Comics...Cartoons....

Garfield, Bone, Captain Underpants and many are just a few graphic novels that are sitting on the shelves of many school libraries.  Graphic novels have really taken off and become a popular trend among many students especially in the elementary and middle school grades.  Students enjoy the graphics, the comics and find themselves reading each book in every series.  These collections can be found in the hands of all types of readers: struggling readers to more advanced readers. I have even had parents at conferences ask if they should discourage their gifted and talented son to choose more challenging books instead of the typical Garfield selections.  The librarian in me was crushed!  Why discourage any piece of literature for any child, especially if they enjoy it and it encourages and build a passion for reading?!

So, with the rise of graphic novels in circulation across many school libraries, classroom teachers should encourage the use of the idea of comics and cartoons throughout the curriculum.  Teachers can provide students with any topic across the content and have students create comics or cartoons to explain that topic or idea.  What an amazing idea and activity that would encourage creativity among all students and a great example of differentiating the curriculum.  As a librarian, I would introduce several different types of graphic novels that can be found in our library and provide those for students to read throughout their day, maybe browse during their library time or allow teachers to check them out within introducing graphic novels as a genre to his or her class.  I could even collaborate with teachers to provide websites that would be beneficial and be a great starting point for students to begin designing their own cartoons and comics by going into the classrooms and demonstrating one of the three websites I have tried below works and allow students to explore each website and decide on his or her own which works better for each student and matches his or her creativity and imagination.  Below I have gone ahead and explored a few of those websites and believe that each website has its pros and cons and with my examples, I hope you can decide which site or app is the most convenient for you and your students.

ToonDo- ToonDo is a cool comic creating website that allows students to become as creative and imaginative as they can be!  This free site(yes I said free!!)  allows users to create backgrounds, characters, props, dialogues and many other options that are limitless and so easy to use!  I created a comic below that I absolutely loved creating!  It is very basic and simple, but that is the beauty in comics.  Students can let his or her comic or cartoon reflect his or her knowledge, personality and interests and students will thoroughly enjoy creating this comic or cartoon through ToonDo!

I had the most fun with this one and could have even been more creative, but I wanted an example to show you and definitely have time to introduce you to a couple of others.  ToonDo is an excellent starting point for students and teachers and I would highly recommend ToonDo to anyone!

Pixton- Pixton was the second comic and cartoon creator that I tried out.  It was free to create an account and I had the option to upgrade if I chose but there was a fee.  I decided to stick to the free/basic plan.  This particular website was a tad more difficult and not as user friendly as ToonDoo.  I had to really play around with the character, graphics and dialogue.  Which by the way there were not as many options to choose from as there were with ToonDo(can you tell which one I am partial to??!!).I am sure with the Advanced package on Pixton, students would have a plethora of options to choose from, but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I feel that students would not be as engaged in creating a comic or cartoon from here because of the fewer options, graphics and designs to choose from.   I attached the link for my Pixton comic below.  

The Looney Librarian!

Make Beliefs Comix-  This is by far my least favorite website to use when creating comic or cartoons.  First of all, there were even fewer characters and graphics to choose from than Pixton.  Characters were limited to only four poses and not to mention when you tried to adjust the characters or graphics or add anything to the comic or cartoon, you had to click multiple buttons and it just seemed so time consuming. I felt that students would become very frustrated with this website and unlikely to really get their idea or point across with his or her comic or cartoon.  Below I have provided the very simple and basic Make Beliefs Comix that I created.

In conclusion, the comic or cartoon creator that I highly reccommend and would even consider would be ToonDo.   I think students would really enjoy creating this comic as well as providing an amazing opportunity to express his or her originality and creativity throughout their design and knowledge of graphic novels and comics!  There is an app that can be downloaded on an ipad if that is accessible for your students known as Tellagami. Try out the three I have suggested as a starting point!  Drop a comment below and let me know what you think!

Videos and QR Codes in the library!

Technology is such an amazing and ever changing feature that has become a part of our daily life.  Adults of various professions are using the internet to accommodate their lifestyles and demands in their career.  Library media specialists and their libraries have really blossomed and taken off due to the technological features and resources that have been made available.  Librarians are using apps and videos to meet the needs of all students across his or her campus to showcase what is available in the library, resources and literature that expand educational experiences and assistance that is available by the librarian.  YouTube, Animoto, booktrailers and QR codes are a few popular online resources that can promote the services and resources provided by their school library and librarian and honestly I am amazed and the power behind these online resources!

Growing up, getting on the computer was merely for researching and using YouTube  was really not something kids my age did.  Through the years though, kids are using the internet for a plethora of reasons and YouTube is used by kids of all ages for entertainment, to understand a process, and some people now even have their own channels!  Mind blown, I know!  School libraries and librarians are using YouTube to reach out to students as well.  Students can learn how to research in the library, use the online catalog, and have access to many more educational videos on YouTube.  I researched several online libraries and came across some excellent educational videos within libraries that are great ideas to use in your own library!

NHS Library- Below I found two videos that I thought were excellent for young and older readers.  One video has a school mascot walking students through how to use the online library catalog and locating books.  This is an excellent video for younger readers and even new students new to the campus!  The second video is geared more for older readers in high school.  The librarian actually walks students through how to access the online library off campus.  I actually put together a similar video using screen casting and it was awesome!  Both videos are so beneficial for all readers.

 

The Unquiet Library- Here are found two videos from the Unquiet Library where the librarian actually interviews several students on "What makes a library a library?".  I thought this YouTube video was incredible!  It gives librarians an excellent understanding and idea of what else is needed in the library and how the library and the resources can be evaluated and improved!  The second video was the Unquiet Library on wheels at the cafeteria.  This video was truly one of my favorites.  This YouTube video shows a librarian with books on a cart that she travels with around the school.   There is a computer and scanner on the cart and the librarian checks out books to students during her free time!  What an incredible way to meet the needs of students and encourage and promote reading!

 

The Pikesville High School Library- The first video I came across and thought was so smart was the Pikesville Panthers in Action.  This video showed the mission statement of the library using students and staff from the high school in the video.  Each part of the video allows users to understand the various educational opportunities that exist in the library.  This is excellent for new students and their families that may have recently moved to the school and to understand more about the library and the librarian!  The second video was a video titled "The Panthers Library"  Here the librarian of the high school organized and facilitated a video conference in the library with other schools and the students from other schools were able to connect with other students in other libraries and share experiences. The library media specialist recorded and monitored the video conference.  Incredible and what a great way for students to develop a love for the technological resources the librarian and library have to offer students and staff!!

 

BBS Media- The first YouTube video that I came across was a video titled "Don't Wanna Be Overdue" where librarians and students worked to compose a video to share with the campus about the importance of avoiding overdue books.  This is a great reminder video for students and staff and could be shared on the library media website or in announcements before school.  The second video "AllDoIsRead" where students from the school work together to create a video in the library  showing students the importance of reading and returning books.  With the end of the school year and librarians are beginning to facilitate inventory procedures, I thought how great this would be to show students and classes during library times or streamed on school tv's to show students about how to take care of books, read the books and return them as soon as they are finished!

 

Along with YouTube videos to help encourage and support the importance of reading and the resources available in the library, book trailers are another upcoming idea that has made itself popular and well known.  Book trailers are similar to movie trailers, but book trailers promote books using graphics, music, words and features.  Book trailers allow librarians to showcase books in the library that are new or that would support content in the classroom!  Using Animoto is the easiest and best way to feature books.  I decided to create one on my favorite book of all time, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  This book is my favorite book to read at the beginning of every school year because it's an excellent way to establish the importance of determination and friendship.  I had never created a book trailer using Animoto and honestly it was soooo fun!  Here is the link for my book trailer using Animoto: The One and Only Ivan

QR codes are another excellent way to promote literature within the library.  This is actually a wonderful way for students to explore book trailers.  As the librarian, once you create a book trailer using a QR code generator, students are able to scan the QR code, which looks like this , using a phone or ipad.  Once the code is scanned the book trailer will appear almost immediately.  These are very popular and students more than likely have used them in their classroom so they would be familiar with how to use QR code and how to scan.  There are so many ways librarians could use QR codes in their classrooms.  Librarians could use them at the beginning of the year when meeting with classes by doing a scavenger hunt to get to know the literature offered in the library, librarians can even generate QR codes and post the codes to their website and students could access book trailers for books outside of library hours. QR codes could be used at freshmen orientation to explore the library with families and build and establish  that connection and relationship with the school family and community.  Teachers can even pair up and collaborate with special education teachers to use QR codes to accommodate students with specials needs. There are a plethora of ways that QR Codes can be facilitated in the school library.   Here is the QR code I generated for the book trailer The One and Only Ivan.  There is an advertisement that attached itself to my video so you may have to wait about 5 seconds!  Enjoy!!
  
Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.

Screencasting...ready...set...action!

As educators, we are some of the busiest professionals around.  I know personally, I am constantly searching for updated and easier ways to reach my students and differentiate for everyone.  I have recently discovered screencasting.  Screencasting allows me the opportunity to use technology to  demonstrate a skill, concept or a process on the computer.  Once I record myself walking my students through a process, students are able to use an ipad or laptop to view the screencast and apply their knowledge to what we are working on class. I fell in love instantly with screencasts because I am able to work with groups of students separately without being disturbed by student questions.  They are able to play the Screencast as many times as they want and revisit the video at a later date.

I am sure you are thinking at this point sign me up right?!  Well let me explain how to get started!  First of all, there are a variety of apps and screencasts to use.  Knowing which screencast to use depends on the type of device and program you have available such as a chromebook, MAC, Windows, etc.  If you are using a chromebook, A few possible screencasts you might consider are Screencast-o-matic, Jing, Screencasting, Loom.   These are not the only types of screencasts you can use, but they are the most popular.   With a few of the screencast programs, you have to download the application first and sometimes input personal information which I am not a huge fan of.  I have a chromebook so I decided to go with screen cast programs that were not only popular, but were compatible with my computer.

As I began to research by asking my school librarian and other educators about which screencasts programs were their favorites. I quickly compiled a list of some of the most popular screencasts to use with my Chrome book.  The list included, but not limited to: Microsoft Expression Encoder4, Screencast-o-matic, Ezvid Video Maker and TinyTake.  Below I will explain each of these and their advantages and disadvantages so you can decide on your own the one that is easiest for you and meets the needs of your students.

The first one I created an account for was Microsoft Expression Encoder4.  Since this is a Microsoft program, I thought that this might be the easiest to use.  There is a free trial for this program, which..WOOHOO who doesn't love free??!!  Even though this program is compatible with Windows, it wasn't the easiest to follow. There was a two step process involved when recording and then editing.  The editing was very difficult to figure out and seemed to be time consuming.

The second screen casting program I created an account for and tried was Ezvid Video Maker.  This by far was my favorite program!  It was super easy to follow and very user friendly!  Once you create an account, you are allowed to record you video and capture your screen as well as add slides, pictures and edit.  I highly recommend this one for first time users who are just trying out screen casts.

Then I created an account for TinyTake.  This screen cast is a two in one tool that allows you to not only video record but also screen capture as well and then share easily with your students.  The only feature that I was not fond of is if you remember the keyboard shortcuts to record and video if you remember the shortcuts.  I don't know about you, but I want an application that is easy to use where I don;t have to remember shortcuts in order to use the program.  Plus I was not fond of the fact that you can save the recording in the icloud only if you have an account.

The last screen cast that I created an account for and came across after interviewing a computer teacher that works collaboratively with our school librarian was the screen cast called Screen cast-o-matic.  First and foremost it is FREE!! Secondly it was so user friendly and easy to set up!  Once I was ready to set up, I downloaded the recorder and was able to start recording.  There was a countdown to let me officially know when the recording would begin and then I was able to edit the video when I finished recording.  I highly recommend this program for educators and even older grades to try out as well. 

As I worked on this screen cast, I began to think about the different areas where my students would benefit from this Screencast-o-matic.  Right now I currently teach 3rd grade and I have a very large class.  My students have access to ipads and are able to use them in anchor stations and throughout our school day.  One area students could benefit from this program would during stations when I am working with a guided reading group.  This would be soooo helpful because I would be able to devote my full attention with the group instead of being disturbed by other students with questions on how to work a program independently.  Students would be able to log in and review the video as  many times as they would like and even pause the video whenever need be.  This would also be helpful with such a large class to be able to complete research projects.  Students love to do research online but I am always bombarded with questions on how to access the sites and what to do.  With Screencast-o-matic, students would be able to listen to my recording on appropriate and safe online websites and follow me as we maneuver through the site.

These are just a few screen casting programs that are out there and are highly recommended.  If you are thinking about trying out screen casting to use in your classroom or in your library, start with these and then research others if you would like! I have included my Screencast-o-matic video in case you want to see just truly easy and amazing it is! Happy screen casting!!

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cqe03s0Ka7 

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