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:
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.
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