Week 5: Thing #10 Online Image Generator

Comic Book Club
Originally uploaded by lorrielibrary2

The students at Glacier Valley are very excited about graphic novels and creating their own comic strips. I used Photo Booth with the special effect of Comic Strip to take a picture of me and then uploaded it to Big Huge Labs to create this Trading Card. Once I shared the trading card with my flickr account, I easily posted it to my blog. The more I use a third-party application, the easier it gets. Thank you, Joni from World Wide Web Quest, for the inspiration! To encourage students to spend time developing their characters, I could use this trading card as a carrot and culminating project. Students could share their trading cards, discuss and brainstorm stories that could involve several of them.

Week 3: Thing #7 Big Huge Labs - Integrative Tools

Arts Education
Originally uploaded by lorrielibrary2

Still exploring what Big Huge Labs has to offer and enjoyed creating my own motivational poster through Motivator. With a blog entitled, Glacier Arts and Minds, you may have guessed that I am a big arts education advocate. The uses are endless! Students could use the Motivator to create posters illustrating idioms, morals, etc. I also liked Magazine Cover, which would be a wonderful tool for students to create an attention-getting summary of their autobiography. It could serve as a final project to an integrated library unit: magazine format, style of writing and biographies.

Week 3: Thing #6 Flickr Mashups - Autumn Mosaic

I joined Big Huge Labs so that I could share this mosaic of my favorite autumn photos collected on Flickr. I enjoyed exploring Flickr Services and their open Application Programming Interface (API) which allows you to present your flickr photos in creative ways (like this mosaic).

I first had to create an account with Big Huge Labs, which then asked me if I'd like to link it to my Flickr account. Once I agreed and uploaded this image to my Flickr account, I was able to post it to this blog.

I liked the lab's Trading Cards idea and their blog which gives folks the opportunity to post and share projects. Making trading cards of famous figures throughout Alaska's history would be a creative final project. I also liked the Badge Maker. One teacher at our school used this application to create Grammar licenses for each student in his class. As students mastered a grammar skill, a box on their Grammar badge was checked off. Very official-looking and motivating for kids!