Cartoons & Comics

Children and adults alike have enjoyed comic strips for generations. Comics are written for all age levels, but most recently new variations have become increasingly popular. The style has taken on new forms through graphic novels and have utilized multiple genres including fantasy, science fiction, realistic fiction, historical fiction, memoir, biography and autobiography to name a few. Teaching and exciting students about writing can be a daunting task, but allowing them the option to create cartoons and comics in order to write creatively, share knowledge or process information will ignite enthusiasm. Although they are great for students to use, teachers can create their own to communicate and teach as well.

Ø  Here are some great sites for you to explore:

MakeBeliefsComix

This site requires no registration, so it is ready to use. The comics are very simple to create. Characters, props, backgrounds and speech bubbles are added with just a click. They can then me moved, flipped and resized. The style of the site reminds me of the comics I used to read in the Sunday morning newspaper. The site offers lesson plan ideas, writing prompts, resources for ESL and special needs students and free e-books. After completing a comic strip you have the option to print it and/or email it. It is a bit of a negative in that it cannot be saved and accessed later. So, I decided to take a screenshot of my comic and save it to my computer. It can’t be edited, but I can save the finished product this way. I used MakeBeliefsComix to create a beginning of school introduction. Students can create these the first week of school to introduce themselves to the class and the teacher.

Pixton

This comic strip site does require registration, but it is free. This allows you to save creations and revisit them at a later time. This site also allows you to publish, copy, print and share your strips. Pixton’s realistic style and look is similar to a Marvel comic. The site allows you to choose a basic or advanced level of creating to fit the needs of the user. The options are endless with a multitude of backgrounds, colors, characters, expressions and props. Everything can be resized, moved, altered, flipped and rotated. The sky is the limit with this site and the more I played with it, the more I discovered. I used Pixton to practice the reading skill of summarizing. Summarizing is a skill my students feel to be a chore, so this will be a great way to get students to practice in an engaging way.

ToonDoo

Cartoons come alive with ToonDoo. Registration is required for this site, but it is free. The site is bright, playful and fun. You begin by choosing a layout and then add in background, characters, text and props. There are not an abundance of options, but there are enough to choose from to meet the user’s needs. All items can be flipped, sized, rotated and cloned. Unique to this site is the ability to create your own doodles and save them. You can even upload an image to the site to reference as an assistant in creating your own character called a “TraitR”. Other features include making books, viewing other people’s work and rating published work. ToonDoo would be great for elementary and middle school age kids. I created an example of how it could be used to teach and practice vocabulary words and parts of speech. It is a fun way process and reinforce skills.

* In the future I will use comics and cartoons with students to teach technology skills, to share information, to encourage reinforcement of academic skills and to show teachers how to utilize them in the classroom. I can see myself using all three in the future. They all have unique qualities. I think the choice of which one to use depends upon the the user's needs and personality. 

Online Book Communities

Online book communities are increasingly growing. There are several available to choose from, and while many of them offer some of the same features, they also have unique qualities of their own. These are great digital tools to use in order to organize your own book collections virtually, share your books and thoughts about them with others and follow people that have similar tastes in books. Here are some book community resources that are available:

Goodreads

It is very easy to set up and get started. Tabs across the top (Home, My Books, Friends, Recommendations & Explore) make the site simple to navigate. I like the explore tab because it has a drop down with numerous categories and ways to explore books and the site. I especially like the option to explore by genre. When looking under the recommendations tab, books are organized based off of your bookshelves and also organized by genre. It can be linked to Facebook and Twitter to automatically post when you add or review books. I am even able to follow people I am currently following on Twitter with just one click! I also like the design of adding books; it is bolded in green to standout and all in one spot I can add a book to any shelf and rate it as well. With 16million users, it is a great resource.

LibraryThing

It is simple to set up. Tabs across the top (Home, Your Books, Add Books, Groups Talk, Local, More, Zeitgeist) make it also simple to navigate. On the left side of the page is a link to organized book lists. Your favorite lists can be added to the Home Page dashboard for future reference and quick access. I found adding and organizing books to shelves not very user friendly. It takes multiple steps to add a book to your list and put it in the shelf of choice. I also find it not really pleasing visually. Although, one benefit offered is the option to join groups. This gives you the ability to join other members in a group to discuss books of mutual interest. There are even book club groups that post a monthly title to read and discuss.

Shelfari

I have mixed feelings toward this book community site. I definitely like the look of the site. It is very attractive to the eye. When looking at your bookshelf, it looks like an actual bookshelf. The shelf is organized by: “I’ve Read”, “I Plan To Read” and “I’m Reading”. When browsing books you can define the search by clicking on featured, most popular, subject, series & lists and authors. While within those search options, you can then narrow your search even further by genre. The books are displayed on scrolling bookshelves and are very easy to choose which shelf you want to add it to, rate it and post on Facebook or Twitter. I ran into problems when I attempted to add a profile picture. I have attempted to add four different pictures varying in size. I have used the help source on the site and have Googled solutions to no avail. I did not encounter any of these issues on Goodreads or Librarything. In addition, Shelfari allows you to connect with Facebook and Twitter to follow members in both locations. I accomplished this with ease on Goodreads, but have had no success connecting on Shelfari. I have utilized every troubleshooting advice I could find, but it gives me numerous errors like: “disable pop-up blocker”, “server error” and “not signed into Twitter”. After assuring all digital tools and sites are working properly, I am still unable to connect to Twitter through the site. Ughhhhhh. This is frustrating because I like the design of this site most of all.

Booklikes

This book community is definitely unique from the previous ones I have discussed. I was able to sign up, set up and link with Twitter very quickly. I immediately thought, “This looks a bit like Tumblr”. Across the top I am given options to add text, quote, photo, video or URL. I am also given the option to pick my theme to create a look that I like and then chose the option to blog, add to a virtual bookshelf or create a reading timeline. So, it is like a blog and book community site mash up! Interesting…On the top left of the home page you can use the Dashboard to toggle between blog, bookshelf and timeline. It is very user friendly, and to set up your bookshelf just click on “Book Catalog” within the Dashboard. A large variety of categories to search within are available on the left side as well as the option to search a particular title. When you have found a book to add to the shelf, you can use the default customized shelf or customize your own. You can hover over a book image and get a book synopsis, rating, options to share and an option to post to your blog. I give this site 2 thumbs up.

Biblionasium

Here is a book community for educators, parents and students to share. You can use it for your own personal children or your students. Students/children can add books to their shelves; you can also add recommended books to their shelves. You can get a book synopsis, a link to purchase on Amazon and reading level information. You can even set up reading challenges from the bookshelves for the children to work toward and access resources including articles, booklists and reading organizations. It is designed to be attractive to kids, and they will find it great fun to set up and organize their own collections. It gives them a tool to take ownership of their reading and look forward to what they will read next.

Ø  In the end, for my own professional use I will continue to use Goodreads and Booklikes. I liked the navigation and layout of these sites the most. Goodreads has the greatest number of users, which gives more resources to utilize. Booklikes offers the opportunity to build my shelves and blog simultaneously. I find that very appealing. Professionally speaking Biblionasium will be a tool I recommend to teachers to use with their students. This will be a great way to get students to plan future reading.

* Screen shots were taken with the FREE software SKITCH. It just takes a moment to download and is very easy to use. With SKITCH you can take full screenshots, screenshots of selected portions of your screen and you can draw, highlight and type on your screen before taking your screenshot. It is such a handy tool to utilize.

The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools

Buchanan, J., Friedrich, L., & Purcell, K. (2013). The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools. Pew ResearchCenter. Retrieved from: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teachers-technology-and-writing

According to surveyed teachers of Advanced Placement and National Writing Project students, the use of digital tools has provided both advantages and disadvantages in correlation to student writing performance. Based on their experience, digital tools have allowed for a larger audience to write for, more student collaboration and provide a sense of ownership and freedom. On the other hand with the increased use of texting, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, the form of language used to communicate is abbreviated and conversational. With youth becoming increasingly immersed in these forms of writing and communication, it is only natural for it to carry over into their academic writing assignments. This is a new challenge teachers are encountering during instruction when teaching students how to write formally and with increased depth and complexity.

So, are Internet and digital technologies helpful or harmful? The teachers surveyed were very divided. Hands down, Google Docs is seen as a great collaboration tool and beneficial to student writing. But teachers expressed concerns regarding students having access to a constant stream of information shared in a multitude of ways causing plagiarism issues. The casual sharing of information has desensitized youth writers to being conscientious of copyright restrictions. Additionally, almost 1/3 of the teachers viewed digital tools as the cause of students being lazy writers.

This study and these finding are only from a small percentage of middle and high school teachers primarily teaching advanced or high achieving learners. Would the findings be the same if a larger sample of teachers had been surveyed? Teaching writing conventions, forms, styles, citations and voice is an enormous task. As an ELA teacher of 1^st-4^th grade regular ed. and GT students, I found writing one of the most complicated things to teach. This was the case with and with out digital tools. Good writing incorporates so many skills working collaboratively together. As with any new tool, there will be benefits along with downfalls. Nothing is ever perfect, so it is the teacher’s responsibility to analyze new technologies through trial and error and emphasize the digital tool’s advantages. Technology is continuously growing and changing, thus the concepts and methods of instruction need to evolve and change.

The study is an extension of PEW’s previous research. The previous studies show continued increase in the use of Internet, digital tools and social media in teens and adults. So with the information gathered, this study aimed to see the effect on student research and writing. From the survey administered, the majority of writing the students are doing in class on a regular basis is short response, opinion pieces and/or journal writing. The informal and conversational digital skills enhance these forms of writing, but formal research papers are only being assigned once a year. How can academic writing improve if it is not practiced on a regular basis? How can digital tools used for research or collaboration enhance writing if formal papers are not assigned? Surveyed teachers of all subject areas place high value on the importance of academic writing, so there seems to be a gap between acknowledging importance and instructional follow-through. Overall, the impact digital tools have had on student writing is inconclusive. Youth may be writing more in today’s society, but more is not always better. As educators, I think the focus in writing should be on thoughtful, developed, organized and revised pieces of writing and how digital tools can be used to enhance the process as well as the final product. Librarians can and should be utilized as co-teachers in developing these essential writing and technology skills.

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Podcasts

Podcasts are voice recordings that can be done with or without images and/or video. Many podcasts are conversational. There are many podcasting tools ready and available to join and begin recording with just a few clicks.

I have used Podbean to publish my podcasts before. I used Audacity to record my content and saved it as an MP3 file. I then uploaded the saved file to Podbean and published it on the Podbean site. You can share with others with one click to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Google+.

I decided to look into a couple of other tools and explore what they had to offer. SoundCloud is one that is frequently used. It allows you to follow people, "like" specific podcasts and create playlists. You can upload recordings or record on SoudCloud. It can also be shared on all social media sites.

I also tested out AudioBoom. This tool also allows you to follow people, "like" specific podcasts and create playlists. I found the browse page to be pleasing to the eye. In SoundCloud the browse options are # links by topic. In AudioBoom, links to podcasts have an image with a short heading or descriptor. I decided to try using this option for my latest podcast. It was very simple. I clicked the large red dot to record and clicked record when I was ready. Then click save, add title, add image (if you want) and add #s to categorize(optional). POOF! Now I can share in social media, on my blog or send a link for anyone to view.

Podcasting is utilized in classrooms as well as libraries. Educators use them to teach each other. As a librarian, I can record instructions and give explanations regarding information literacy or technology. Then I am able to share them on my website, blog or Facebook page for the teachers to be able to access and use at any time. I can also do the same for the students. In addition, teaching the students how to create their own podcast is very beneficial. They can create podcasts about a current project, as a storytelling tool, as reader's advisory or to give book reviews. The options are endless. It is a great way for students to process, reflect and share their learning.

Here is another example of how podcasts can be used in the library.
This is my latest podcast interviewing 4th grader C.J.

listen to ‘Fantasy Books-Podcast’ on audioBoom