My first professional development workshop, "Create Commotion with Stop Motion," was a fantastic way to learn how to use the app "KomaKoma." This app let you create a small clip of combined pictures in "motion." The cool thing about using KomaKoma is the ability to create whatever you want by using your imagination! My peers and I used play-do to create our story-line and short clip. I created a blue snowman who was in search of finding a "bottom" to his snowball. I think using this app for kids is a fantastic way to let them explore and use their imagination at such a young age. This app was also very easy to use, so having kids at such a young age work this app wouldn't be difficult. For my future classroom, I could see myself using this app with many different subjects. For example, using KomaKoma to create a clip of the moon going through its phases would be a great visual for older kids to use and express their knowledge. Overall, I would rate this app an E from it's easy accessibility, ability to export, and overall quality.
My second professional development workshop, "Booksnaps," taught the class how to use an app like Snapchat to annotate and edit literature pieces. The idea of booksnaps was to engage kids in reading and comprehension through a media source that is a big part of their life. Snapchat is used by many young teens and students today, so this activity is very applicable to today's classroom environment. Booksnaps works by taking a picture of a piece of text on snapchat, and editing through drawing, adding emojis, or text. Once you are done annotating that specific text, you can add that piece to your story. The overall final product of booksnaps is to have a story of several annotated pages on your story for your peers to review and comment on. Booksnaps is a very creative way to get students motivated to read and annotate through a hobby that many enjoy, Snapchat. Although, I believe having Snapchat in the classroom for educational purposes can lead to students becoming sidetracked and distracted from their work. Overall, I would rate this app an S for its accessibility, ability to comment and share with peers, and potential to interfere with schoolwork.
My second professional development workshop, "Booksnaps," taught the class how to use an app like Snapchat to annotate and edit literature pieces. The idea of booksnaps was to engage kids in reading and comprehension through a media source that is a big part of their life. Snapchat is used by many young teens and students today, so this activity is very applicable to today's classroom environment. Booksnaps works by taking a picture of a piece of text on snapchat, and editing through drawing, adding emojis, or text. Once you are done annotating that specific text, you can add that piece to your story. The overall final product of booksnaps is to have a story of several annotated pages on your story for your peers to review and comment on. Booksnaps is a very creative way to get students motivated to read and annotate through a hobby that many enjoy, Snapchat. Although, I believe having Snapchat in the classroom for educational purposes can lead to students becoming sidetracked and distracted from their work. Overall, I would rate this app an S for its accessibility, ability to comment and share with peers, and potential to interfere with schoolwork.