Animation

A fantastic way to engage your students is to create cartoons or some kind of animation. There are numerous sites for such activities, such as Kerpoof, XtraNormal, and Be Funky, and each is an incredible way to allow your students the ability to express themselves creatively. One of my favorite sites is ToonDoo, which is an easy-to-use comic strip creator. In a matter of minutes students can create professional looking comics that can act as a class project or an assessment of their learning. The example below shows how students might create a comic about Revolutionary War taxes being levied on American colonists.

By rnovak | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Me and You...Tube

YouTube is a fantastic resource for finding great educational videos. Unfortunately, in the context of educational use, YouTube can receive a bad rep because there is a large number of inappropriate videos on the site, which can get students in trouble if they're irresponsible. However, if properly monitored, YouTube can be a real boon to the classroom because, while there is a large number of videos that are not beneficial in the class, there is a larger number of great videos.

The Internet also allows students to quickly create videos that can be posted to YouTube and then be shared with not only with their classmates but with the world! Below is an example of how a student might use YouTube to produce a quality work that can then be shared with the world. This student showed her understanding of Native Americans by creating a video. That means she had to put together her understands in a way that could then be clearly communicated, then she had pull together visual resources that would help her teach the topic. In this case, she used Google Earth. Imagine how much more seriously a student will take an assignment if they know it could be seen by any person around the world!

How do you think you can use YouTube in your classroom?