Online Comic Creators

A friend on Twitter shared this; a great collection of online comic creators which can be used as a creative response to reading or as a writing option. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so check them out for yourslef before unleashing your students.

A couple of these would be great extensions for the Hero writing lessons I presented on my Teach with Picture Books blog some time ago.

Online Comic Creators

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Presentation and Workshop Documents

From a friend on Twitter comes this link to Presentation and Workshop Documents, a great collection of original how-to's offered by John Larkin. His knowledge of Web 2.0 is quite extensive, and he has some terrific resources offered at this site.

If you're a proficient user of all things Web 2.0, perhaps this is a link you can pass on to your newbie friends.

Research Made Easy

Okay, not easy, but much clearer! Kentucky Virtual Library's Research Rocket offers a student-friendly, step-by-step introduction to the research process.

While the screen shot to the right gives you a basic idea of the steps involved, what it doesn't show you is that each individual step provides its own easy to understand tutorial (see below).

For media center specialists or teachers introducing students to the research process, this is both a great introduction and a great stand-alone resource to which students can refer when going through the motions of information collection and organization.

(The picture to the left is the page a student would access if she clicked on the "Scan First" square of Step 4 on the map. As she reads over the information provided, she can also roll the mouse over the graphics, which provides additional visual cues).

And of course, there's always the option of using individual components of the whole process (such as the Scan/Survey module here) as reading comprehension skill builders in the elementary classroom.

Famous Failures

From the excellent Learning in Maine blog, a look at Famous Failures. Not bad company to keep!

Class Tools

Just this morning I had an excellent experience using an exciting interactive site called Class Tools which allows you to create games, activities, and diagrams in Flash (without knowing a thing about Flash!).

While covering an eighth grade social studies class, I informed students that they would be creating review games for an upcoming test. They were less than enthusiastic (and those of you who are familiar with the typical enthusiasm level of eighth graders will know that causing them to be even less excited was something of a real feat).

Hoping to rescue the moment, I asked if some of them would like to create a game online. Even this was met with grudging acceptance, but they agreed, perhaps considering it at least a momentary reprieve from creating another stale board game with markers and construction paper).

Well, in about twenty minutes time, I had some very excited eighth graders on my hands. Not only were they pleased with what they produced, but one exclaimed, "Wow, I actually know this stuff now that I had to type it in to create the game."

While I can't show you what they created, I'll show you one of the sample files from those posted on the site:

Click here for full screen version

As you can see, a Dustbin game requires you to sort words into their appropriate categories; this morning, for example, the students created a Dustbin about the Middle and Southern Colonies.

Another pair of students created an arcade game, which is playable in five formats (again, this links you to a sample at the site). I'd recommend you try several levels of the game option called Word Shoot.

In addition to the games functions, the site features several clever and adaptable utilities for creating other study aids. Teaching suggestions are provided for each, just in case you find yourself wondering, "Cool, but what can I actually do with this?"

Class Tools is well worth a look! Just one word of warning: be sure to save the game you've created before you play it! We learned that lesson the hard way.

Multiplicational

You've probably seen this before, but it's new to me! While some math teachers might think it's gimmicky, I think a great exercise for students when confronted with any gimmick is to figure out how it works. And, does it always work?

Multiplicational. @ Yahoo! Video

Questionaut: Out of This World Game

Tucked away in the BBC Bitesize KS2 Games section is a quirky little game called Questionaut. It has no flashy intro and no instructions, and that's precisely the way its creator intends it.

Questionaut begins with a placid enough scene: a strangely hairy, organic shape floats freely in space, accompanied by some funky synth music. A fish jumps in a pond, a creature sitting in a tree weaves a basket, and a small blue figure wearing pilot's cap and goggles dangles his foot over the pond. But nothing happens. So instinctively, the user moves the cursor about, looking for some clues. When placed over the basket, the cursor turns to the familiar pointer finger (this is about as much help as the user will get!) and from here the adventure begins.

Each level presents its own mysteries, which must first be solved with the cursor (what needs to be clicked first, then next?) and then through a series of general knowledge questions. Stage One, for example, (pictured below) asks questions related to reading, writing, and grammar. Others stages include questions on various math and science concepts. Each stage is populated by its own peculiar cast of characters and grooves to its own unique soundtrack.


Most animation and online gaming fans will immediately recognize that the creator of this addictive game is Czech developer/designer Jakub Dvorsky, best known for his popular online Flash game called Samorost. In Dvorsky's own words,

"Samorost" in Czech means a root or piece of wood which resembles a creature; but it is also a term for a person who doesn't care about the rest of the world. I think it's a nice Czech word which has various meanings.

A fitting name, since the goal of the game is to help a small white gnome through a puzzling series of tasks intended to divert a gigantic mass of floating driftwood from colliding with his home planet. Okay, so it's hard to describe, but very addicting to play.

Samorost became so popular that it now has a sequel in which the gnome embarks on a longer quest to rescue his kidnapped dog (chapter one can be played for free, while additional chapters can be played by purchasing the full version for a mere $5).

I'm not here to sell the game. I'm here to sell the idea that teachers should be including games like this in their curriculum, rather than dismissing them as "wastes of time." Dvorak's games require critical thinking skills and an ability to "fill in the gaps" between what is known and what is unknown. They also appeal to a student's natural curiosity and desire for play. And I think we can all agree, his games simply look and sound unlike anything we've seen out there before.

Let's all hope for more collaborations between Dvorak and online ed sites in the future.