out the helpful tips to the kids - perhaps even write up a little cheat sheet for them to have while they are creating.
Buncee
I was going through the list of Presentation Tools to decide which one to learn more about and to play with and landed on Buncee. I really loved this tool and can see so many possibilities for my classes and school! I thought it was very simple to use for the most part - it would probably be a piece of cake for younger students because there aren't a lot of options that I'm used to using in PowerPoint, etc. I thought there were a wide variety of pre-made backgrounds and font choices. My only real issue was when I tried to search for images using Buncee - I wasn't able to pull up any of the items I was looking for - it seemed geared to general images like fairy tales or summer. I do wonder if the paid subscription for this would allow better image searching capabilities. However, once I could not pull in the image through Buncee I went to the web, saved the image I was interested in and then found it extremely easy to pull it into my design. There are other wonderful tools to use as well but I did not explore all.
I am currently doing a project with my 4th graders where they will be creating a book trailer on their favorite books in PowerPoint. I would love to use this for them or with my 3rd graders amphibian poems. However, at this point in the year I would not be able to add any new resources to be purchased for this school year. I will make a point of showing our teachers and administrators the tool and to explain the unlimited uses this could provide. I think the students would really love to create on here - it seems as if the possibilities are endless!
Screencastomatic
The screencastomatic tool allows the creator to make little videos or "movies" with either a voice recording or computer recording. I watched the tutorial on how to create these little videos and found it to be very simple. I also liked the fact that the free capabilities are pretty good so that you do not have to upgrade to Pro unless you need to. Based on the grade levels I currently work with I don't really know if I would have them create something on here but I do see great value and using this to assist them on other projects. It would be terrific to create these videos on things like how to use our online catalog or a specific database from our search page. Prior to each project I always model the process and provide a written list of instructions. What I find is that they don't pay attention or forget what they saw once we move from the library to the lab. These videos would be handy to embed on the website so that the kids could go on that to see how to do something rather than having me show them individually again. It would allow for differentiation to occur which can be very difficult when you are the only teacher in a classroom of 20+ students.
I will definitely try to explore using this over the summer as I plan out my new year in a new school!
I really enjoyed reading the Tools, tips and resources section - I have a lot of ideas of ways to incorporate more of these digital tools into my lessons and projects. I was particularly interested in the article that discussed digital poster tools. Years ago during my student teaching I used Glogster but my current district does not subscribe to that. I want to try and find free tools that I can use with the classes to enhance their learning. I know that when my daughters were younger they had a super librarian and she used Glogster with my youngest in kindergarten for a class research project on ants! My daughter still remembers this and she is now in 5th grade!
As for the tools I did look at several that I did not write about but due to fees or the devices needed did not go any further in learning about them. Our district is moving to Chromebooks next year and at this point I do not know what type of device I will have available to me in the library. I really enjoyed using Buncee and sincerely hope that I can get our school or district to provide us access to it for next year.
Glad you went back and did a topic you covered before, there's always something new to explore! Buncee was new to me this year too. Such a fun and easy to use tool. Also, I've heard of using Stupeflix for book trailers. I have some links to info on it from a workshop I taught a few weeks ago: https://www.pafa.net/technology-tools-love-reading-part-1/
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