Clay Yourself

TCEA’s Tots & Technology conference was wonderful. My head is overflowing with new information and ideas I want to put into place next year. Many of the sessions I attended were on Google—forevermore to be called “The Great and Powerful Google.” I was amazed to find out things about Google that I never knew! I have decided to become a Google Education Apps Certified Teacher, so I will share more about Google this summer as I go through the process. Until then, check out this video: 10 Surprising Facts About Google .  It has nothing to do with classroom applications, but it is very interesting.

On to something you can use…

Several of the sessions I attended talked about www.clayyourself.com. It seemed interesting, so I thought I would check it out. Here is my clay avatar:   

Pros:

1.       It is fun. You get to pick the way your avatar looks, and there is a cute little clay squirrel that guides you through the process.

2.       After you create your avatar, you can give it a stage name through the “Stage Name Generator.” You choose your favorite vacation spot and it generates a name for you. Luckily, you are able to keep generating names until you find one you like. My avatar’s stage name is Mia Cucumbers.

3.       Next, you go to the script creator and fill in nouns and verbs (like Mad Libs) and it creates a script that you can record.

Cons:

1.       It is owned by Hotels.com.

2.       It asks for your name and displays it with your avatar in the Headshot Gallery. As long as students do not put in any identifying information, it should be ok.

3.       The site could not “connect to the audio server,” so I did not record my script. I will have to try again later.

Would I use this program with students? Possibly. It would depend on how well they could be monitored to ensure that no personal, identifying information is added to the site. The avatars are easy and fun to make, and would be better than having their pictures on Edmodo or their blogs. I suggest showing the following cartoon “Faux Paws Adventures on the Internet,” before doing any online activity.

Other uses for clayyourself.com…

digital storytelling, character development, descriptive writing, giving and following directions

If you use clayyourself.com in the classroom, let me know what you did and how it worked for you.

 

Summer, already???

This has been a very fulfilling year. It has also been a very brain-filling year! Next week, I will be in Galveston at the TCEA Tots and Technology. Just based on the handouts that have already been posted on the website, this should prove to be the most worthwhile conference I have been to all year.

If you are not a member of TCEA, I highly recommend that you join. The yearly fee is $30, which is less than any other organization of which I am a member, and it is well worth the money. Check out their website and see what they have to offer.

I will be posting about Google and all its wonderfulness as soon as I get back from Galveston. I am sure I will learn even more at the conference.

Leave a comment if there is anything else you want me to try. I will give you my honest results!

Confessions of a technology addict

Since this blog is about technology, I probably should not talk about life without technology. However, right now they are going hand in hand. You see, I dropped my cell phone in the toilet. Don’t ask. It might have just been a little piece of electronic equipment in the grand scheme of things, but several times in the last few days it has felt like my entire life went into the toilet with my phone. Yes, I still have my family, my job, and my health—and I appreciate every bit of that. I just never realized how attached I was to instant access to information.

Here are a few things I am missing:

1.       Communication: I cannot pick up my phone and call someone the moment I think of something to tell them. Since I usually only give out my cell phone number, no one other than sales people and my grandmother can seem to find me. This includes the allergist that tried to call and cancel my appointment yesterday.

2.       Information: When my six-year-old asks me a question, I like to give him an answer. If I do not know the answer, I pick up the phone and Google it. Did you know that there are 254 counties in the state of Texas?

3.       Recreation: I miss Spider and Candy Crush. Ok, not Candy Crush because I have been stuck on the same level for weeks, but I like having something to occupy my time when I have to wait.

4.       Evernote: What??? Pencil and paper??? I might lose the paper, then what? Oh yeah…I lost the phone.

Here is what I am not missing:

1.       Quality time with my family: My family is now getting my undivided attention on car trips.

2.       Interruptions: No beeping at me to tell me something is going to happen in 15 minutes. No calls while I am talking to my husband. No texts that I cannot answer while driving.
 

Am I a technology addict? Yes. Will I survive until my new phone gets here? Probably. Will I work on breaking my techno habit? Probably not. Technology can make life easier and more fun. It can also take years from your life by being frustrating at times. I will take the frustration. Just give me back my phone.