Week 4, Practical Experience part 3

OK.  I had hoped to have finished the Flash essential training by now and been able to brag about it and show off my certificate, but my weekend has been too full of other things for that to happen.  I did make it to the action script chapter, so I believe I made it through the basics.  Action script is, I think, more of an advanced feature of Flash, which requires more knowledge and focus.  Considering all that has been going on in my life this month, I feel I am doing well to get to this point.  No excuses, however, I will continue to learn Flash, and show off that knowledge in a later class.

Week 4 -Practical Experience part 2.

I think I have been through enough of this tutorial to comment on how it compares with trying to Flash from a book.  I really like the pacing and thorough explanations Todd Perkins employs in these videos.   That and watching the program being used dynamically instead of looking at static illustrations on a page brings the learning to life.  I notice the same thing in my classroom when I display the animated version of the math textbook on the smartboard rather than simply reading from the text.  Maybe I can learn Flash well enough to rewrite the textbooks we use that haven't gone digital.  That might just be my next action research project!

Week 4 -Practical Experience part 1.

I spent most of this past week learning how to be a better fourth grade teacher and didn't really spend much time on learning Flash since I fell asleep Sunday night while viewing the lynda.com tutorials.  I'm into chapter 5 now, and will spend a good deal of today sitting up with the tutorials.  For now, though, I need to go finish my video.

BP_12.2 Flash the second

So I spent some time on Lynda.com yesterday starting the lesson sequence on Flash Essentials.  So far, I have not gone beyond anything I started learning when I started with version 5, but I will keep plugging away until I get this certificate, and then I will continue with the advanced tutorials Lynda has to offer.

I want to be able to do something like this:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/animator

BP_11 OMM Kerpoof

Just a short video to show you some of the fun features of Kerpoof.  See my post BP #8 if you want to see an example of how Kerpoof can be used in the classroom.

BP_12.1 Practical Experience - My Choice, Flash

I have been trying to learn Flash since it was version 5. I know that doesn't make me sound too smart, but it hasn't been that I've been working on it and failing, but that I've been telling myself to work on it when I had no real purpose to do so. The desire was there, but not the motivation. Now that I have an up-to-date version of Flash, a subscription to Lynda.com, and a need to use Flash in an upcoming course, I dare say I will be learning Flash. I'll get to work on that today, as soon as I finish my current course work assignments, finish my lesson plans, update my website, go out for milk and cat food, and clean my house. On second thought, the house can stay dirty. I'd rather lern Flash.

BP_8 Kerpoof

Kerpoof Home Page

Kerpoof is a creative tool that might soon become my best friend.  The more I explore it, the more I like it.  You can choose from several options on the carousel on the homepage, including make a drawing or a picture, make a storybook, or make a movie.


With a free teacher account, you can set up accounts (also free) for all your students. The advantage for teachers is that Kerpoof even has a collection of lesson plans that you can use to fit into your own curriculum.  In my class we just finished reading "Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say.  This story takes place in both the United States and Japan, a perfect introduction to a social studies lesson on Japanese culture that includes a Kepoof lesson plan on writing a Haiku.

After we get familiar with Japanese culture, analyze several Haiku poems included with the lesson plan, and write our own Haiku on the Haiku Information sheet, also provided with the lesson plan, we can go to the computer lab and choose Make a Picture from the item carousel on the Kerpoof home page.










The next step is to choose a scene.  For this assignment, we will use the Japanese scroll background, highlighted in orange in the screenshot on the left.








Here on the scene we can add as little or as much illustration as we want from the images beside the page.  There are also many tool options on the left.  The Haiku itself can be typed in with the text tool (see the letter A on the left of the page) or as a speech bubble from one of the images on the right.  I want to see somebody have the crane recite his or her Haiku.








And, finally, a sample of what a finished Haiku could look like when it is published.  These can be shared and evaluated by a star rating.  


This is definitely a tool I will use with my fourth graders.  I can already see the creativity flowing.