ETEC540: Text Techologies

After looking through the websites and experimenting with the different tools, I was drawn to the “Spell with Flickr” tool the most. It’s so easy to use and I found it fun when I saw the letters change instantly. I basically chose letters that I liked and the ones that I thought fit well together. This “Spell with Flickr” tool connects with the course because this course is all about writing and how writing tools influence how we respond to text. Having a header like this stands out and can draw readers to continue reading. However, a potential drawback of this tool could be that it may be difficult for some readers to see what the letters are, especially ELL, who may not be able to recognize the letters shaped as different objects. I felt like I had to change the letters a few times because the word was hard to see at first glance. Overall, I feel this tool would be great to use as headers.

I tried making a children’s story on Kerpoof:http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11e7Tdwo3c0hr-c-1d3b65-x

I was motivated to attempt this because my husband is currently illustrating a children’s story and I have never been a very good artist so I thought this site would allow me to step into his world. I also teach ESL students for one of my classes and am always looking for new ways for them to express themselves both in writing and visually.
I attempted to achieve a simple story with a good moral. It is not terribly complex, but I enjoyed experimenting with the different backgrounds and characters.
This site allows one to use their literacy of the written word and combine it with visual learning. It could be very engaging for students of all ages to experiment with varied levels of poetry, prose, fiction and non-fiction. It is an inspired concept that allows those of us without certain gifts to express ourselves. It could engage learners who are more visually-oriented and allow them the confidence to achieve what others can with a short story or essay. It’s exciting because it has the potential to open the doors to a whole different learning style of student.
The drawbacks are the limited creativity. There are only a certain number of character, background, prop and writing style choices which could be great for younger students but may prevent older students from becoming truly engaged.

I decided to use Dumpr to rework a picture I recently took of the artwork one of my students created for Remembrance Day. In art this term we focused on multimedia. This project, although time-consuming, turned out beautifully. Students first painted, then used plastic wrap to create texture, added paper and finally a button for the center of the poppy. Another learning outcome we are emphasizing in our school is respect for art. We want students to consider themselves artists. We create mini-gallery walks to admire the work of others after each art lesson. Students have opportunities to provide positive feedback and talk about the art of their peers. Playing around with Dumpr, I thought the Museumr option fit nicely with what we have been doing in the classroom. I may even do this with my class next week to add another medium and so that my students really begin to see themselves as artists. I had a lot of fun with this activity, it was really easy and felt as though I was doing something I previously would have not considered myself capable of doing. The media available today allows for rip.mix.feed. activities to happen quickly and easily. Fun stuff!

I came across an art lesson that mentioned Dumpr.net so I thought I would try it with my class and essentially kill two birds with one stone.  First, I took pictures of all of my students.  Second, I uploaded them individually into the “photo to sketch” section of Dumpr.  I printed each one and enlarged them on our photocopier.  Next, the students placed a blank piece of paper over their photocopy and with a sharpie, outlined their face, shoulders and features.  Lastly, they used water colour paints to paint sections of their portrait.  The lesson is from http://artiswhatiteach.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/6th-grade-pop-art-portraits.html.  Below is an example of the 3 steps.  I asked for student and parent permission before using their photograph and artwork.  For some reason when I used the “Photo to Sketch” application now there was an error so I used “Sketch Artist” to give you an idea what the photo turns into.  I loved how they all turned out and the students really enjoyed making their own “Pop Art Portrait”