I have had teachers make a yodio of their autistic students that was used to provide information about that student to staff members. Another teacher is using yodio to showcase her student’s alliteration book. After each child creates their image and sentence, they are recording themselves reading their page. Yet another teacher has used yodio as a way for students to narrate how to solve a math problem. This example is available below:

Teachers can use yodio as a way to track student’s ability to read a piece of text – another fluency check. It can be a great way to showcase a students development not only for yourself, but for students and parents.

A note: if you add your phone number from school and that number doesn’t show up on a caller I.D., then it won’t automatically tie into your account. There is a way to add a password when you use that number so that you can access that podcast on your account.

For ease of use, this is a great way for students to begin creating personalized products.

This site allows anyone to create a three scene movie with up to two characters in each scene. Students can choose the setting, the background, the characters (and their dialog), the music, their title, and the title theme. It is a great way to allow students to begin working with these concepts in a more sophisticated way. I have had my students create movies explaining an important historical event, a process, and a “how to” video. They were able to select their topics based upon those three criteria. You could have students create a video on virtually anything. Some ideas would include: how to solve a math problem, a biography of a historical figure (or themselves), how to care for an animal or pet, how to play a game, and why something is important.

Since my students weren’t setting up an account, they had to create their video in one class sitting. I therefore created a graphic organizer where they selected their scene, background, character, and music selections ahead of time. I also have a place for them to write out their dialog. I found that if I just had them try to create it on the fly, they really struggled with not only finishing it within the class period, but also creating a quality product.

Just a small warning before you have your students create their own movies – preview the entire process first. There are several scenes and characters that would not be appropriate for students to use. I do not include those options in the graphic organizer that I created. When I am previewing the site with them, I show them all of the characters and scenes, but quickly point out those that are not O.K. for them to use. I have had no problems with them using inappropriate characters or scenes.

The great thing about dvlover is that you can embed the movies. I have my students embed theirs on their personal page on the class wiki. Click here to view some examples of my students’ movies.

Since I teach in a K-8 school, I can have my students create movies that can be used to instruct younger students or to extend their knowledge. I try hard to have a purpose beyond just completing the assignment for them to consider.

Below is a Jing screencast that I created to explain how to create a dvolver.com/ movie.

Dvolver

This screencast explains how to embed your dvolver movie onto a wikispaces page.

Embedding Dvolver

This is the graphic organizer that I created for my class: dvolver storyboard-1

I have found dvolver to be a great way for my students to create a visual representation of their knowledge.

After discussing it with the 1st grade teacher and ironing out some details, it looked like it was going to happen. I had decided to piggy back on the concepts and content that he was teaching in class to help us determine which books to read. For example, when his class studied family relationships, my students checked out picture books on that subject to read. This was another way that this project could help build some background knowledge and experiences for his students. In this manner, both groups of kids would benefit. For some topics, my students selected from nonfiction texts, especially when it came to science topics. I feel that it is important for my students to learn how to read both fiction and nonfiction as they require different tones and expressions.

After our first trip, I decided to step things up a notch, and talked to my students about engaging the 1st graders that they were reading to. We talked about asking questions (both comprehension and connecting questions) as we read the book. In this way, the 1st graders would be even more engaged. It also provided a challenge for my students to come up with interesting, relevant questions for the group that they were reading to.

Since my purpose was to focus on fluency, I have videotaped each student read for about 20 seconds each time we visit the 1st grade class. I can then create a video of their clips and track their progress over time. It also allows me to assess how they are reading fiction vs. nonfiction texts.

I must say, my students have really enjoyed this experience. They are becoming more and more proficient and one of the benefits is their progress with not only reading out loud, but the level that they must understand the book and its concepts before they read to the 1st graders. While it is helping the 1st graders build their background knowledge, it is also doing the same for my students.

During the course of the week, my students select a book to read, practice reading it out loud to themselves, practice reading it out loud to their classmates, read it to me, and write down some questions that they can ask. In this manner, by the time we visit the 1st graders, most are proficient at reading their books.

I must say that this project has turned out better than I had hoped. It is an experience that my students look forward to. They do not complain about practicing because they know that a real audience awaits them. At this point, they know that the 1st graders will lose interest really quickly if they don’t perform well, so they always strive to keep it engaging. The first graders love it as well, stopping me during lunch to ask when my class will be visiting them.

Reading a nonfiction text to 1st graders.

Yesterday, the circus, aka “The Greatest Show on Earth,” came to town here in Denver, CO. Today, however, we have our own “circus stars” to feature in the Thirteenth Edition ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival. I would like to present to you…

Ringmaster, Larry Ferlazzo
Larry Ferlazzo is the author of Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL. As ringmaster, Larry will direct us all to the important question “Separate High Schools for Immigrants?“

Pyrotechnics and Sound, Nik Peachey
Nik knows how to set the stage and add all the fireworks and pizzaz when introducing Web 2.0 Tools for EFL ESL Teachers at Nik’s Quick Shout through his latest presentation in video and scribd booklet format. And, to make sure that the audience doesn’t get bored, he dazzles us with Creating your Broadcast Network, a collection of tools that Nik himself uses to “put information ‘out there.’”

Lion Tamer, Karenne Sylvester
Karenne is the tamer of all the lion hearted ESL/EFL/ELL teachers as she discusses the ins and outs of Twitter in her blog post The English Language Teacher Guide to Twitter, tech tip #11. Not only does Karenne tame those familiar with English as a Second Language but she also guarantees that those in the audience also understand “What’s a TEFL Teacher?” in her blog, Kalinago English: Teaching Speaking Using Technology.

Tightrope Walker, Johanna Stirling
Johanna balances and performs on the tightrope while explaining the skills needed to successfully use spell checkers. For the observers who are too distracted by her performance to take notes, they can find the answer to Spell checkers- how useful are they? at The Spelling Blog.

Animal Caretaker/Trainer, David Deubel
David is our featured animal caretaker/trainer. Working with animals is never an easy task, but David makes every effort to provide those in his care with the tools and encouragement to be successful. Stop by and say hello after the show. David and his friends can be found at EFL Classroom 2.0- Teacher Talk: Presentations to help new teachers.

Flying Trapeze Artist, Chiew N Pang
Chiew is a one man circus all himself as he flies from one trapeze to the next. The first combination of stunts is Ideas for the First Lesson and Ideas for Using Videos in the Classroom. As his finale, Chiew makes it fun for all with a Cockney Rhyming Slang, Game for a Steffi? Time for a Bubble?

Acrobat, Barbara Sakamoto
There is never just one acrobat at the circus. It seems they always perform as a group and put on a spectacular show when they work together. Barbara has mastered working with groups and shares her journey from the “pre-Internet 80′s” to the “social 2000′s” and experiences with PLN’s. What is a PLN, anyway? I’ll let Barbara tell you at her blog Teaching Village: We’re better when we work together.

Aerialist, Shelly Terrell
Shelly Terrell sores above the rest Getting Children Involved with Edtech at Teacher Reboot Camp. She also invites others to join her PLN up high with Voice Thread. Audiences are amazed as what they perceive as the impossible happens right before their eyes.

Fire Breather/Eater, Mary Ann Zehr
Mary Ann is not afraid of hot topics. She will astonish those watching with spectacular feats of fire at her blog post, Learning the Language: We Don’t Know Much About the ELLs in Charter Schools, as she eats and breathes issues concerning English Language Learners.

Juggler, JP Loucky
JP is not your average juggler. He juggles people at his CALL 4 All ning where he presents a CALL Collaboration Proposal. For those of you not familiar with CALL, it is an acronym for Computer Assisted Language Learning. So if you are interested in networking with other jugglers, give JP’s blog post a visit.

Contortionist, Rafael
Rafael displays his contortion abilities and talents bilingually. At his blog post Classroom language when using the board / Lenguaje útil del profesor de Inglés en la Pizarra, Rafael demonstrates a variety of questioning techniques teachers can incorporate while at the board so that students stay engaged in the lesson.

Unicyclist, Nightwalker
This unicyclist is not just talented in one area as some might assume. He has skills. “Skills?” you say. Yes, Nightwalker is proficient in balancing reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills to support his demonstrations. One performance that Nightwalker is best known for is Dictation. “Why Dictation?” you say. You’ll just have to stay for the show to find out.

Trampolinist, Janet Bianchini
Janet is “high on the hog” when she is on the trampoline and makes it look like “a piece of cake.” Her blog post WikiEducator Update demonstrates her skills as a WikiEducator using Wordle and idioms.

Circus Clown, Ann Foreman
Ann is one clown that stuns the crowd with her karaoke skills. When Ann is not performing, she hosts karaoke parties for the rest of the circus clowns. They all practice for their time in the spotlight using the Sing and Investigate Task at her blog Encouraging learner autonomy.

Encore: You can view all blog submissions here. Have a great school year and we look forward to seeing you again soon at “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

I first had to teach my students about social sites (which Ning is), how to communicate on them, how to navigate to the site, selecting an avatar, and the list goes on. My students loved it immediately. It was something that they were interested in doing not only every day at school, but also at home. After I had buy-in, I knew that I must keep the purpose of the site academically related.

We started by having discussions in the forum section about the books that they were reading. Invitations to join the site were extended to all of my students, but also to administrators and other teachers that were interested in posting information. This became a place where all of my students could communicate.

From there, I moved to embedding videos on the site. The first round of videos were based on what my students were studying in social studies class. For one group, a video on ancient Greece, for another, an archaeological dig, and for the last group, Chinese immigration. After watching the video, there was a question and they needed to respond to it. They could also respond to someone else’s comment. I found that this was an engaging way to bring content into my classroom so that I could support building background knowledge.

While gcast.com/ was free, I was able to embed podcasts that my students had given over various books so that others could listen to it.

Moving into next year, I plan on teaching my students about blogging (as there is a blog feature). I think that this can be a great way to lead into a more technical writing, especially if they begin quoting other sources (which I would like for them to do).

If you decide to start your own Ning (which means “peace” in Chinese, by the way), there are several things to keep in mind.

1. Decide if you want your site to be open or closed. As the creator of the site, you have network creator privileges and select the level of security that you want.

2. You can also decide what types of features that you want on the site (videos, blogs, groups, forums, music, events, etc).

3. You can decide the level of control over what information is posted. For some features, you can establish a requirement that the network creator must approve posts.

4. Each member of the Ning has their own page. As network creator, you can decide if they can change the colors on that page (this was something that I did allow).

5. Since my Ning was for academic purposes, I knew each student’s login information. This was not only a safeguard feature, but also one of practicality. I can’t tell you how many forgot their login information.

6. The content of the Ning is really up to you, the creator and to your members. The sky is the limit!

Here is what we have found to be and not to be useful…

Phonecasting.com seems to offer promise because it allows users to record and publish podcasts through various methods such as uploading your podcast from your computer or calling and recording a podcast from your phone. It is free to use and the number you call to record the podcast is toll free. The later was a huge feature that we considered essential for two reasons: 1) we cannot expect our students to call a long distance number from their home phone and they may not have a cell phone 2) teachers cannot call long distance from the school and to record a co-planning session would possibly use excess minutes on their cell phones. However, Jennifer and I were both unsuccessful at setting up a channel (the location where the podcasts would be stored or featured). Even after referencing the “how to” directions many times, we still could not figure out how to completely set up the account and channel. It was very frustrating and we can normally figure out these types of things (at least together). Needless to say, we will not be using phonecasting.com.

I liked Drop.io almost immediately. Drop.io is much like an online file folder for sharing files. It allows you to upload media, documents, podcasts, pretty much anything you can imagine. It even allowed me to upload a .m4v file that I created and then exported from iMovie. You can “drop” a file by uploading it directly to your drop.io folder, emailing it, or calling and recording a voicemail. Drop.io also provides a number to call if you wish to host a conference call. Drop.io was very easy to set up and use. When I performed a “test” call, I was surprised how quickly the .mp3 file appeared in the drop. The only set back that we foresaw was the long distance telephone number for the voicemail.

Yodio.com allows users to record, create, and share pictures, presentations, etc. Yodio users upload pictures or a presentation and add narration from their computer or by phone. The number users call to record their Yodio is toll free. However, the number the user calls from must be registered with the account being called. Yodio was also very easy to set up and use. One thing that we like about Yodio is the visual component it offers.

We would love to hear of any sites that you use for podcasting or how you use podcasting in your classroom.

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