This presentation is all about lightning-fast tech tools—the ones that are easy and intuitive for most students. With these free tools, you and your students will be able to get awesome results in one lesson or less without headaches or high learning curves.
Lightning-Fast Tech Tools: Awesome Results in One Lesson or Less!
1. LIGHTNING-FAST TECH TOOLS
Awesome Results in One Lesson or
Less!
GUARANTEED or
your money back*
*just kidding
All photos are screenshots from the site in question unless otherwise credited.
2. About Me: Wendy Nelson
Graduate student in
library science at ODU
Editor/writer
Lover of tech tools
Mom of two
Library substitute teacher
Can’t wait to be a school
librarian!
Nelson, W. (2015). Personal photo.
4. FIVE SIX LIGHTNING-FAST TECH
TOOLS
TO THE RESCUE!
GUARANTEED or
your money
back*
*still just kidding
X
5. 1. Haiku Deck
Simple, lovely
presentations
Searchable photos or
upload your own
App and social media
Can share many ways
www.haikudeck.com
Nelson, W. (2015). Barter by Sarah Teasdale. [Slideshow].
Available at
https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-
teasdale
6. 1. Haiku Deck
Templates are only
option
No music
No free downloads
www.haikudeck.com
Nelson, W. (2015). Barter by Sarah Teasdale. [Slideshow].
Available at
https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-
teasdale
7. Haiku Deck Ideas #1
Beautiful Poetry!
Create slideshow for oral
presentation of original
poems
(VA English SOL 4.7)
or
Illustrate poems by
someone else
(VA English SOLs 6.4, 7.5, 9.1, 9.2, 10.5, 11.5,
12.5)
www.haikudeck.com
https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-teasdale
Nelson, W. (2015). Barter by Sarah Teasdale. [Slideshow].
Available at
https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-
teasdale
8. Haiku Deck Ideas #2
Simple text-based layouts
Upload own images
www.haikudeck.com
Single-Topic Research:
Book report, biography of
famous American, science
topic (type of insect, animal,
or storm?), social studies
(country report or event?)
Kramer, J. (2015). Ladybugs and butterflies. [Slideshow]. Available at https://www.haikudeck.com/ladybugs--butterflies-science-and-technology-presentation-qkDBhIjoLC
9. Haiku Deck Ideas #3
Mission Statements
Bring your class,
school, or personal
mission statements to
life!
www.haikudeck.com McKenzie, S. (2015). Inspire 13. [Slideshow]. Available at
https://www.haikudeck.com/inspire-13-uncategorized-presentation-
NKPxpCqq9V
10. For More
Haiku Deck Ideas
Education Pinterest Board:
https://www.pinterest.com/haikudeck/education-
case-studies/
Haiku Deck Blog, tag “edtech”:
https://blog.haikudeck.com/tag/edtech/
www.haikudeck.com
13. 2. FoldPlay
Only a few activities
Site not updated
Activities include
printable origami,
foldbooks,
kaleidocycles, and
paper models
www.foldplay.com
14. FoldPlay Ideas #1
Vocabulary Word Flip Books
Challenge kids to find photos for
each of their vocabulary words and
create a photo flip book!
Tip: Make sure to click “Build Page”
after you select each photo file or
your book will be blank.
www.foldplay.com
15. FoldPlay Ideas #2
Science Cycles
Make flip books for the plant
cycle, water cycle, carbon cycle,
etc.
Make together as a class,
students fold their own
www.foldplay.com
16. FoldPlay Ideas #3
Force, Motion, and Energy
(VA Science SOL 4.2)
Each student makes a sphericon
Use different materials
Experiment with friction, motion,
and kinetic energy
www.foldplay.com
21. Kizoa Ideas #1
Post-Field Trip Activity
Assign students to be field trip
reporters who take photos, videos,
and notes on trip day.
Use Kizoa to create virtual field
trip to share with others.
www.kizoa.com
22. Kizoa Ideas #2
www.kizoa.com
Math Problems
Students make a virtual
whiteboard demonstration of
math problems using step-
by-step photos/videos. (VA Math
SOL 6.2.)
Alternative: Have each
student explain a different
step and compile the video
clips.
Tip: Screencast-o-matic.com is
one way to do this. You can
also film an actual whiteboard.
Photo: PowerPoint Clipart
23. Kizoa Ideas #3
Famous Speech or Poem
Film each student reading a line or two
of a famous speech or poem.
On Kizoa, intersperse the clips with
historic video clips, pictures, or
screenshots of the text of the
speech/poem and add music.
www.kizoa.com
Photo: PowerPoint Clipart
25. 4. and 5. Vocaroo and Clyp
These two audio tools
are similar and work
well alone or together.
www.vocaroo.com
www.clyp.it
26. Vocaroo:
Record audio
Downloadable
Share link
Integrated with social media
No account needed
www.vocaroo.com
www.clyp.it
Clyp:
Record or upload audio
Not downloadable
Share link
Integrated with social media
Account required
Also an app
4. and 5. Vocaroo and Clyp
27. Vocaroo and Clyp Ideas #1
Audio Book Reviews
Students make short “radio broadcasts”
reviewing books.
Share on blog, website, or via QR code.
www.vocaroo.com
www.clyp.it Photo: PowerPoint Clipart
28. Vocaroo and Clyp Ideas #2
Responsibilities of Citizens
(VA SOL Civics and Economics 3.D)
In small groups, students
research, write, and create
a series of short audio
broadcasts about the
responsibilities of U.S.
citizens.
www.vocaroo.com
www.clyp.it
American flag. (n.d.). Free clipart, available at
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/80000/nahled/americ
an-flag-1392926500mE6.jpg
29. Vocaroo and Clyp Ideas #3
Reading Buddies/
Modeled Reading:
Students record themselves
reading popular beginning readers
to share with younger students.
www.vocaroo.com
www.clyp.it
Moss, B. (2013). Canada water kids’ library. CC-BY 2.0
30. Vocaroo and Clyp Ideas #4
Commercials from History
Students write and record a 30-
second radio commercial related to
a current social studies unit.
www.vocaroo.com
www.clyp.it Lincoln campaign poster. CC-0 1.0.
33. 6. My Storybook
Pros:
No account to start
Can share stories or keep private
Cons:
Account needed to save
$$ for ebook
Library inappropriate?
www.mystorybook.com
34. My Storybook Ideas #1
Two Characters Meet
What would happen?
Students create a
storybook
to answer this
question
meets
??
www.mystorybook.com
Junie B.
Jones
Geronimo Stilton
35. My Storybook Ideas #2
Pass the Storybook
Each student begins a
storybook in My
Storybook, then switches
to their neighbor’s story.
Continue until all stories
are done!
www.mystorybook.com
36. My Storybook Ideas #3
Teacher-Created
Template
Stories may be edited
and remixed.
Create a template for
students to make their
own.
(VA English SOL 2.12, 2.13, 2.14)
www.mystorybook.com
Session Description:
Lightning-Fast Tech Tools: Awesome Results in One Lesson or Less!
This presentation is all about lightning-fast tech tools—the ones that are easy and intuitive for most students. With these free tools, you and your students will be able to get awesome results in one lesson or less without headaches or high learning curves.
Script:
Hello and welcome! This presentation is about technology tools, but my focus will be on lightning-fast tools—the ones that are easy and intuitive for most students. I want you and your students to be able to get awesome results in one lesson or less without headaches or high learning curves.
Does anyone have any questions before we get right to it?
(1 min)
All photos are screenshots from the site in question unless otherwise credited.
My name is Wendy Nelson and I’m a graduate student in library science at ODU. Once upon a time I was an English major and I became an editor and writer. Yes, I do care deeply about commas. Incidentally, I also hate the word “utilize” and think it should be banned. We can sidebar about that after the presentation.
I once told my father I’d never need to learn to use a computer, but now I am a lover of tech tools. I am the mother of two kids ages 12 and 14, a library substitute teacher, and I can’t wait to be a school librarian!
(30 sec)
Nelson, W. (2015). Personal photo.
Why lightning-fast?
You already know this but, you’re busy. You have time to plan, but not as much as you’d like.
As a librarian, you probably have students for only one lesson, and given the crazy schedule, who knows when they will be back? And if you’re a classroom teacher, you want time to be spent productively and not with students bogging down on difficult technology.
You want your library lessons to be memorable and the students to produce something interesting that supports the curriculum. Teachers want this, too.
You need awesome results in one lesson or less! (Needless to say, many of these ideas and tools can be stretched to more than one lesson, but you can get lightning-fast results from each of these tools.)
(1 min)
Today I am going to show you five tools and five sets of ideas for quick lessons or classroom ideas incorporating technology. But wait, there’s more! I’m actually going to show you six tools, because two of them are similar but have some important differences in their features.
(30 sec)
The first tool is Haiku Deck at www.haikudeck.com. This tool is very quick out of the gate and gives lovely results. My example here is a screenshot of a HaikuDeck I created based on a poem called “Barter” by Sarah Teasdale.
It’s a presentation tool, very simple to use with a large selection of searchable photos or you can also upload your own. HaikuDeck is also an app and is integrated with social media. You can share your results in many ways.
(1 min)
Nelson, W. (2015). Barter by Sarah Teasdale. [Slideshow]. Available at https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-teasdale
HaikuDeck has a few minor drawbacks. The preloaded templates are your only option, so while they are very attractive, they can become visually repetitive. Also, you cannot upload music to back your presentation, and you cannot download your presentation without a pro account.
(1 min)
Nelson, W. (2015). Barter by Sarah Teasdale. [Slideshow]. Available at https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-teasdale
Haiku Deck Ideas #1:
Beautiful Poetry!
As you have seen in my demo, Haiku Deck is perfect for writing original poems and creating slideshow for oral presentation. This satisfies VA English SOL 4.7
or
Use Haiku Deck to illustrate a poem by someone else , which satisfies a whole bunch of SOLs. (VA SOLs 6.4, 7.5, 9.1, 9.2, 10.5, 11.5, 12.5)
To do this you would enter one line of the poem on each slide, as I have done in my example. You can add a photo to illustrate the image, which is good practice for kids working on their ability to interpret poetry.
The photos are searchable and really well tagged, so for example if you are looking for a photo showing the word “brilliance,” you’d have many different options. For the image here I searched for music and gold and I got what I think is a perfect result.
(1.5 min)
Nelson, W. (2015). Barter by Sarah Teasdale. [Slideshow]. Available at https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8Evl10XZj7/barter-by-sara-teasdale
Single-Topic Research
As you can see in the screenshot at left, Haiku Deck has very simple text-based layouts you can choose from. Some have a picture plus text and others are text only. You can also upload your own images.
This makes Haiku Deck a good option for single-topic research projects, such as a book report, mini-biography of a famous American, science topic (type of insect, animal, or storm?), or something related to Social studies (country report or single event?) This example is on butterflies.
Because creating the HaikuDecks is so quick, students could actually research a very specific topic and create one in just one lesson. Or of course it could build on something they have already learned about.
(1.5 min)
Kramer, J. (2015). Ladybugs and butterflies. [Slideshow]. Available at https://www.haikudeck.com/ladybugs--butterflies-science-and-technology-presentation-qkDBhIjoLC
Mission Statements
This idea is a great team-building exercise for a class, especially at the beginning of the school year. Most schools have a mission statement, and many teachers create one for their class, or perhaps the library has one.
Bring your mission statements to life with a powerful Haiku Deck, as in this example.
(1.5 min)
McKenzie, S. (2015). Inspire 13. [Slideshow]. Available at https://www.haikudeck.com/inspire-13-uncategorized-presentation-NKPxpCqq9V
Unlike some sites, HaikuDeck is pretty active at promoting itself, and they have some great ideas on their Pinterest board and on their blog. I encourage you to check these out for more inspiration.
(1 min)
We’ll pause here for questions and comments for a bit. Does anyone have any questions about Haiku Deck or have any great ideas for how to use this resource in a short lesson?
(1 min)
Our second tool is a site called FoldPlay.
Kids love origami and creating things with paper, and this site is really easy to explain. You upload a picture or pictures and make a printable foldable or cuttable product. Like origami, some of these are easy and some are tricky.
(30 sec)
FoldPlay does have some drawbacks. First, the site has limited activities, though what they have are good ones and the site is unique. It also does not seem to be updated or supported anymore, though it still works.
Available activities include printable origami, foldbooks, kaleidocycles, and paper models.
(1 min)
FoldPlay Idea #1 is Vocabulary Word Flip Books
This activity is good for English class, world language learners, or ELL—basically any situation where students have vocabulary words to learn.
You would challenge kids to find photos for each of their vocabulary words and create a photo flip book with captions.
It might work best and quickest if they gather photos from clip art galleries or premade selections. Aside from issues of unexpected image search results, using Google image search can bog down the lightning-fast process.
The FoldPlay flip books have eight pages, which of course may be doubled or tripled or quadrupled.
The secret is that simply by creating the book, students will learn the vocabulary words every time!
(1.5 min)
Foldplay Idea #2: Science Cycles
Flip books are great for illustrating the plant cycle, water cycle, carbon cycle, etc.
The act of uploading the photos and captions in order helps students review the topic.
To save time, assemble the book together as a class with the site projected on an interactive whiteboard, and print one of the resulting pages for each student.
Each student folds and keeps a book to study for their own use.
By uploading the pictures, assembling the book, and reading it through once or twice, students will have already studied the science cycle in question multiple times.
(1.5 min)
This is a specific activity that is suitable for fourth-graders who are studying force, Motion, and Energy.
Each student will make a sphericon (several different templates that make the same shape)
Sphericons roll but not well
Use different thicknesses or types of paper or different tape
Have a race to experiment with friction, motion, and kinetic energy—use different ramps or surfaces. What do students observe and learn?
(1.5 min)
Questions or comments about FoldPlay? What about other good origami tools or activities?
(1 min)
Third tool is Kizoa. This is not a new tool, but it’s not particularly well-known. It is extremely versatile and free! It’s a great web alternative to iMovie or Windows Movie Maker and has almost all of the features of that software. As such, it has a slightly higher learning curve than some of these others because you can bog down in details, but you can also get something accomplished quickly if quick is what you need.
(1 min)
Like iMovie or Movie Maker, you can start with a template in Kizoa or not. There are dozens of templates and they make for very attractive results. You can also make photo collages, add effects or filters to the picture, have animated transitions between pictures, and add music. Kizoa offers a lot of royalty-free choices or you can upload your own.
When you’re done you can share the video in multiple ways including Facebook, Youtube, email, or downloading it locally.
(1 min)
This is the slideshow or video creation screen. As you can see I have pulled some personal photos in from Facebook just to show you what it looks like. You can attach a Facebook account to your account or just pull photos from your computer.
There are only a couple of cons with Kizoa--Video clips if you include them are limited to two minutes each. You can have more than one but no more than two minutes each. However, you can cut a longer video clip down to just the two minutes you want using Kizoa. Also, you do need an account to use the site.
(1 min)
On the left is an idea of a Kizoa template. I quickly pulled a couple of personal photos into this so you can see what it would look like. As you can see, it is highly graphic and attractive. This is a travel-related template so I thought it fit well with…
Kizoa idea #1: A Post-Field Trip Activity
This is not technically a one-lesson lesson, but it can be done in one lesson after a field trip.
This activity works well with a historic site or museum—anything that has a nice visual element you want to preserve.
Assign students to be field trip reporters, who take photos or videos during the trip as well as notes on what they saw.
Upon return to school, students use Kizoa to create a virtual field trip with captions to share with others. This could be done as a class but is better in small groups or alone.
(1.5 min)
Kizoa Idea #2: Math Problems
You’ve seen numerous virtual whiteboard demonstrations, I’m sure, but for this project I am thinking of those you see on Khan Academy. This can be done in numerous ways depending on the equipment you have available. It does fulfill the Virginia MATH SOL 6.2 in particular, which specifically asks students to demonstrate orally and in writing equivalent relationships among decimals, percents, and fractions, but it is a good activity for any level.
These virtual whiteboard demonstrations are a good thing to post on a class Edmodo or blog for kids who are doing homework. Once you get a routine down, they don’t take long at all to make.
Students make a virtual whiteboard demonstration of math problems using step by step photos/videos, then assemble the results in Kizoa. (Tip: Screencast-o-matic.com is one way to do this. You can also film an actual whiteboard.)
Among others, this idea works with VA SOL 6.2, where students are expected to “Describe orally and in writing the equivalent relationships among decimals, percents, and fractions that have denominators that are factors of 100.” [Essential Understandings]
Alternative: Have each student explain a different step of a single problem or concept in a short video and then compile the videos together
(1.5 min)
Kizoa Idea #2: Read a Famous Speech or Poem
In groups or as a class, film each student reading a line or two of a famous speech or poem. (I Have a Dream or similar)
Upload video clips and intersperse them with historic video clips, pictures, or screenshots of the text of the speech/poem.
Add background music.
The result is a moving video created through an interactive experience.
(1.5 min)
Any questions or comments about Kizoa? I highly recommend you explore this tool. It can do so many things.
(1 min)
Tools 4 and 5 are Vocaroo and Clyp. I’m including these these two audio tools together because they are similar and work well alone or together. There are some key differences and for that reason you may prefer one or the other. It is also possible to record something on Vocaroo and then upload it to Clyp as well.
(30 sec)
Some key differences exist between these two sites, which are both free. You can record audio directly onto both sites. You can only upload audio files to Clyp.
Vocaroo recordings are downloadable and Clyp’s are not. Both are sharable and postable to social media.
You do not need an account for Vocaroo but you do for Clyp. Clyp is the only one that is also an app, which is good to know if you are using iPads or tablets.
(1 min)
Here are some ideas that are good for either Vocaroo or Clyp.
The first is Audio Book Reviews, which is great for the library.
Have students make short “radio broadcasts” reviewing or summarizing the books they are reading.
Compile the clips by embedding them in a blog on your library site
You can also make QR codes for bulletin boards or bookshelves linking to the reviews
(1.5 min)
Idea #2: The Responsibilities of Citizens. This satisfies VA SOL Civics and Economics 3.D, for 8th or 9th grade. Civics students learn about the important responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.
For this activity, you divide students into small groups, give each a topic from the list on the curriculum framework.
Research, write, and create a series of short audio broadcasts about the responsibilities of U.S. citizens:
Register and vote
Hold elective office
Communicate with government
officials to influence government
actions
Serve in voluntary, appointed
government positions
Participate in political campaigns.
Keep informed regarding current
issues
Respect others’ right to an equal
voice in government
(1.5 min)
American flag. (n.d.). Free clipart, available at
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/80000/nahled/american-flag-1392926500mE6.jpg
This is another great library activity and can be done in students’ downtime.
Vocaroo/Clyp idea #3 is Reading Buddies/Modeled Reading. This activity builds reading fluency and allows young students to practice reading on their own. The process is simple.
Have older students record themselves reading popular beginning reading books such as the Biscuit series. This takes only a couple of minutes.
Place these clips together on a web page or blog.
Share with teachers and parents of younger students. The students can listen at school or at home as they look at the book.
(1.5 min)
Moss, B. (2013). Canada water kids’ library. CC-BY 2.0
Students always enjoy this activity, which is Idea #4 for Vocaroo and Clyp:
Commercials from History
Students write and record a 30-second radio commercial from a current social studies unit as if radio commercials existed at the time.
Examples:
“Come settle in the New World!”
“Vote for Abraham Lincoln”
“Visit (Ancient) Rome”
(1.5 min)
Lincoln campaign poster. CC-0 1.0.
Questions or comments about Vocaroo and Clyp? Has anyone used these before or have a preference for one over the other?
(1 min)
Our last tool, #6, is My Storybook. As you can guess from its name, it’s an online storybook creator. This site is pretty new and the design is easy and intuitive. Students should be up and running on this quickly.
(30 sec)
The images I’ve shown here are the first page you see when you begin a storybook. On the left are buttons where you can add different elements to your page. You can add pre-fab images and stickers and you can also draw with pencil and pen tools. On the right is a button where you add pages. The blue button at the top is a tutorial.
On the right image I show here is a storybook I created in about 5 minutes just to show you what it looks like. It’s a literary masterpiece.
My Storybook has some pros and cons.
You do not need an account to start using the site and the site is completely free. You can share your creation with all of the MyStorybook users or keep it private.
However, you do need an account to save books (requires email and username). You can download an ebook, but it costs money, currently $5. Also, while exploring the site I found some weirdly inappropriate user-created books in the library of storybooks. My Storybook states that they will delete inappropriate material but perhaps they aren’t doing that fast enough. This is something to be aware of if your students are browsing freely.
(1 min)
My Storybook ideas #1: This is more of a writing prompt, but it’s a great one to get students started. What would happen if two characters from two different books meet? For example, Junie B. meets Geronimo Stilton. Create a storybook to answer this question.
(1.5 min)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0679991301.jpg
Idea #2 is called Pass the Storybook
This is a creative game and of course it can also be done on paper with pencils, but using My Storybook is so much more fun!
This works best with iPads/tablets or when many computers are available and with students who are already familiar with using the site.
Each student begins a storybook in My Storybook, adding a title and the first page. Give them no more than a couple of minutes to do this.
Students then get up (or pass the tablet) and switch to their neighbor’s story.
They quickly add one page to continue that story, then get up and switch to the next story.
Continue until time is up, trying to give every story a beginning, middle, and end.
Make sure to share the hilarious results! Believe it or not, this teaches students to pay attention to narrative structure as they write.
(1.5 min)
Idea #3 for MyStorybook is to work with a Teacher-Created Template
One nice thing about this site is that existing stories may be edited and remixed by other users. Therefore you can create a template on your own account for students to work with. My example here is a “fill in the blank” rhyming picture dictionary.
Have students open the template and click “Edit book” to make their own changes
This is great for second-graders who are not quite ready to write their own stories yet and would help fulfill the VA English SOLs 2.12, 2.13, 2.14.
(1.5 min)
Does anyone have any questions or comments about MyStorybook?
(1 min)
You’ve now seen six lightning-fast tools that will give your students results in one lesson or less. Here are those addresses again in case you did not get a chance to write them down.
(1 min)
Thank you so much for your time and attention! Any final thoughts?
(30 sec)
