Tag Archives: creativity

Storytelling App

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Disclaimer:  If you read this post earlier and couldn’t find the sock puppet app in the iTunes store, it is now back, so go to the iTunes store and get it while you can :-)

Today as part of our storybook celebration, students who came to the media center had a chance to try out an app on our 10 iPads called Sock Puppets.  The sock puppet app allows students to choose up to 4 sock puppet characters, multiple props (some moveable, some not), and multiple interchangeable backgrounds.  Students use the selections to create a 30-second puppet show.  They simply press record and then begin moving the various objects and puppets around on the screen.  Each time a puppet is touched, the iPad places an arrow above that puppet’s head so that the students know which voice to record.  After 30 seconds or when the students press stop, the app scrubs up students’ voices to make them more sock puppet-like.

Today, students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades tried out this app.  Instead of taking them step by step through the process of making a puppet show, I simply said: “Go to the sock puppet app and use it to create a 30 second story.”  In a matter of minutes, students were figuring out how the app worked.  Of course there was lots of silliness, but in this time of exploration, students had permission to play and have fun without worries of being right or wrong.  Even though students were doing impromptu puppet shows, they created some very creative and humorous pieces.  I only wish that I had student access to Youtube so I could share some of them with you.  At the close of each session, we talked about how we might use this app in the future, and students were excited about the possibility of writing 30-second scripts that would make their puppet shows more cohesive.  I wonder if that same excitement would have existed if I had made the students start with writing scripts or watching me make a complete sock puppet show on the smart board before they had time to explore?

I think this free app has a lot of creative potential, and I’m glad that I was able to offer a space for students have time to play.

There are many examples of sock puppet videos on Youtube.  Here’s an example.

Andy Plemmons

School Librarian

David C. Barrow Elementary

Athens, GA

http://barrowmediacenter.wordpress.com

http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/webpages/aplemmons

Remix Your Monthly Report with Multimedia!

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This is a rough first cut, but this is the first “draft” of my monthly report for August 2009. I don’t have quite all the data I’d like, but overall, I am pleased with this first draft. In thinking about creating pivot points for change, I want to go beyond the traditional PDF/Word monthly report I normally create.   By putting the monthly report in a multimedia/video format, I can share that data in a more visual way and create a meaningful pivot point for change.  While this is not the final draft I envision, I think it is a good starting point.

Next month I will include more “hard data” as well as some interview and assessment clips with students as well as teachers. I may need to move to One True Media to piece together these additional multimedia elements; in addition, you can directly upload to YouTube with OneTrueMedia. Stay tuned for the September report in a few weeks to see the multimedia monthly report kicked up to the next level!

Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S.
Creekview High School

Librarians and Libraries: It’s Time to Play

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“How do you have time to do all of that?!” is a question people frequently ask me in reference to all the Library 2.0 toys I love to show and tell to anyone who will listen.   My sincere response is, “It’s easy because it feels like play, not work!”

I have been mulling the brilliant and inventive Helen Blowers’ December 2008 presentation on “Libraries, Learning, and Play” and her earlier call in 2007 to make “play” your New Year’s resolution.   When I think of the verb “play”, I associate that word with fun, creativity, and joy.  Blowers adeptly shows us to equate learning with play—for me, it is through play that I discover something new that energizes me as a librarian and as a human.  Play fuels my passion as a school librarian.   As David Lee King points out, play is the key to keeping up and staying ahead of the changes that are happening in the ever shifting information landscape.

When I first started my career as an educator, I encountered my own set of challenges and stresses, but most of the time, I felt as though I was having fun.  For many educators, the pressures and stresses associated with No Child Left Behind—the emphasis on quantitative evidence, standardized testing, and conformity–have stolen the joy and some of the freedom to play from our classrooms and yes, even our libraries at times.

How do we get that joy back?    I believe the answer lies in play.  The presentation, embedded below, speaks for itself, and it has me thinking about four major questions for myself and for you as my peers.  I encourage you to watch and reflect on Blowers’ presentation; then, please consider the questions below.

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1.  What is my commitment to engaging in play and learning every day?  How can daily play make me a better librarian?  Are you willing to play?  Are we willing to be a lifelong learners, to let go of our fears and to just play independently and with others?

2.  How do I create playful (and by playful, I do not mean the dreaded “edu-tainment” term) authentic learning experiences, formal and informal, for the students and teachers in my media center?  How do I work and collaborate with teachers to create meaningful research projects that feel like joyful fun for students?  What do we need in our toy box to help our students engage in play and to seek knowledge with creativity and enthusiasm?  What solutions will I find and remix to create bubbles of learning?

3.  What does play look and feel like in your library right now?  What is your vision for play in your media center 3 months from now?  6 months from now?  A year from now?

4.  Blowers poses this important question:  Are we bursting bubbles of learning or blowing and creating bubbles of learning in our library programs?

If you are just starting your personal learning network or “playground”, consider the School Library Journal Learning 2.0 “All Together Now” self-paced program as a starting point for your play as a “NowGen” librarian. Use these tools to engage in independent exploratory play as well as collaborative networked play with others.  Our GLMA blog is another rich playground for inspiration and ideas as well.

Let us make 2009 the year of “Play” to help us be agents of change and innovation in our learning communities and create “play” opportunities for our students!

Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S.
Teacher-Librarian
Creekview High School

http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com

http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com