Week 5

Week Five Lecture: Animations and Claymations


Technology isnt always easy to use; Some students may feel quite threatend in using technology to develop animations and stories; it is thus important to guide students to the programs that are user friendly in regards to animations and images. Some programs are quite hard to follow and are not suitable for students in primary schools. Some programs even portray material that is not suitable for young students. It is the teacher's role again to pick programs that deal with animations and provide great education and computer background to students.



During my placement, i was working with students in grade 1 and 2; every day for an hour in the morning they will have an ict lesson and the teacher will introduce many programs that deal with animation and help provide a clear understanding on why such programs are used. Seeing young students work on computers and develop as they go was quite amazing; in my primary years, i wasnt introduced to useful programs; it was always pencil on paper and nothing more then that. I enjoyed seeing students develop overtime and become quite confident in using technology and working around different programs.



Workshop:


For our workshop this week, we were required to visit websites and work around the different annimations. Some websites were useful for both adults and primary students and some were not suitable for the primary classroom.




















In the rebus story, pictures used to replace the nouns in order to make the story more interesting for students to read. This type of program is fantastic for students to learn how to read. Some students face difficulties when reading particular words, so when they see the picture, they are able to make sense of it and identify what it is. Some students may also need clues in order to identify what the sentence says or what the story is about.
Students are able to create their own stories and they can also insert pictures, making it quite interesting and fun to read. This type of website is definitely useful and many students will benefit from it. It is a literacy type of activity with visual images used.
It is great in the sense that it allows students to actually create their own stories using their own clues; this will show students understanding and just how important pictures may be in order to be able to make sense of a story.






This Building lego website is also quite a smart site in which students are able to create their own characters using different lego shapes and sizes. Many schools nowadays have their own blocks and legos in which students can physcially build and play with however this is an actual computer website and students are able to have the great experience in forming their own charatcers. It is a clever site and quite user friendly; primary students will find it quite easy to follow; this type of learning is fun for students. Each student has the opportunity to work independently and design a character of their choice. I think its quite crucial for teachers nowadays to constantly reinforce to students that we do not all share the same oppinions and we may differ interms of our favourite shapes, colours, pictures, stories - this website is greate in allowing students to have their own choice in what they wish to create.



This image is from the websit http://www.buildyourwildself.com/; this website is quite interesting and fun. It allows students to be creative thus work independently exploring the different features of wild creatures. Students are able to choose from a range of different types of mouths, legs, clothing, hair and eyes. The end result a wild character is produced. Once your wild character has been produced, you are then able to find out facts about your wildness and what you can do with the types of arms you have, types or legs and the power you have within your eyes. This type of website and activity i beleive can be clearly linked within the art domain; students can produce their creatures on the computer then draw them on a peice of project paper; in terms inquiry, they can also rsearch facts and information about the different body parts and which animal each body part actually comes from. This wesbite is a useful tool and will be fun to use in the primary classroom. It will be interesting to see how creative students can be.














The image below is from the website http://www.sketchswap.com/ ; this website is quite fun - students are required to draw their own image and swap it into cyber space. In return, they will receive an image from a random person. It is a fun wesbite in that it allows students to sketch they kind of image they want however once they push the swap button, their image will travel through cyber space to a random person located anywhere, and the students will receive an image in return. Now the problem is, we do not know who is receiving our images once we sawp them and we do not know who is seeing our the images that we sketched. Although it is a good site in the sense that it allows students to draw using the computer and internet however personally i wouldn't use such a website in my classrooom because the students and i wont know what type of image we will receive. This image may be unsuitable for students at primary school to view. Texts and words may also be swaped and we do not know what we will receive. As a teacher,i will be responsible for my own classroom and students in my care therefore i will not risk students being exposed to material that may harm them.
Below is an example of the picture i received from sketch swap.











The image below is from the zimmertwins website; This website allows users to create their own films; they can choose their own characters, backgrounds and they can also enter their own texts and have the characters say what they want them to say. It is a fun website for students to produce their own thoughts in a movie. Definitely a program to use in a primary classroom. Studets will enjoy this program. Below is a scene form a movie that i created during our workshop. I found it enjoyable being an adult, i can only imagine the different types of annimations and movies that students will come up with.

We also were introduced to another movie making website http://www.dvolver.com/ ; this is also a site in which students can direct and produce their own movies; they will have the different characters, backgrounds, and will be able to insert their own scripts. Making movies is a good way in showing the teachers just how far the students imaginations and creativity can go. Movie making wesbites are useful and the students will enjoy them.


















This workshop was one of the most intense classes of the learning technologies unit; we visited many webpages however i was only able to capute a few due to problems with certain websites and the blog program itself. It is always useful to take note on the various programs there are as ICT is quite important nowadays and soon students will have to rely on computers and internet websites more than books and papers. As a class teacher, it is important to study these websites before explaining to the students so that any harmful material is avoided.