Hi! Not so much time has passed and here I am again this time with a tool that I learned from my classmates Ayşe Soy and Gül Üney's presentation. To me, stroies have a big role in our memories when we try to keep something in mind both inside and outside the classrooms. The part we are interested in as teachers is the one which is implemented in lessons naturally. In general, stories are given to students and they are to answer some basic questions so as to test their comprehension; but what about their imagination, their abilities to create something different and special to them? Restricting them brings improvement neither to us nor to them. If we encourage them to make their own stories, they will become more engaged in their learning. To sum up, I believe that we need such a tool like this, especially these days that technology dominates our lives. I think Storybird is a good tool and I am pretty sure that you will enjoy from the moment you begin to discover it. Of course I have some reasons when I say this but firstly I want to explain what it is and then will come the pros and cons.
What is Storybird?
Storybird is a website which enables you to create your own story in a short time. So many people such as writers, readers, educators, students benefit from its facilities so it is a worldwide community.
What does it provide you?
It requires no age limitation, no payment and no restriction when it comes to select a subject for your story. It presents so many artful stuff so that students do not waste time on concerning themselves with pictures as a result they have a great amount of time to work for the content. They can also work collaboratively. Moreover, they can not only create stories but also picture books and poetry. The good side for teachers is they can create accounts and assignments with ease. When it comes to mention about how to share stories, there are so many social media where you can share, for instance facebook etc. In what way does it limit you?You have to choose only the pictures it gives you.
I really liked it. If you have any experience wtih it or any idea, please do not hesitate to share with me; I will be glad to hear them! See you... :)
Hello everyone! I have not been sharing any posts recently but now I have such a tool that will make it up definitely; it is Powtoon! I can not tell you how much I feel sorry for the times that I did not aware of it. Well, you may ask me what makes it an amazing tool and there are so many answers I can give to you. How do I know so much about it? Again, thanks to my teacher Gökçe Kurt, I had a chance to meet with this tool during the presentation term. I worked with my classmate Sefa Ünal and we prepared a presentation (by using PowerPoint and Youtube) for introducing it to our classmates. I think, we indeed gathered some useful ideas for our future teaching. I do not want to make you wonder any more so I begin to explain it in detail. Now sit back and get ready to meet this effective tool!
What is Powtoon? It is a web application which enables you to create remarkable animated videos. It does not require any special skills in order to use it; even it provides you with tutorials which guide you for a quick start; therefore, it is seen as the world's most user friendly presentation software. It enables you to import images and create voiceovers which allow users to add their own touch to their work, animation. Of course it does not only consist of images and voiceovers; it lets you use the objects and music that are varied enough for flexibilty and creativty. I hid my favourite feature to the last: Its audio/video quality ,unlike traditional presentation tools, moves people away from over-reliance on text to convey ideas and users are able to create more engaging experiences for their audience. Why is it used? Powtoon is great for business and education and I want to explain this question with a short answer by using Powtoon's own words: "Every business needs to convey their message and benefits in an attention grabbing and engaging way -and when it comes to education...- it also makes a difference in the education sector and our tool is designed
to allow education professionals (and students) to create content that
is visually engaging, captivating and fun to make."
How can it be used in language teaching?
Teachers can integrate it smoothly into the existing curriculum furthermore students can implement it as a form of assignment. Here, I also want to add the possible ways to use it in classroom: 1) Teachers(Ts) can introduce themselves to new students(Ss) when beginning to a new term. 2) Ts can give instructions for tasks in a cooler way. 3) Ts can prepare the 5 facts for a new subject. 4) Ts can lay down the classroom rules in an unforgettable way. 5) Ts can make a lesson overview by summarizing key points with a movie. 6) Ts may ease tension and increase interest by introducing the course syllabus in animation. 7) Ss can create cartoon versions of themselves or make the classic family tree task in a more pratical and enjoyable way.
Note: You can find the 1,2,3,4,6 options among Powtoon's own themes and templates and from there, you can begin to create your own animation! For the others, there is also a starting point with ample supporting templates.
After reading all of these, I suppose that you can not wait to see what you can do with it; go and explore it! By the way, here is my outcome. See you soon. :)
