Tech Play Three: Creativity Tools

Tech Play Three: Creativity Tools

I have a set of iPads in my library that I would love to be able to take advantage of so I chose to look at the tools for creating on the Bloom’s Taxonomy for iPads.  This tech play was a lot of fun! I loved playing with these apps.  Of the eight applications that I played with half of them cost two to three dollars. I might be able to afford one or two downloads, but I’m not going to pay to have those on all of my iPads. IF they were super awesome then I would ask my principal about buying them for all of the devices.  Fortunately, my favorite ones didn’t cost anything!  IMovie, Reel Director and Animoto are all applications that take your own photos and videos and make them into well produced videos with effects, music, and titles.  Reel director costs 1.99 and therefore I didn’t get to really play with it, but from the reviews and the images in the app store, I’m not missing much. Animoto is free and is a great place for students to start putting their own presentations together. It walks you through the process and is very easy.  iMovie is more complicated but has so many more options and creates a wonderful product. iMovie is a winner!  ComicBook! And SonicPics use your still pictures on your device to create a project. ComicBook! Is $2.99 and seems pretty neat, but I think there are other apps out there that might cost less and do more. Sonic Pics costs 1.99 and you can use iMovie or Animoto to create a better product.  My two favorite apps were Puppet Pals and Toontastic. They are both FREE!! YAY! And you can create your own story within each app. One uses one dimensional, flat puppets as the characters. They have stock of puppets or you can create your own. They also have a stock of backgrounds. You get to animate and tell your story and it records it as you go.  It is really fun. You can also use your own pictures to create puppets, but it isn’t the easiest thing to virtually cut out the background to create them, but that is coming from someone who likes things perfect.  Toontastic is my favorite of all of the apps that I played with. I love it as a librarian and reading teacher because it walks you through the story elements and teaches you how to write a story. It has all of the great elements that Puppet Pals has plus the guidance.  You can use your own pics which become animated or you can draw your own characters. I cannot wait to put this on the iPad at school and see the products that will be made!

The Toontastic app will allow students to put their Reading/Language Arts content into action. Using the constructivist pedagogy that states that students learn more and create knowledge when they are actively creating. When you connect the action of creating with story elements (content) and the technology (Toontastic) then you have the TPACK model.  I would use this tool specifically to teach fiction, story elements and story arc. I think this would be a great way to support what they learn in their classrooms. As a media specialist I would read a short fiction story to the class then discuss the elements. I would then let them go choose their own stories to check out. While they are taking turns checking out books I would let me get an iPad and open toontastic and they could either choose to re-write the story we read, or one they know, or create a new one.  I know jumping right into creating is difficult for some students. We would then share the completed stories at a later time and see how it connects to what they’ve been learning in their classroom. I also think the app would be great for telling scientific processes or turn historical events into narratives written by the students. You could even take a math problem and turn it into a narrative. So many possibilities!

I love the idea of using creativity tools. If you asked me to describe myself, the first word I would use is creative. I believe tapping into that creative side helps students in problem solving and thinking skills. Games and practice tools do not give students the chance to think. They only allow for recall. To create, to really think stimulates the mind and creates connections. Everything we teach today is so separate and isolated. Children who are not taught at home to make connections and think holistically. I think that any tool that inspires a student to think, whether I like it or not, has value.

This tech play assignment has opened my mind up to many new possibilities and I will continue to look for new programs and applications that will allow my students to create and learn using the TPACK model.