This document summarizes several free online tools that can be used to encourage and support Response to Intervention (RTI) efforts: Piktochart for creating visual summaries and infographics, Animoto for making video presentations, Aurasma for augmenting real-world objects with digital content through mobile devices, and Vocaroo for recording audio comments or explanations. Examples are given for how each tool could be used to support different subjects and Standards of Learning. A link is also provided to the presenter's blog for more information. The summary concludes by stating that all the presented tools are free to use.
Google Exit China - the analysis and recommendations for Chinese Government_H...Sophia Liu
Ten years after Google exited China, what are the influences left for the netizens in this country? While the great firewall still stands strong, central censorship still expands its hands into every corner of public press, what does the Chinese government have to do to settle the increasingly noisy international media pressing on free speech? This research focuses on system analysis and policy recommendations for the IT ministry of P.R.C.
MBA presentation regarding the Google in China Situation.
My involvement: Presentation Structure, Flow and layouts. Some research and pitching.
Important:
1 - The icons used on this presentations were not created by me, they were used for educational purposes only.
2 - All Data used in this presentation were found online and does not reflect any of the mentioned companies actual positions or opinions
The Kojo Nnamdi Show: Haiti: Three Months After the QuakeWAMU 88.5
Carel Pedre, one of Haiti's most popular radio broadcasters, was on the air hours after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake hit his country. He talks about life in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas more than three months after the quake.
Multiplying the impact of online instruction - "The Obviousness of Open Policy"Jane Park
This is the talk I gave to SUNY instructional designers at http://slnsolsummit2012.edublogs.org. It is a remix of Cable Green's talk, "The Obviousness of Open Policy" at http://www.slideshare.net/cgreen/sloan-the-obviousness-of-open-policy.
A public lecture I gave to first-year journalism students at the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences in Norway.
The focus of the lecture was on tips and practices. Please also mind the sources on the last slide. They provide excellent further information.
# Longer Introduction
On Twitter every now and then a celebrity is declared dead. Very often this is just a hoax: For instance, Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington have had a mysterious deadly snowboarding accident. And when North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il died, the rapper Lil Kim became a trending topic as many hip hop fans simply got confused due their similar names.
Rumours, hoaxes and wrong information have been everyday phenomena in the news business. With social media some things have changed: User generated content has become a new source for journalists and now news spread and modify faster than ever. Journalists have to adapt to these new conditions. Last week I gave a lecture to first-year journalism students in Oslo. In the talk I put the phenomenon of rumours in social media into context and gave the students some tips on how to use the means they have available to check facts. The last slide contains links to a excellent blog posts and papers that contribute to the topic. Elsebeth Frey at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences was so kind to give me the opportunity to speak in her class about fact checking.
Social Movements on the Commons by David BollieriCommons iSummit
The Commons is one of many social movements active in the world today. Many of them share characteristics with the Commons, but there are significant differences. What can the Commons learn from other social movements and vice versa? Is there a more effective way of doing things and has someone been doing it for ages without the Commons noticing?
Slides from David Bollier's keynote remarks at iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan, July 31, 2008. Licensed under Creative Commons BY license except as noted.
US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Economics of Bribery by @EricPesikEric Pesik
This lecture was originally presented October 25, 2014, by Eric Pesik, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo, State University of New York School of Management.
International Executive MBA Program, International Business Law, Politics, & Ethics, Module 13, MGT 612, Intake 18.
Presented at SIM Management House, Singapore Institute of Management, 41 Namly Avenue, Singapore 267616
How Brands Can Survive & Thrive Online - Digital EvolutionAndrea Vascellari
Andrea Vascellari's presentation about "digital evolution" and how "digital species" - in this case websites & web properties of brands and organizations - need to adapt to environmental changes (new technologies, etc...) or else they will be wiped off the face of the world wide web.
Google Exit China - the analysis and recommendations for Chinese Government_H...Sophia Liu
Ten years after Google exited China, what are the influences left for the netizens in this country? While the great firewall still stands strong, central censorship still expands its hands into every corner of public press, what does the Chinese government have to do to settle the increasingly noisy international media pressing on free speech? This research focuses on system analysis and policy recommendations for the IT ministry of P.R.C.
MBA presentation regarding the Google in China Situation.
My involvement: Presentation Structure, Flow and layouts. Some research and pitching.
Important:
1 - The icons used on this presentations were not created by me, they were used for educational purposes only.
2 - All Data used in this presentation were found online and does not reflect any of the mentioned companies actual positions or opinions
The Kojo Nnamdi Show: Haiti: Three Months After the QuakeWAMU 88.5
Carel Pedre, one of Haiti's most popular radio broadcasters, was on the air hours after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake hit his country. He talks about life in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas more than three months after the quake.
Multiplying the impact of online instruction - "The Obviousness of Open Policy"Jane Park
This is the talk I gave to SUNY instructional designers at http://slnsolsummit2012.edublogs.org. It is a remix of Cable Green's talk, "The Obviousness of Open Policy" at http://www.slideshare.net/cgreen/sloan-the-obviousness-of-open-policy.
A public lecture I gave to first-year journalism students at the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences in Norway.
The focus of the lecture was on tips and practices. Please also mind the sources on the last slide. They provide excellent further information.
# Longer Introduction
On Twitter every now and then a celebrity is declared dead. Very often this is just a hoax: For instance, Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington have had a mysterious deadly snowboarding accident. And when North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il died, the rapper Lil Kim became a trending topic as many hip hop fans simply got confused due their similar names.
Rumours, hoaxes and wrong information have been everyday phenomena in the news business. With social media some things have changed: User generated content has become a new source for journalists and now news spread and modify faster than ever. Journalists have to adapt to these new conditions. Last week I gave a lecture to first-year journalism students in Oslo. In the talk I put the phenomenon of rumours in social media into context and gave the students some tips on how to use the means they have available to check facts. The last slide contains links to a excellent blog posts and papers that contribute to the topic. Elsebeth Frey at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences was so kind to give me the opportunity to speak in her class about fact checking.
Social Movements on the Commons by David BollieriCommons iSummit
The Commons is one of many social movements active in the world today. Many of them share characteristics with the Commons, but there are significant differences. What can the Commons learn from other social movements and vice versa? Is there a more effective way of doing things and has someone been doing it for ages without the Commons noticing?
Slides from David Bollier's keynote remarks at iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan, July 31, 2008. Licensed under Creative Commons BY license except as noted.
US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Economics of Bribery by @EricPesikEric Pesik
This lecture was originally presented October 25, 2014, by Eric Pesik, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo, State University of New York School of Management.
International Executive MBA Program, International Business Law, Politics, & Ethics, Module 13, MGT 612, Intake 18.
Presented at SIM Management House, Singapore Institute of Management, 41 Namly Avenue, Singapore 267616
How Brands Can Survive & Thrive Online - Digital EvolutionAndrea Vascellari
Andrea Vascellari's presentation about "digital evolution" and how "digital species" - in this case websites & web properties of brands and organizations - need to adapt to environmental changes (new technologies, etc...) or else they will be wiped off the face of the world wide web.
Joana Moll (Media Artist, Spain) : "Move and Get Shot. Surveillance through s...antiAtlas of Borders
“The Texas Border” and “AZ: move and get shot” sont deux œuvres d’art numérique qui explorent le phénomène de la surveillance sur Internet effectué par des civils à la frontière entre le Mexique et les États-Unis à partir de plateformes mises en place par les autorités américaines. Beaucoup de ces plateformes en ligne sont apparues lors du développement des réseaux sociaux dont la structure a été adoptée comme une alternative moins chère et plus efficace pour surveiller la frontière. Ainsi, l’activité de loisir est devenue un outil pour la militarisation de la société civile. Cette présentation exposera le processus de recherche derrière les deux œuvres d’art et analysera l’évolution de certaines de ces plateformes internet depuis leur création jusqu’à nos jours.
Seminar series at the Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI), London
Website: http://hcdi.brunel.ac.uk/
The Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI) brings together a group of experts from four Brunel University Schools who develop the knowledge and skills required to design products, services and systems which are physically, perceptually, cognitively and emotionally intuitive.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
This is a presentation by Dada Robert in a Your Skill Boost masterclass organised by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS) on Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th of May 2024.
He discussed the concept of quality improvement, emphasizing its applicability to various aspects of life, including personal, project, and program improvements. He defined quality as doing the right thing at the right time in the right way to achieve the best possible results and discussed the concept of the "gap" between what we know and what we do, and how this gap represents the areas we need to improve. He explained the scientific approach to quality improvement, which involves systematic performance analysis, testing and learning, and implementing change ideas. He also highlighted the importance of client focus and a team approach to quality improvement.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
We all have good and bad thoughts from time to time and situation to situation. We are bombarded daily with spiraling thoughts(both negative and positive) creating all-consuming feel , making us difficult to manage with associated suffering. Good thoughts are like our Mob Signal (Positive thought) amidst noise(negative thought) in the atmosphere. Negative thoughts like noise outweigh positive thoughts. These thoughts often create unwanted confusion, trouble, stress and frustration in our mind as well as chaos in our physical world. Negative thoughts are also known as “distorted thinking”.
1. Tools to Encourage the Art at the
Heart of RtI
Presented by Angela Smith
Freeman HS, Henrico County
2.
3. "Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb screenshot" by http://www.doctormacro1.info/Images/Three%20Stooges,%20The/Annex/Annex%20-%20Three%20Stooges,%20The_03.jpg.
Licensed under Fair use of copyrighted material in the context of Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb via Wikipedia–
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Healthy,_Wealthy_and_Dumb_screenshot.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Healthy,_Wealthy_and_Dumb_screenshot.jpg
12. Poor, Ed. New York driver in a Mitsubishi Galant using two hand held mobile phones at once, in a traffic jam. Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 25 Oct. 2008. Web. 21
July 2014.
13. Reasons you should not text while driving
A copy of the first topic sentence from
his essay.
A copy of the second topic sentence
from his essay
20. "Mathematics has its
own language, and the
acquisition of
specialized vocabulary
and language patterns
is crucial to a student's
understanding and
appreciation of the
subject"
("Mathematics
Standards of Learning
for Virginia Public
Schools" 20).
23. "Bill Nye, Barack Obama and Neil deGrasse Tyson selfie 2014" by The White House - http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/14081505711/. Licensed under Public
domain via Wikimedia
Commons –
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Nye,_Barack_Obama_and_Neil_deGrasse_Tyson_selfie_2014.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Bill_Nye,_Barack_Obama_and_Neil_deGras
se_Tyson_selfie_2014.jpg
29. "Davy Crockett2 1967 Issue-5c" by US Post Office - US Post OfficeHi-res scan of postage stamp by Gwillhickers.. Licensed under
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Davy_Crockett2_1967_Issue-
5c.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Davy_Crockett2_1967_Issue-5c.jpg
33. "Monarch In May" by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson - Taken by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson. Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monarch_In_May.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Monarch_In_May.jpg
34.
35. By Collin Knopp-Schwyn (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
39. "Playaway" by Hydrargyrum - self-made. Via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Playaway.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Playaway.jpg
40.
41. If there are twelve
Hershey kisses, how can
Roger and Richie divide
them evenly?
1.
42.
43. SOL 3.4e
"Exposition Haydn's Sonata in G Major" by This file is lacking author information. - Created by Hyacinth (talk) 19:09, 23 June 2010 using Sibelius 5.. Licensed under
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exposition_Haydn%27s_Sonata_in_G_Major.png#mediaviewer/File:Exposition_Haydn%27s_Sonata_in_G_Major.png
(60 seconds) Good morning/afternoon. I’m Angie Smith;I’m from Henrico County where for 13 years I’ve taught English at Freeman High School, but in another two I hope to become a librarian because I know that librarians can make a difference. You’re the heart of your school in part because you’re among the few individuals looking to support your staff and students. I can speak to that personally. Our own librarian, Carolyn Schmid, is my first recourse when I need help.
And one way you can help teachers and students alike is with the implementation of RtI or Response to Intervention. What RtI really boils down to is differentiated instruction, but what teachers often hear with that phrase is “more work for teachers.” But it doesn’t have to be. They can start with what they do already and reimagine how they do it. It’s not about working harder but working smarter.
(35 sec) This sad looking little lineman is my son. He’s looking at the scoreboard, and he sees defeat is imminent. This is pretty much the same look you would see him wear when his 4th grade teacher told him to write another essay. She, like so many of your teachers, was frustrated and stumped. But, hey, I’m an English teacher, right? I’ve got this. I resolved that I would teach him myself to write an essay.
(30 sec) It did not go well. But this painful and comical experience was also an epiphany. Working with my son reminded me of some of my own frustrations with students in my classroom. Students I thought weren’t trying hard enough. When it’s your own child, though, you can’t quit trying. You have to look for solutions.
Kyle is a visual-spatial thinker. You’ve met his type before. His backpack is mess just like his desk. He could spend hours on his video game and be unaware that time has passed. He can visualize the next ten moves on the chess board, but he can’t remember which books to bring home at the end of the day. Math comes naturally to him, but he spells “awesome” o-w-s-u-m.
And he’s not alone. 1/3 of your students think in images.
But if we could provide more opportunities for those visual-spatial thinkers (click), all of our students (click) would benefit, and you would be teachers to their harried and overworked teachers. It’s fun for the students, helpful and easier to grade for teachers.
So I’m here today to show you four free tools that can help you, too, to reimagine what you and your teachers do. Start with what you do anyway. Take a moment now to think about a particular assignment you think is ripe for reimagining, and I hope that by the time I offer a sampling of piktochart, animoto, aurasma, and vocaroo that you will be able to leave with some great ideas to take back to your school.
Think of piktochart and infographics in general as an essay/poster hybrid. You see a few examples from their gallery here. Naturally not all the features are free, but the free services are adequate for the needs of you and your students. Once you have an account, you have access to the free templates, and altering the text and images is easier than manipulating templates in Word.
I should add that while basic accounts are free, you will have to provide an e-mail address.
(5 sec) So how can you use it? How about to review?
(30 sec) Look at this poor kid. He’s stuck in the past, and his elementary school teacher has given him that dreaded one word task: “study.” What does this cryptic assignment even mean? Read it again? Stare at it until your eyes water? Or interact with the same material in a new and meaningful way? Reimagine how the children in your school can study.
(8 sec) An elementary school student can login to piktochart and choose a ready-made template like this one.
(50 sec) And turn it into a review like this one. Does the template impose limitations? Absolutely. Is that good? You betcha. Now young Stu must not only remember the events of Hatchet but evaluate those events to decide which ones are the most significant and worth including in this limited space. Moreover, he must search the icons for an important visual to go along with the event. Kids like my son might start with the visual, which will help them produce the text. Kids like me might start with the text and let it guide them to the visual. All the children, every type of learner, benefits from the same task.
(5 sec) What about the older student?
(29 sec) Let’s pretend you’re helping Mrs. Roger’s 9th graders with a five paragraph essay about texting and driving. She wants them to write the traditional essay and create a visual to go along with it. Abe Bell writes an essay declaring the dangers of texting while driving. He has a thesis, topic sentences, details…. It’s a solid essay. But his poster looks something like this:
(20 sec) By the time he finally finished his essay, he had little time left to fill his poster. He wasn’t much interested in doing more work on this assignment. But what if instead of more work, he saw it as all one assignment? Encourage your teachers to reimagine persuasive writing.
(50 sec) Perhaps Abe composes an infographic like this one.
Again the visual-spatial student has the opportunity to start with images. The audio-sequential student has the choice to start with text.
The QR code is a concept I’ll come back to, but I urge you to consider posting these infographics if your library has the printing potential. Students will always work harder to impress their peers than they will to impress adults, but more importantly students see the authenticity in the assignment. Who knows? Abe might have persuaded someone about the foolishness of texting and driving. Would another student have read the essay? Would anyone but Mrs. Rogers have read the essay?
(22) Piktocharts are here for you as well. Before your students are actually in the library, how can you entice them to enter? How to you reach those ELL students you want in the discussions of International Authors Book Club? How do you prompt classroom teachers to bring you aboard for support?
(27) Like the persuasive infographic, piktochart is well suited to advertising your library space.
One of the limitations of piktocharts is their standard size is best suited to posters rather than flyers or inserts or… (ahem) power points, but regardless they have potential for being a useful classroom tool.
Before I move on to Animoto, can I answer any questions? (3 minutes)
(22) As the name implies, this website sets images in motion. It also allows you to add music and text. Apply for an educator account, and you can share this with up to 50 students. Without it, they still have up to 30 seconds of free animation. But again, what use is it?
(14) What teacher is not given the task of vocabulary? Even k-5 librarians are charged with conveying knowledge of the rose compass. So reimagine flashcards.
This is an example of one such word and image association. Plaque, she argued, is hard to get off your teeth completely. That’s why you go to the dentist. Hence, her connection to “implacable,” which means… anyone? (a person who cannot be appeased; relentless). She connected the stubborn nature of plaque to the stubbornness applied to personality mostly because of the phonic similarity. Is it the image you would have chosen? Probably not, but making the choice is what made it stick. If she chooses to listen to the Mozart accompaniment, she is tapping into yet another sensory prompt.
This idea has applications in every subject, even math.
(36) Whenever parents ask me for advice on how to help their children better comprehend and remember text, I always tell them this often underrated strategy. So simple and yet so effective. But just as with the Hatchet review I showed you, Animoto gives students an opportunity to reimagine retelling, and I don’t mean to suggest merely retelling a story. Retell an historical event. Retell your science project. Retell your art portfolio.
(90) Here’s my retelling of how my daughter and I produced the aura I’ll show you later. (Link and play) Had I had to complete this for a graded assignment, my teacher would have no doubt that I put an appropriate amount of time and energy into it. You’d be asking a middle school child to do what comes naturally at this point –
(5) The Selfie.
(9) Now this last idea is a complete win-win. Students do the work, and you reap the benefits.
(50) Working with your classroom teachers, you have students read a variety of books. Maybe the second graders find books connected to the Egypt unit or the American Indian or China. The 6th graders have to find a book about a simple machine. The seniors have to find a book where the main character’s individual liberty is threatened.
Reimagine book reports.
As part of their report on the book, they use animoto to create a promotional video that employs appropriate images and music. The teacher can enjoy grading them. The students can enjoy producing them. YOU can post them on your website or even attach them as an aura to the book covers. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. That’s next.
(270) I will say there are some disadvantages to this site, the most frustrating is that you cannot store your uploaded photos and use them in another project. You can also only upload one at a time. It’s mostly a minor annoyance though. Are there any questions before I move on to Aurasma? (3 minutes)
(43) You can find out more at Aurasma.com, but this tool is actually in app rather than a web site. It’s a little hard to take in at first, but it’s a lot of fun. Once you produce an aura, you have a better understanding for the process. Basically, you are linking a video or image to another image much as you would link to a QR code. Your device would read an image the same way. It’s easier to show than tell you about this app, so I’ve prepared a demonstration for you.
(25) One advantage of this app is that you might turn your library into an interactive museum or even art gallery. Students could borrow an iPad, move at their own pace, and learn more about the image they see. Librarians at any level could try this, but since I happened to have elementary school students handy, I based the model on them.
(20) This, of course is Davy Crockett. We chose this image for several reasons: first, we weren’t violating any copyrights, second because we thought we could reproduce the background, and third we already had a Crockett costume hanging in my son’s closet.
(12) What you see here is my daughter watching her aura, which has been triggered by the image of the postage stamp. (5) It’s such a bright idea she’s wearing her new sunglasses.
(120) Allow me to show you a short video from her perspective. I’ll warn you that a video of a video doesn’t result in the best movie quality, but I hope it gives you the idea. (Play video) Notice it will simply loop the video automatically until you remove the device from the trigger image. Her video is also attached to the image of Crockett, so that when I move the device, the video also moves.
One limitation, however, is that students first need to subscribe to your channel. You might accomplish this with a QR code, inform the children of your channel, or you could preset the school’s iPad to recognize it. An “aura” is the image that appears overtop of the original, and while there are also ready-made auras that you might choose from, I recommend producing your own videos to increase student engagement.
(17) It’s also a useful manipulative. When I think about the wonderful team of ELL teachers in my school, I am amazed at what they do. I would like to make their jobs easier as much as I would like to help their students feel more at ease.
(13) What if instead of telling our new student from Germany that “schmetterling” is a “butterfly,” we gave him an iPad to hold over the word “butterfly” and he saw…
(18) A schmetterling?
What if the kids in your school helped you produce videos for this project? What if the ELL students did it themselves? Wouldn’t it be fun to reimagine foreign language acquisition?
(40) The production of an aura taps into multiple skills and appeals to multiple senses and… to multiple learning types. It’s also an opportunity for collaboration. If you’re at a high school level, you should know that members of the Thespian society earn points for helping you with projects like these. Students in the art honor society have to complete service hours. When you reimagine assignments, you learn to tap into the resources that you’ve been missing.
(15) Here’s a marketing strategy. Every year our librarian is called upon to film the students’ spring and fall performances. What if she also created an aura for all the headshots in the hallway? Could the actors sell more tickets?
(45) A friendly librarian might step in to help an English class remember who is who is any given Shakespeare comedy where mistaken identity is always rather confusing. Or what if in a sophomore English class students had to write a script for the drama students who would then tell us in a nut shell what made twelve angry men so angry? Or maybe you attach those book ads from Mrs. Kaplan’s freshman class as an aura to the book covers in your library.
Auras, by the way are recognized with the symbol from the logo or a butterfly the same color.
(10) I hope you have some fun with Aurasma. I’m thinking of attaching an aura to our Christmas card this year.
Are there any questions before we move on to our last tool? (3 minutes)
(15) This last tool is all about audio. Are you surprised? I just spent the bulk of this presentation selling you on images to help the visual-spatial children. Why am I pitching audio?
(29) Because visual-spatial children, remember, think in images. They gravitate toward graphic novels or playaways in your library. I asked my son once why he preferred to listen to Rick Riordan than read it himself. “Because,” and I’m quoting him here, “it makes it easier to see the movie in my head.”
So how can you use vocaroo?
(9) Young children might have a natural aptitude for math, but if they are struggling readers, their teachers might miss this.
(42) The math enrichment test looks something like this. And they bomb it not because of the numbers but because of the text.
But what if the visual-spatial child had this option? Now her teacher is bypassing her reading ability to assess her math skill instead. She has a chance to shine.
Of course the limitation here is that the only way to administer a test like this one is on a computer with internet access. Vocaroo will play back on a smart phone or tablet, but you won’t be able to record.
(35) Here’s another thought. It’s important to have students read aloud because only then can you figure out some of the disconnections between their comprehension and decoding skills, but if you aren’t a good reader, being asked to read before your classmates it’s enough to make you feign illness and escape to the nurse, or cause a disruption and escape to the principal’s office.
But what if those struggling readers could work without an audience in the safe haven of your library?
(55) One summer I was tutoring a boy named Andrew. He was a rising 6th grader reading on a second grade level, and when I tried to explain to him what I meant by “fluency,” his eyes lit up and he said, “Oh, it’s like music.” And it is a lot like music. Andrew would never read aloud to a crowd; he was embarrassed just reading to me, but when he read aloud to the computer and then listened to himself, he knew he wasn’t making music. Working alone with a laptop and electronic recording, however, Andrew enjoyed trying to produce that “music,” and his overall reading improved half a grade level over a four week period. If you’re familiar with reading intervention, you know that’s a pretty big deal.
(9) Here’s one last idea for application: How can you lead visual-spatial learners into your library and to a book they will enjoy?
(14) Most of us read the book flap or the back of the book to help us choose a book, but you could read this aloud to them, create a QR code to link to the vocaroo recording, and voila! (23) You might ask teachers to help you with this. They’ll know the students who read well, or students might like to hear the familiar voice of their parents, teachers, or the principal. Similar to the DEAR concept, you’d be demonstrating that reading is a valuable way to spend your time. And it wouldn’t take much time because the script is already written!
(?) Vocaroo is easily accessible, but it does require a microphone, which in our county presents a challenge. We have laptops, but the microphone is not an active feature. I discovered this after embarrassing shouting matches with my own laptop. There’s also a 5 minute limitation on recordings, but that’s more than adequate for the suggestions I’ve made here.
Can I answer any questions you have?
If you’d like to contact me, you can find me here. I’d love to hear about it if you take advantage of one of these tools, and you can follow my own attempts to share them with teachers and students at my school.
