My Beauty Best Teacher

I've been on a kick about QR codes lately, for whatever reason. (You may want to read QR Codes [And How To Get Your Own] and Using QR Codes in the Classroom first.)

I've already compiled a fairly lengthy list of ways to use QR codes in education, but one thing was always troubling me: what about kids who don't have smartphones? I mean, smartphones are pretty popular, but not everyone has the money or even the desire to purchase one. And I don't have a class set of iPod Touches (yet).

So how could I utilize this tech tool without leaving out everyone who doesn't own a smartphone or iPod Touch?

Enter: Snap My Info.


I read about this on a teaching blog a couple weeks ago, and unfortunately only wrote down the name of the Snap My Info website, or else I would link up to the original poster! (Sorry, OP! If you're reading this, comment below and I'll link back to you!)

Anyway, Snap My Info is a service that allows non-smartphone holders to still use QR codes. By using Snap My Info, a person only has to have the capability to send picture messages and retrieve e-mails on his/her cell phone. That opens QR codes to a much larger audience in my classroom; almost everyone I know has the capability to send pic messages and retrieve e-mails on their mobile device!

You do have to register with Snap My Info (bummer) for their code-deciphering service to work, but their explanation page gives more details.

Now if I could just ensure that students could have service in my classroom to send codes and receive the follow-up messages, I think I'd be ready to take off on the QR code train! :)

If you'd like to try Snap My Info, you could take a picture of the code below and e-mail the picture to x@snpmy.com. According to their website, you should receive an e-mail back with Snap My Info's contact information.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Since my first post over FlipSnack -- SnackTools's free eBook-making website -- I have been excited about trying other applications by SnackTools. My last review -- PodSnack -- was a bit of a bust. (Although I think it's neat, I don't think it can have much real value to me in the classroom. Darn.) I'm hoping this post, featuring PhotoSnack, will be better!

Put simply, PhotoSnack is a photo-slideshow-maker.  I know there are lots of photo-slideshow-makers available on the webs, but I really like that users who have signed up for any of SnackTools's other applications would have easy access to PhotoSnack. That's just one less username and password we'd have to remember, and God knows teachers have enough on their minds already! :)

Before I begin talking about all the details of this website, let me list a few ways you may be able to use PhotoSnack in your classroom:

• Attach it to your "virtual 'fridge" and play a slideshow of outstanding student work.
• Attach pictures from last year's class -- having a blast, of course -- and show it on the first day of school to let your students know what they're in for this year!
• Attach pictures of your current students working hard and/or having a ball and show it on Open House Night or on the class website.
• Upload samples of a student's work (like a mini, photo-portfolio) and show it during P/T conferences to help parents get a better grasp of what kind of work their child is producing in class.

OK, now that we have some ideas, let's dive into the logistics of PhotoSnack.

Here are some cool features:

1. You can use it for free. 
2. You can add music to the background of your slideshow, if you'd like.
3. Import photos from several different (and common) photo-hosting websites. 
4. You can download the slideshow to the computer and burn it onto a DVD (a cool goodbye present for students on the last day of school!). 
5. Add titles and captions to each photo if you want.
6. You can publish it on several different websites (think: personal website and social media websites). There's an embed code so that viewers can actually see the slideshow on your website instead of having to follow an external link to see anything.
7. It uses Flash when posted on regular websites. Still looking for information about viewing it on iPhone/iPad....
8. There are several customization options so that you can personalize the slideshow(s) in a variety of ways. 
9. The end result looks very professional! 
10. Can add up to 100 photos to each slideshow
11. Many, many people can view your slideshow for free. The way I understand it, people with a free membership can have a max of 25,000 views per day on sites external to PhotoSnack (VIP members get 50,000 views). Pretty convenient. I don't ever expect to reach that 25,000 view maximum, anyway, so I don't see this as a problem. 
12. Besides all the customization options inside the slideshow, you can decide which type of album you'd like to be featured in the show: professional photo album, product presentation, personal portfolio, real estate slideshow, or web-designer portfolio. 
13. There are several widget-options you can use to display your show(s) on your websites.

PhotoSnack allows users to upload documents in a few different formats: .jpg, .gif, and .png. No file over 10 MB may be uploaded to the slideshow.

Now that you know about all the great features, let me give you some details about the $$ involved:

• There is a free version, but, as with most websites, there are a few limitations. The free version puts a watermark on all slideshows. I didn't see an additional upload limit; it appears that the free version also has an upload limit of 100 photos, just like the paid version! Whoo-hoo!
• You can have the watermark removed from individual slideshow by purchasing points. It costs 6 points in order to do this, and the price of the points varies, based on how many you purchase at a time. (A purchase of 10 points will run you $19, a purchase of 25 points will run you $39, a purchase of 50 points will run you $49...you get the picture. There's a slight discount when you buy points in bulk.)
• If you don't want to mess with the limitations at all, you can always purchase a VIP membership for $14/month. This membership actually gives you premium access to all of SnackTools's apps, so you're getting quite a bit for your money. (Although, I'd really appreciate the ability to just buy a premium membership to ONE app, but maybe they'll implement that later!)

 Overall, I really like the ease and convenience of PhotoSnack. Like I said, there is no shortage of photo-slideshow-making websites available on the web, but I like that this one can pull photos from a variety of popular photo-hosting websites and you can access it through your SnackTools's username and password. Pretty nifty!

The website I'm reviewing today targets a very unique audience. I probably won't be using this site in my classroom, but I could see it being wonderful for yearbook or photography classrooms.

The technology I'd like to share today is a website called CameraSim, and it's main feature is an interactive SLR camera simulator.

The simulator features a moving subject for the photographer to work with. The subject is a little girl, standing outside in front of a playground, and she's holding a pinwheel that is spinning crazily in the wind.

This website allows the user to play with the "camera functions" (that simulate a real SLR camera) and try to get the best shot possible.

CameraSim allows users to adjust 7 functions of a usual SLR camera: lighting, distance, focal length, mode, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. It also gives a short definition/description of these terms underneath the background image and sample shot.

I'm honestly disappointed that I can't think of any reason to use this in my own classroom; students usually love (and benefit from) simulations like this so much! In any case, I'll be passing the link to CameraSim onto all the yearbook/journalism/photography teachers I know!

If you haven't heard about Pinterest, or are just too confused about it right now to try it, read on! I want to explain Pinterest and why it can be a useful tool for your classroom.

What Is It?

Pinterest is basically a series of virtual corkboards onto which you can "pin" ideas. One of the fabulous things about Pinterest is that it's online, so no matter what computer you're on, if you have access to the internet, you have access to your boards! I know for sure that there is a Pinterest app for iPhone, too, so people with Apple smartphones can take their Pinterest boards and ideas with them wherever they go. Also, anyone can see your Pinterest pins, and you can see everyone else's. I know that sometimes that "no privacy" thing stinks, but in this case, it may be a good thing. Users can browse pins in whichever category they choose and "repin" to their heart's delight. Not being limited to only yours and your friends' ideas has made this website the prime site for creative inspiration.

How Does It Work?

When you log onto Pinterest, you have a profile, much like you do on Facebook or any other social networking website. Your profile contains all your boards, which contain all your pins. You get to decide how many boards and pins you have, what you name your boards, and what pins you place on each board. Pinterest users have already pinned thousands of great ideas onto their Pinterest boards, and you can access their ideas by either "following" their boards or doing a search across ALL boards in Pinterest. You can "repin" others' ideas and/or add your own new pins from whatever website you want.

If you're trying to add a new idea to Pinterest, you'll type in the URL (or use the special "Pin It!" button that you can place in your internet window's toolbar), select a picture from that page that you'd like to use to best capture your idea, and pick the board onto which you'd like to pin it. You canalso upload your own pictures. It really is that simple!

When you create a board, you have the option of making the board one where only you can contribute or opening it up to the public so that anyone can contribute to it. Be aware that there is currently no "private" option, though, so don't pin anything you wouldn't be comfortable with others seeing!

How Do I Use It In the Classroom?

Personal Use -- You can use Pinterest to make your teaching life easier! Pin all those teacher-blogs you've been following. Pin all the bookmarks you've got saved and visit regularly. Pin classroom pictures. Pin lesson plan ideas. ...Are you getting how versatile Pinterest is?! I have been able to pin SO many fab teaching ideas from other educators on Pinterest. It really does make life easier! In case you'd like to see 'em, here are my classroom boards:

• Decorations
• ELAR
• Gifts
• Holidays
• Management
• Math
• Miscellaneous
• Organization
• Science and Social Studies
• Technology

And I'm sure the list will grow even more in the days to come!

I used to clump all classroom-related ideas into one board labeled "classroom." But I found SO MANY ideas that I wanted a way to organize it more efficiently. So now, I have several classroom Pinterest boards.
Student use/resources -- You can actually incorporate Pinterest into classroom projects and activities! Here are the ideas I've found (or imagined) so far:

1. Ask students to collect ideas/pictures about something in particular that you're studying. Maybe your kindergarten students are studying the letter "a" and will focus on collecting as many "a" items on their personal Pinterest board as possible. Maybe your secondary English students are studying hyperbole, and they need to collect as many real world examples of hyperbole on their board as possible. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can use it to pin anything, so no subject is off-limits!
2. Pin boards full of examples for students to access at home or during class.
3. Pin boards full of educational YouTube videos.
4. Pin boards full of quotes for bellwork or journal writing.
5. Pin boards full of images for bellwork or journal writing.
6. Pin boards full of images to act as anticipatory sets. You could project them in class with the click of a couple buttons, and students can even comment on them to start a discussion.
7. Create a collaborative board and allow ELAR students to pin images of books they liked or would like to read.
8. Create a collaborataive board and allow science students to pin experiments they'd like to try.
9. Create a collaborative board and allow history students to pin historical figures, events, and monuments they'd lik to study (or are studying).
10. Create a collaborative board and allow math students to pin images of careers that use math (to answer the age-old whine of, "why do I hafta knoooowwww this?")
11. Create a collaborative board and allow technology students to pin images of tech tips, tools, or websites that might be useful to everyone in the class.
12. Create a collaborative board and allow music students to pin the images of their favorite artists or albums.
13. Create a collabortive board and allow art students to pin images of their favorite artwork...or upload their own! 
14. Create a collaborative board and allow students to pin images of subjects they'd like to study in any subject!
15. Create a collaborative board and allow students to turn in assignments...? I'm not sure about the logistics of this one, since I know every student would be able to see every other student's work. So, obviously, this wouldn't work for exams. But book reports, projects, presentations, or little homework assignments might work. Since there would probably be no images available, students would need to take a screenshot of their work and then upload it to Pinterest with the link to their actual work and their name at the bottom of the pin.
16. Create a collaborative board and have every student add the pin that connects to his/her online portfolio. It would be an easy way to keep track of everyone's portfolios, and students could check out other student's portfolios for inspiration or motivation.
17. Create a collaborative borad and allow students to pin images of things they're interested in...it might be interesting to have links and visual reminders of how to connect with students. (It might be easier to make lessons relevant if, say, I understand that Hannah Montana is out and The Biebs is in!)
18. Students could take advantage of the Apple iPhone app for Pinterest by using it to snap pictures of things in their day-to-day lives and pin them to a specific board. For instance, let's say that your kindergarten class (the one that's studying the letter "a") has a classroom set of iPod touches and a school-wide wifi connection. Why not send your students on a scavenger hunt for all items beginning with "a"? They could work in pairs or teams and walk the school grounds with the Pinterest app open. When they see an "a" item, all they have to do is snap a picture of it with the built-in camera on the app, and add it to the appropriate Pinterest board. When the students come back to class at the end of the hunt, the teacher can access the boards on her computer and project the results on the wall for everyone to see and analyze.  OR you could make it a competitive scavenger hunt and give each pair/group their own board!
19. Ask students to collect and organize information for, say, a research report. Let's say the students are studying Egypt and must write and present a report over Egypt to the class on x date. Why not use Pinterest to organize ideas? While surfing the web, students could pin useful articles and detailed, accurate pictures onto their Pinterest board. There's no more bookmarking tons of websites or writing down URLs on paper. Users can access Pinterest boards from any electronic device with internet capabilities, so their research is saved and accessible in a variety of places outside the walls of the school. In the event that a resource doesn't have a picture (a requirement for a pin), just take a screenshot and upload it!
20. For group projects, group members can share ideas via collaborative Pinterest boards.
21. Twitter user @teach46 suggests using it for getting-to-know-you activities! I love the idea of students collecting images that tell me (and fellow classmates) more about their individual personalities, family life, hobbies, interests, etc!
22. Twitter user @teach46 also suggests having students pin their personal goals. It would be interesting to have such a visual image of goals at the beginning of the year, and it could it updated whenever the students find a new goal and/or cross off one on the list.
23. Another idea from Twitter user @teach46: use Pinterest in the ELAR classroom by having students create character charts that represent their favorite character in a novel they're reading! I really love this idea, too!
24. Track extra credit points.  For instance, I had an on-going extra credit opportunity in my secondary English class last year. My students were able to earn 2 bonus points every time they brought in a picture or example of something we'd learned in class. If the students had been paying attention, they would've realized they could've earned infinite bonus points in this because examples of our lessons were EVERYWHERE in public! Any time they saw a vocabulary word, author, concept, literary device, etc. that we had studied, they could earn bonus points. My catch was that no two people could present the same example; the first student to get that example to me was the one who got the points. If you had a collaborative Pinterest board (perhaps labeled "Extra Credit" or "Real Life Examples"), students could post those examples to the board and write their name in the description in order to claim the points. Other students would then not only know what examples had already been presented, but they would also be able to access all these real world examples and see how that subject pertains to life outside the classroom walls.
     

How Do I Get Started? 

• Go to www.Pinterest.com. 
• In the middle at the top, there's a big, red button that says, "request an invite." Click on it. 
• Enter your e-mail address into the text box and click "request invitation."
• You should get an invitation to Pinterest in your e-mail's inbox very shortly (if it doesn't happen, e-mail me and I'll send you a request!).
• Click on the link in your e-mail to activate your account. Once your account is activated, you can begin! 
• In the top, right corner of your Pinterest home screen, you'll see three options. The left one will say "add," the middle one will say "about," and the right one will say your name.  Click "add." A pop-up will appear that gives you 3 options: add a pin, upload a pin, or create a board. If this is your first pin, you'll want to create a board.
• Give your board a name and select a category for it. If you want this to be a board only you can pin to, mark yourself as the only contributor. If you want the public to be able to add any pin to this board, mark "me + contributors." Click the red "create board" button, and you're done!
• Once you have a board (or two), you can begin adding pins. You can use the "add" button on the top, right corner and click "add a pin" or "upload a pin" when you find something you'd like to pin. 
• Check out Pinterest's Help section for more concise instructions! :)
• Click on your name (in the top, right corner of the page) and "settings" to adjust the settings. 
• If you have questions, please leave me a comment and I'll see if I can help you!

I'd love to know more of your ideas for using Pinterest in the classroom! I know that once you get the hang of it, you'll want to pin 24/7 like I do! Be careful...it's addicting! :)

There are times when we all need to edit photos. In the classroom, you may need to do some cropping in order to avoid posting a picture of a little one whose parents said "no thanks" when it came to posting their kid online. You may also want to add a boarder to a picture to spice it up a little before giving it as a gift. You may want to add text (first day of school, names, height/weight, "thank you," etc.) and a cute little clip art graphic. You may even want to do some more "professional" things like airbrushing or teeth-whitening. (What?! We all want to look our best online!) Enter....Picnik.

Picnik is a free, online photo editing tool that doesn't require any installation or downloading of programs. (I LOVE that, by the way!) You can import and export pictures from Facebook, Picassa, Flickr, PhotoBucket, Yahoo! Mail, or your own computer, just to name a few. (Did I also mention I love its versatility? Because I do!)

Of course, you can shell out $25/year to get the premium version (that's what I currently have), and you get access to a few more editing perks. But the premium version definitely is not necessary to enjoy the wonders of photo editing through Picnik!

I think the best way to illustrate what Picnik does is to show you! I'll be using a picture from my husband and I's recent wedding... sorry for the mushiness! ;) Here we go:

The original

A spot of color

A colored frame and some text

A graphite drawing

Puzzle pieces. This would be SO cute to have a class picture with the caption, "We all fit together!" or "We complete each other!"

A postage stamp frame with a little clip art and added text

Those aren't even all the options available, but I think you get the idea. Even if you don't use Picnik with your students, it could still prove to be very helpful if you're managing a classroom website or putting together a photo slideshow!


:: January 20, 2012 edit:: I just read (via Mashable) that Google is shutting down Picnik. Needless to say, I am SO upset! Google claims they're moving Picnik's features to Google+ as of April 19, 2012, but user comments so far on the article say that Google+'s version is definitely not the same. Boooo!

As a self-proclaimed tech-junkie, I have seen my share of media creating and editing programs. I'm still baffled as to why I hadn't run across Aviary before today, but...better late than never! I am SO glad I found this site!

In short, Aviary is a completely FREE online program that allows you to create graphic and audio files, including podcasts! (Can I get a "hooray"??)

Aviary Features
Although I'm most excited about the podcasting prospects, Aviary is more than just a way to podcast. You can edit pictures, create designs, create podcasts, and edit audio. It has so many things rolled into one website! I love convenience, so Aviary is my new go-to site!

I checked out Aviary's pricing policies. Apparently, they used to charge for premium memberships, but they recently decided that they wanted their materials to be available for EVERYone...I dig that, Aviary! :) So there are no payment options on this site. Ever.

Aviary Edu
Their special Aviary Education component is still in the beta stages (as far as I can tell), but looks extremely promising. Like other specialty education sites, this one has more privacy options, more kid-friendly advertisements and graphics, and allows you, the teacher, to easily manage the projects you've assigned.

The edu site allows you to manage your class and add students as you wish. It looks as though your students will have to be entered manually, which is a bummer, but I still think the positives outweigh the negatives here! When I signed up, it asked me how many students I'd have, and I had no idea, so I put 150 to be safe. It never complained about that number, but I'm not sure if you can change it once you've decided. I don't see any way to edit that number, so you might want to shoot high to ensure you have enough student places. Here's a portion of the screen where you can add students. I used Aviary's image editing program to blur out my last name and e-mail address. :)



Once you have your students' logins and passwords created, you can start creating projects. Your "projects" are the things that you assign your students. You can set a deadline, and when a student logs in, he/she will see how many hours are left to submit his/her assignment to you! You can go to the creations tab to see what all of your students are doing. (I love that you can monitor progress from your home screen!)

You, as the teacher, have the ability to create "creations," as well. You could create your own for general classroom use, but you could also create some as examples for projects you assign. Unfortunately, the edu version only offers 4 different creation types: create images, create vectors, edit audio, create music. None of these options includes Myna, which is Aviary's free podcast-making component. :( So disappointed. But maybe they will change that soon, seeing as how the edu version is still in the beta stages. :)

Podcasting with Non-Edu Aviary
I was able to create a non-edu Aviary login that is identical to my edu username and password. (Whoo! Less things for me to remember!) The entire reason I created a non-edu account was so I could sample the podcast program, Myna.

There's a great Myna tutorial that I viewed first. I was amazed at all the options!! One negative, though, is that you can currently only record voice tracks that are 2 minutes long, and the max is 6 minutes right now. My podcasts are ALWAYS more than 2 minutes long (sometimes 20!), so I'm a bit disappointed in this. I won't be able to use this much for my classroom, but I want to keep going to see how it works....just in case Aviary decides to lift the 6 minute max.

I created a profile at Podbean so that I would have somewhere free to host my podcasts when I was done. I think I remember seeing Podbean as a suggestion somewhere on the Aviary site, but that could just be my imagination. In any case, Podbean is a free podcast hosting site, and you'll need a hosting site in order to upload the files you create using Myna.

I successfully created a Myna test podcast in a matter of minutes. I was able to add music to the intro and outro and made it sound really neat! But I had problems when it came to downloading the file. I finally submitted a question to the Customer Service department and hope that I can get an answer soon. I'll try to update you with my progress!

Overall Review
Besides being FREE, I think all the components to Aviary have a really professional feel to them. For instance, when I was in the image editor, it reminded me a lot of PhotoShop. If you know anything about photo editing, you're quite aware that PhotoShop is an expensive product! But the photo editing portion of Aviary looked very similar to PhotoShop in that it allowed transparent backgrounds, the use of fonts already on your computer, layering, and various advanced image edits. When I played with the music creator on the edu site, I was reminded a lot of GarageBand. I'm not sure if GarageBand is available on PC equipment, but even if it is, I'm sure it's expensive. GarageBand came with my MacBook, but of course, that MacBook came with a hefty price. Although I had an issue with the audio program, I'm sure that it will be fixed shortly and we can go on about our merry ways. ...What I'm trying to say here is that I think you're getting quality equipment for FREE if you use Aviary, and that's a deal I can totally get on board with.

I made this with the Vector Creator in about 5 minutes.

Flickr is a pretty well-known photo-hosting website. It's free, but there are limits as to how much you can post in a certain period of time. I personally used Flickr very briefly when I was younger, but no longer use it.

However, Flickr could be a great tool for classroom use. If/when you take pictures of students in the classroom, you could upload them all to your classroom Flickr for safe-keeping. Only the people you WANT to see your pictures will be able to, so privacy isn't such an issue.

But really, the purpose of this post is to tell you about Five Card Flickr, which is this new game I just learned about. Basically, you start by going to this website. You're given a row of 5 random pictures, and this call this "draw 1." Click on a picture to save it to your "deck." You get to draw pictures a total of 5 times. After you've chosen all 5, you have to create a story that ties all 5 pictures together!

English teachers, do you see where I'm going with this? :)

Students can pick this random "deck" of pictures and then create a story to go along with it. When the story is finished, students can save it by clicking the bottom "save" button. The next screen gives students a permanent link to their story and "deck" of pictures.

I think this sounds like a fun, creative project that would boost writing skills while really making kids think! I'd love to use this in the classroom!