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Celaine and Emma

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Student Advocates Testimonials for Storyboard That | Edtech

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Teachers & students love Storyboard That! Learn why in this blog post testimonial written by Rachelle Poth, a teacher who uses Storyboard That in her edtech classroom.

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Students share their work and thoughts

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The following is a guest blog post by Rachelle Dene Poth. Rachelle is an experienced teacher of French, Spanish and STEAM at Riverview Junior Senior High School n Oakmont, PA. Additionally, Rachelle is also an attorney and earned her Juris Doctor Degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology from Duquesne. In addition to her teaching duties, Rachelle serves as the Communication Chair for the ISTE Mobile Learning Network, a Member at Large for Games & Sims, the Innovation Resources Co-Chair for the Teacher Education Network and PAECT Historian. Her connected educator work has led her to various roles such as being a Common Sense Media EdTech Mentor, Amazon Inspire Educator and Edmodo Certified Teacher to name just a few.
There has been a great movement toward providing more personalization for students in classrooms today. ​This focus towards more personalization is a result of changes in instructional strategies, research studies, data and perhaps, what I hope to be part of the catalyst for this, is student voice. Providing more learning opportunities which create authentic ways for students to amplify their learning, to connect with the content in a more meaningful ways and to have a choices in how to apply their learning, are goals which educators should set for their classrooms today. In order to give students opportunities for being creatively engaged in their learning, I am passionate about being informed about helpful classroom tools like Buncee. Th e reasons why I want to keep informed and provide opportunities using tools such as Buncee is to give students that chance to be creative and more engaged in learning.

Promoting student voice in the classroom has become a more common practice through the availability of technology and the integration of digital tools. In my own classroom, I have sought to open up more ways for students to find what they need, in order to create, communicate, collaborate and to think critically about the work they are doing. How can they best apply their learning? How do they want to show what they know and can do? In order to give students more opportunities for being creatively engaged in their learning, I am passionate about staying informed about helpful digital classroom tools like Buncee.

When I first tried Buncee, I began by checking out some of the Buncees available and I was instantly drawn in by the diverse creations.I really enjoy having choices. Personally, I want(ed?) to explore and start creating right away on my own. I was so excited by seeing the variety of choices available, and recognized how beneficial Buncee would be for creating a multimedia presentation. This could be accomplished without the need for different tools to include audio, video and more, as I had been doing before in my classroom. The greatest part of exploring the diverse options available was that I knew that each student would be able to create something unique, authentic and meaningful to them using all of the options available within Buncee.

As I looked through the gallery, I was thinking about past projects I had done with my classes, and how this tool could be used for so many of those, and be a lot more engaging for the students. By using Buncee, student experiences would be more personalized and lead to greater learning potential. Besides this, students would be engaged and have fun in creating something that represented them and their interests.
The Four C's: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.
Students need to develop 21st century skills. Finding ways to engage students in learning, to increase motivation and make learning experiences more authentic and meaningful are some of the goals in classrooms today. There are many options through which teachers can do this by offering a variety of tools for students ​to choose​ from for creating project​s​ or providing a choice in homework assignments and practice. The key is to put the power / empower the students to decide how to show what they know and can do with the material. By having a choice, students can apply their learning in a way that is meaningful, personal and leads to an increase in content retention. When students have autonomy in their learning, they become more engaged and learning potential increases. By using a tool such as Buncee, learning is fun and students are more engaged in their creations.

As an educator, I offer these choices so that each student has unique learning experiences.Being able to decide how to show your learning, add your personality and interests into the creation, amplify the potential for mastering the content material. I want the students to succeed, and my hope is that they also enjoy the experience and are excited to share their work. Student feedback in the classroom is vital and and I want to make sure that the students are benefitting from the methods that I am using. I make it a point to include them in the conversation and find out exactly what they thought about each experience. The following perspectives from my students, grades 11th-12th.
Mairead
Buncee is really easy to use and easy to understand. I liked the choices available and the moving characters are really cool. You can change your project from boring with just plain text to an entire project full of moving parts and more. There are many different backgrounds and characters which can make your project different and stand out from any others. When you add in the characters it is really easy to maneuver them to any part of the slide and turn them whichever way you want them to be. Another helpful thing is the ability to write on the slides, which is great for adding your information for school projects.
Ethan
I really enjoyed using Buncee for the last project I did. I found that there were a lot of options for being creative. The ability to animate the different characters brings a project to life in a way that no other tool can. The are a multitude of different fonts that can be used in correlation with hundreds of characters and backgrounds that make projects so much better and engaging. Buncee makes it possible to create a project that is fun and entertaining but can also be used in a professional setting if the situation requires it. I have shared this tool with other students and family because of the possibilities it creates for anyone, in any line of work. There is no other tool that can do what Buncee does, nor as exceptionally well.
Megan
When Mrs. Poth asked our class to create a project for our chapter, I knew I wanted to use a website that could easily display my thoughts. She had mentioned Buncee and I thought "well why not give it a try?" When I began using Buncee, I found it to be very easy and fun to use. There were so many options for backgrounds, stickers, and animations that I could really make the project my own. I also really liked that I was able to insert a video from Youtube right onto my slides, without having to just copy and paste a link. Buncee enables me to display my thoughts much better than other websites. In the future, when I am assigned more projects in any of my classes, I will be sure to use Buncee and recommend it to my fellow classmates.

A grammar lesson, taught by the student in class.
Lena
Buncee is a wonderful educational tool! At least once each grading quarter, our Spanish class has to design a creative project using vocabulary from the chapter. We are required to use a different digital tool for each project, and choose from a list. I tried Buncee for the first time this year and it is my new favorite website for school projects! Buncee allows you to be creative in a variety of ways. You can choose unique animations, fun and exciting backdrops, different fonts and so much more. Not only does Buncee allow you to be creative, and make the project your own, it provides an engaging experience because it is so easy-to-use and has great visuals. You can easily add and move multiple characters and stickers onto your slide, or add clips from YouTube without having to click on a link! The dialogue boxes are also easy to move and edit which is very helpful for beginning users. Buncee can be used in any class, and is a fun, engaging tool for both the creator and the viewer. I hope that this blog has inspired you to enjoy Buncee as well!
Reflections
It is clear that students have opinions about technology and its benefits. When they have opportunities to work with technology and then to share their work and knowledge with others, especially sharing with teachers, this has a profound impact. Student voice is key and educators can learn so much from the students and seeing their creativity come through.

Be first to comment

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The following is a guest blog post by Rachelle Dene Poth. Rachelle is an experienced teacher of French, Spanish and STEAM at Riverview Junior Senior High School n Oakmont, PA. Additionally, Rachelle is also an attorney and earned her Juris Doctor Degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology from Duquesne.

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Marina used Recap to share the results of her PBL on Argentine Tango and wrote a blog post.

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Excited for the upcoming school year, ​I decided to start with some new ideas, teaching methods and digital tools. I wanted to continue using some digital tools from last year, but hoped to find different and more creative ways to implement them into the classroom. My motivation for this developed as a combination of time spent over the summer reflecting on the previous year, learning new things at summer conferences and through webinars, and engaging with groups on Voxer. But possibly the most impactful for me, was by obtaining feedback directly from my students. I used Recap over the summer to ask them what they enjoyed in class, what helped or didn't help, and what they were looking forward to in the new school year. Student voice matters.

The biggest change for my classes this year, was starting PBL (Project Based Learning) with my Spanish 3 and 4 students. When taking on PBL, educators need to have some guidelines set as to how to begin and what the process entails. Students will be taking on a challenging new experience, one which provides opportunities for choices, independent and inquiry based learning. It is a different experience, because the students are in charge of their learning. They are studying something of a personal interest, or a passion to themselves. It is quite liberating and can lead to tremendous, authentic, meaningful learning opportunities, which will be highly beneficial for the students. It can also be a bit scary, because of the amount of independence involved in this method. So there are guidelines and resources available to educators that can help with implementing PBL in the classroom, and guiding students to develop their "Essential Questions."

There are many great resources available for educators to learn more about and implement PBL (Project based learning) in the classroom. To begin this with my students, I first did some research to prepare myself for this new learning experience. I started with the Bucks Institute for Education (BIE, www.bie.org) for guidance before implementing it in my classes. I wanted to be prepared so that I could help to guide the students, even though I knew that I would also need some support along the way.

I carefully read over and took notes from the "8 Essentials for PBL" from and also referred to several publications from ISTE for PBL. Other helpful resources were the weekly blog posts by Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy, offering advice focused on #HackingPBL, to be included in their upcoming publication, "Hacking Project Based Learning", which will be published this month. Another helpful book was "Dive Into Inquiry" by Trevor MacKenzie, through which I enjoyed hearing his experience and sharing the helpful images of rubrics with my students. During this process, I was also fortunate to have conversations with these educators, and early on, Don Wettrick, author of "Pure Genius" spoke to my students about PBL and how to get started, giving them great information and asking thought-provoking questions to challenge them. We recently had a Skype call with Ross Cooper, who listened to and offered advice to several of my students on crafting their Essential Questions.

Taking all of this information in, I guided my students through each step in the process, with focus on the beginning stages of PBL. The first step is to decide upon the Essential Question. What is an Essential Question? From my research, I have learned that it is not something that can easily be answered​ by conducting a quick Google search or with a Yes or a No. An ​essential question requires more. It leads students to research and critical thinking, problem solving, independent learning, progress checks and reflection along the way. When focusing on the Essential Question, it is not readily ​​apparent what the end result of the student learning experience will be. My students initially struggled with not knowing where their research would lead. An essential question requires more, leads to more student inquiry and should be something that will sustain student interest along the way.

Using Recap to focus on the Essential Question and PBL

Rather than have students write their Essential Questions, I asked them to think about what they wanted to study and to share their responses through Recap. I found this was beneficial because they could think through and explain their thoughts, and I could provide feedback directly to them. Having the opportunity to see and listen to the students as they shared their interests enabled me to understand the motivation behind their Essential Question. This method was very beneficial for me.

When we started our PBL, we decided to set aside Fridays as their "PBL" day, and they worked on it independently for the first 9 weeks. We had regular check-in​s​ for updates and at the end​,​ each student shared the product of their PBL experience, which could have taken any for​m​, depending on where their research led them.

One very unique way that one of my students decided to share the information was by using Recap​.​ ​Recap is a great tool for having students respond or reflect and gives them a comfortable method for sharing information with their teacher and also ​peers​ if they choose. One particular student ​suggesting using Recap to record separate videos of the results of her PBL​ study on Argentina and the tango. Using ​R​ecap for this purpose was a really great way for her to not only share her information and the reasoning of how she crafted her Essential Question​, but also​ her thoughts and steps taken along the way​. Using Recap made it very obvious to the audience how excited and engaged she was as a result of having the choice to pursue learning about an area of interest and passion. Even without the video component, the audio itself was enough to​ ​​inform and engage the listeners in her topic. I could tell that she had chosen an Essential Question which led her through a tremendous learning experience,with sustained inquiry and engagement, and had truly gone through the Project Based​ Learning process. Selecting this as the "public product" was a great idea, and it also provided her with something to reflect upon as well.
Using Recap to share the results of PBL
Marina: For my recent Spanish PBL project I decided to use Recap! PBL stands for Project Based Learning which means we come up with a topic that we are interested in learning more about. The first step is to state our essential question, the focus of our research and then being to explore and expand our knowledge. Along the way we might have more questions come up that we may not know how to answer, so we keep searching, learning and expanding our knowledge to find answers to them. At the end of the PBL project we are basically an "expert" and we can share our findings with our class, in any way that we choose.

For my presentation, I decided to use Recap. Recap is like no other tool we have ever used in our classroom and it is by far one of my favorites. Recap is a tool that allows you to record a two minute long video, to answer a prompt, share information, or anything you want. It allows you, as the student, to answer questions that your teacher or professor sends you and you can record yourself, with as many tries as you want and then send it right to your teacher. As a teacher you can create questions and send them through Recap to your students, allowing them to respond in the comfort of their home or anywhere to answer your questions and have a continuous chat with feedback. Or like I did with my PBL, you can just make videos by yourself, you don't even need a question to be sent to you to be able to make one.

I love using Recap because I feel comfortable at my house recording my thoughts and then having them on my account to show and share with my whole class.

For my Spanish PBL product, I used Recap and recorded myself at home. I spent the time studying the Argentine tango and I was able to research my topic and prepare to make a couple of two minute videos to talk about and share what I had learned during our PBL. I didn't have to worry about having to talk in front of the whole class and forget what I was going to say. With Recap it was stress free to present in front of my class because I pre-recorded it.

My class absolutely loved it because it was so different than just using Powerpoint or some other web tool that they had seen before. So not only did they learn about the Argentine Tango, they saw they could use Recap in a different way.

Recap is an amazing tool that can bring a whole new element to classrooms everywhere, at any time, because it is so simple and easy and not to mention a lot of fun! I really suggest it to students and teachers because trust me, they will love it!
Check out Rachelle's Pioneer Page

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Project Based Learning: Essential questions and Many Uses of Recap by Rachelle Dene Poth - Recap

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Excited for the upcoming school year, ​I decided to start with some new ideas, teaching methods and digital tools. I wanted to continue using some digital tools from last year, but hoped to find different and more creative ways to implement them into the classroom.

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Cassy shares Formative at TRETC and writes a reflective blog

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We need to offer diverse learning opportunities for students and to provide the support needed to encourage them to take more ownership in their learning and to become the leaders in the classroom. Students have to be more than just consumers, they need the chance to create, to experience learning from different perspectives and take this new knowledge and apply it in different ways to meet their needs.

How do teachers know what is working in the classroom? Teachers can use assessment tools and monitor student progress, but it is far more valuable and important to classroom culture and growth, to work on relationships and build collaboration by asking students to be a part of the conversation and creation of class materials. When teachers do this, they understand what helps students to learn better, be more engaged, and have a more authentic learning experience. It also becomes a way to build student confidence and transform them into classroom leaders and advocates, who can then share their knowledge and experience with others in their class and then the community.

Give them choices and let them lead

At the end of last year, I wanted to see what students thought about creating these assessments using tools which were traditionally used by teachers to deliver instruction. Cassy shared her experience in the prior post and emphasized the importance of including students in the decisions of when and how to integrate technology. Because reflection is key, I took this information and thought about the logical next step. How could I share the message about Formative, or even more importantly, how could the students share their input with others, especially educators?

Students take over

Last month, Cassy had the opportunity to take the lead and present to a group of educators at a technology conference in Pittsburgh, and show how Formative can be used in their classrooms. Cassy had become the teacher, she created a lesson with Formative and offered her perspective on the use of edtech. This time, I asked several students to participate in an edtech conference, and to present the session. Cassy taught the attendees about Formative. Here are her thoughts on the experience...

Student perspective on edtech: Cassy becomes the teacher

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Flipping Roles: Students move from edtech learners to leaders

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By Formative Educator Rachelle Poth Technology has created so many ways for teachers to provide choices for students, enable learning to occur anytime and anywhere, and to also be able to further differentiate instruction for the students. In addition to teachers being able to take advantage of t

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Talking with others, from anywhere
Sean A.

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video contribution distribution remote production ott streaming

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Dedicated to designing and producing world class equipment and solutions for professional video contribution, remote production, distribution and OTT streaming

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Teaching others

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Our first blog experience!

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SurveyMonkey is free. You can start creating and publishing free surveys online in minutes. Or sign up for a low-cost account to add even more robust surveying functionality.

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The medical chapter and family timeline projects

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Project-based learning is a great way for students to show what they know and can do with the material they've learned. It is a way for students to demonstrate this learning in a unique way that meets their own interests and skills. Through the numerous possibilities afforded by technology, there are many options available for students to create dynamic displays of their learning.

Students searching for a unique way to create a project, full of a variety of themes, styles, and more, have found Visme to be exactly what they were searching for. By choosing Visme, students can design using a variety of fonts, backgrounds, images, icons, and animations, plus insert audio or embed video, and much more in their creations.

Digital Tools for Presentations

While the content and themes can stay relatively unchanged over the course of one's teaching career, the variety of options for having one's students show their learning have changed dramatically. Project based learning is a very authentic way to assess their learning, and I have used project-based learning for more assessments over the past few years. The reason is because of the great potential I see for offering students a choice in their work and the availability of so many digital tools for their projects, which engage and motivate them in their learning.

In my experience, I have changed the types of assessments I have my students do and offer more opportunities for students to have choices. I have always loved looking at student work, in the traditional format of paper and poster, and seeing their creativity come through in their projects.

With the use of digital tools like Visme, I have found it makes it more interesting and meaningful for them, they are more engaged in their learning, and they have fun trying out these new tools and doing something different than they had done in the past. Another positive effect is that teachers benefit as well by seeing the innovative work the students produce. The uniqueness of their work is inspiring and while it shows us what they have learned, it also teaches us more about who they are.

What Do Students Think?

Because technology changes and trying something new can be scary at times, it is not uncommon to hear pleas from students who would rather complete their project using paper or PowerPoint. Teaching foreign languages, I often want them to add their voice to some of their projects or embed a video, and so having choices available which enable students to use one tool for creating their project makes it much easier for them and for the teacher as well.

With Visme, students have so many choices in their hands that are adaptable to any content, in any course, and in any area of society. But for students creating presentations with tools like Visme, it also enables them to learn a lot about the language by adding in various elements from the resources, and also helps them to further develop technology skills and create a visually engaging and fun product by taking advantage of all of the tools and animations that are available.

How Can Students Use This?

In Spanish I, students created projects to describe their families and were able to upload their own photos, have the images appear on the screen by setting the timers with descriptions to make an entrance on the screen.

They could use some of the icons available by searching within the Images tab. They could also change the color, size, and appearance of each of these and create a very dynamic, visually engaging presentation that they are proud of. They also develop other skills such as learning about design, artistic layouts, and more when they create a presentation.

In Spanish II, students have created projects to talk about their childhood and schooling experiences, as well as their community. There are so many options available within the resources for building their presentations and for really creating a dynamic visualization of their childhood, school, community and more.

When the Students Become the Teachers

In addition to the Spanish courses, I have taken students to technology conferences where they participate in the student showcase and demonstrate how they use technology in our classroom. One particular student, who was really resistant to trying any type of new technology, had seen one of my presentations and decided to give it a try. For her individual project for the conference, she decided to create a presentation using Visme, and use it to inform those attending the conference about how we use Edmodo, our learning management system.

She created a vibrant presentation showing the uses of Edmodo and at the showcase she engaged all of those that came to the table and was able to tell them so much about the presentation, her experience and what she learned from it. I could see how proud she was of her work and how comfortable she was sharing it with everyone there.

Using Visme enabled her to take a risk with something new, develop her skills, and reflect on her growth in the process. It also developed her leadership and advocacy skills and led her to teach others. In each of these situations, the students were able to use Visme for each task and they now have another tool they can use in another class or recommend to a friend or family member that could be used for any other type of purpose.

So the result is that while students have used this in my foreign language classroom to create projects that describe their life, their family, their favorite food or any content that we are covering, they are learning about a presentation tool that they can take and use later on, that they can share with others, while also building their confidence skills in the process.

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​How to Use Multimedia Presentations in the Classroom

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Project-based learning is a great way for students to show what they know and can do with the material they've learned. It is a way for students to demonstrate this learning in a unique way that meets their own interests ...

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May 2016

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Creating assessments, student created

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By Guest Author Rachelle Dene Poth
HS French and Spanish Teacher Rachelle Dene Poth argues for more student voice, choice, and leadership when finding the right materials for every student. One of her students, Cassy, a 9th grader in Spanish I, reflects on what she's learned from that experience.
Resources are everywhere: Where do we start?

Teachers work hard to find diverse resources to help students learn. Supplemental materials can be found in textbooks and other resources, through a quick search online or implementation of teacher-created or student-made materials. An online search will result in a tremendous list of resources which includes webpages, images, documents, videos, and other media formats for a teacher to choose from. It seems simple enough, but it really isn't quite that simple. The challenge is finding the right resource for each student. Being able to do this requires more than just conducting a simple online search. It requires that we truly know our students and understand their needs.Students do not all respond the same way when it comes to learning and feedback and developing these relationships will help teachers to provide the best learning opportunities. Finding something that will enable each student to have an opportunity to grow, receive personal feedback, to experience learning multiple ways, is something that teachers strive to provide for their student.

Choosing tech tools for students is a good starting point...but what's the next step?

Technology offers many ways for teachers to differentiate instruction through digital tools. The number of tools and the features available changes every day. Finding something that works for everyone may take a little bit of time, and it involves some risk taking, flexibility and reflection to truly find what works best for each student. And while teachers are good at determining what might work best for their students, it is important to hear from the students themselves. Asking the students directly what helps them to learn better, stay engaged, and feel challenged will enable teachers to differentiate instruction and provide appropriate opportunities for all students. Student voice in how they learn and their opinion of tools used in the classroom offers the teacher valuable information and different perspectives. So it is worthwhile to take the time to investigate some tools, ask the students to try new things and then see what they think.

Give them choices and let them lead

So I wanted to know, what do students get from the choices they are given? Does it make a difference? What helps the students to learn? A few years ago I started giving the students different options for how to complete a project or an assignment. Other times, rather than assigning a worksheet for homework, they had other options such as creating a game, participating in a classroom discussion online, or even the use of blogging, all which made learning more personalized and meaningful for each student. I value the feedback that I receive from the students and when I try something new, I always want to know what they think of it. In order to learn more about student needs, I decided to have one of my students become the teacher, create a lesson using Formative, and share their thoughts about the new experience and the benefits.

Student perspective on edtech: Cassy becomes the teacher

Cassy: I believe technology is an important part of learning and is a great asset to teachers and to students. Technology allows students to have the freedom to choose how to do projects, homework assignments or other classroom activities. This freedom allows students to thrive and do the best they can. I know that I love the process of finding a new website, game, project or teaching tool that I can use to help my learning catapult. It is also fun to explore the possibilities of technology and what it offers me. I can be creative and innovative. Classes which integrate technology are completely different than those which do not, because they provide more opportunities for students to learn.

Formative is a great example of the infinite possibilities technology can offer students and teachers. Documents, websites, pictures, questions and drawings are integrated into this program which allows for differentiation and creativity in various ways. Also, many people can participate in one formative assignment. The teacher or creator of the formative can see individual responses and work with the student one on one and provide personal feedback. Formative creates an effective learning experience while keeping a fun atmosphere.

On May 16th, 2016, I participated with other students in the PAECT (Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology) student technology showcase, where students from Pennsylvania showed how they use technology to its fullest potential. I made my own Formative and allowed others to try it, and highlighted all of the different uses and how effective it is for education. I enjoyed sharing how a digital tool like Formative can provide different learning activities, enhance how students learn and how teachers can teach.

Why having tech available in the classroom matters

I feel that making students turn off their phones or computers is not fair and is not smart choice. Teachers do that for their benefit, not for the students. The current generation of students is extremely involved and knowledgeable about technology. If all teachers could dive into the world of technology and understand its importance, significance and benefits, and then take the time to explore new ways to integrate some technology into class, it would make a huge difference in a student's learning experience. I don't know why more teachers don't use technology to teach because it is a way to get the students more involved in the learning material.

What do students want?

I want teachers to empower, engage and inspire me. I want teachers to give me the freedom to be creative while I am learning. I want teachers to make learning relevant to my time, and my life experience. Technology is the way to do that, to get students involved. It allows me to have my own voice and learn in the way that is best for me. I do not want to be held back from the infinite possibilities that technology offers any longer.

Student Voices: Listen to what they say

Rachelle: It is clear that students have opinions about technology and its benefits. Having choices in how to learn, being exposed to different learning tools and styles, and receiving feedback are all benefits of technology integration and ones which positively impact students. When they have opportunities to work with technology and choose how they learn, including them in the conversation and asking for feedback empowers students even more. Since students are the group most affected by the technology used in the classroom, we need to hear what they have to say.

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Empowering Students To Find The Best Resources For Them

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By Guest Author Rachelle Dene Poth HS French and Spanish Teacher Rachelle Dene Poth argues for more student voice, choice, and leadership when finding the right materials for every student. One of her students, Cassy, a 9th grader in Spanish I, reflects on what she's learned from that experience.

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Nearpod Virtual Reality & Cultural Awareness

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Nearpod Virtual Reality & Cultural Awareness

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August 31, 2016

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This is a guest post by Rachelle Dene Poth, Foreign Language teacher and Nearpod PioNear.

I have used Nearpod many times, but during the past few months, I had an opportunity to dive in and see what it can provide for student-led learning. As part of conference presentations, graduate coursework and lessons for my Spanish classes, I have a much greater understanding of its capabilities for instruction and the tremendous features it offers for education. At the end of the school year, after noticing a decrease in student engagement and motivation, I wanted to try some innovative, different methods of instruction.
Technology in our classroom: It has a purpose
Students work with many digital tools and choose how to showcase their learning. Using technology to provide authentic and meaningful learning experiences leads to an increase in student engagement, motivation, and content mastery. I am invested in providing diverse learning opportunities and look for innovative ways to introduce content and promote student choice. Students need to do more than just be receptors of information, they need to be creators! After reflecting on my practice and thinking about student needs, I had my students create a project using digital tools typically used by teachers to facilitate a lesson.
The Project
I first used Nearpod to review South American culture and verb tenses. The virtual field trips were fantastic and the students were much more engaged in the lesson. I then wondered how students would like creating a Nearpod lesson and taking control in the classroom, so I put them up to the challenge! After my students created and facilitated their Nearpod lessons, they had some fantastic feedback about using Nearpod as a tool for both teaching AND learning.
So what did the students say?
"I used Nearpod for a class project about South America, and the amazing virtual tours took my presentation to another level. I consider myself tech-savvy, but I've never seen anything like this; I'd recommend Nearpod to anyone wanting a real step-up from Powerpoints, Prezis, or Google Slides!" - Sydney

"As someone who finds technology unnecessary at times, I often do not enjoy using some of the tools I have in the past. Nearpod has really gotten me excited about the possibilities of technology in the classroom! Being able to take an adventure on virtual tours and experience culture first hand is something I have never been able to do before. Nearpod is a great tool for every classroom!" -Patrick

"Having so many choices for activities to use were educational and fun. Choices make learning more enjoyable for students. It provides more than just listening to a presentation, or watching a video, and not really being held accountable. I recommend Nearpod for other educators and anyone looking for a new way to present information. -Izabel
Learners to leaders
Using Nearpod means that learning is no longer confined to the traditional classroom setting, nor that the "teacher" is the only person providing instruction. Students were empowered in their learning. Seeing their transformation from learners to leaders was tremendous. The choice was theirs.

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Nearpod - Increasing cultural awareness and student engagement through interactive lessons and virtual field trips -

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"I have used Nearpod many times, but during the past few months, I had an opportunity to dive in and see what it can provide for student-led learning." - This is a guest post by Rachelle Dene Poth, Foreign Language teacher and Nearpod PioNear.

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Kaja in Norway, Steph in Belgium and Ben in Room 227

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Harrisbyurg, May 16, 2016

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Spanish I - III

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Rachelle Poth is a foreign language teacher and technology ambassador based in Pennsylvania. We're thrilled to have her share her experience using Storybird in the classroom.
I found Storybird a few years ago while completing graduate coursework, and was searching for a different way to present the information, that would be informative, engaging and memorable. I found Storybird and after creating my own book, have relied on it as a top choice for student projects in my classroom.

As a foreign language teacher, I have my students engage in diverse activities to help them learn the material and want the experiences to be meaningful, personal and fun. Because of technology today, I now have the opportunity to offer my students a variety of choices for completing projects and other assessments for class. With the increase in digital tools for classroom integration, there are options available to meet diverse student interests and needs. I want to know what they have learned and can do with the material and being able to provide choices for them, which enhance their ability to be creative, to enjoy the work and watch the learning that occurs because it is more meaningful. Giving students a choice in how to show what they have learned offers a lot of options today.

Storybird is very helpful in my Spanish class. It makes it easy to create colorful and informative projects. I like using Storybird because it is easy and straight-forward to use. It was also great to see my story come to life, and to have a book with my name on it. - Ricky, student

Storybird has been helping me in my Spanish class for nearly three years. It is an easy and fun way to showcase my creative abilities in fun colorful presentations. Storybird is by far my favorite presentation tool. Creating a real book myself really made my project look special. It is great to hold something in your hands that you made yourself and looks professional. - Mason, student

One of the favorites for my students is to create an illustrated book using Storybird. It really does not matter what the topic of our unit is, there are so many options available for students to find something that fits right in with the theme of what we are studying. For this reason, I love offering it as one of their choices because they can find something fun to work with while building their language skills. They can choose from so many templates to create an engaging, vibrant book, write their story in Spanish and see it come to life with the variety of images available to them. Storybird helps the students to build their skills and to create something that they can share with others and have made into a beautiful book as evidence of their learning.

Storybird is one of my go-to tools when creating a project. It is fun and easy to use, with beautiful artwork that aids in the story writing process. I have used Storybird for several school projects and for fun. It is a well designed application that allows the author to choose exactly what they want.
- Dana, student

An added benefit is that in addition to displaying these on the Smartboard in the classroom for all students to see and learn from, we can have their books printed and displayed in the classroom. What could be better than seeing the books written by your students in Spanish on display in your classroom. The books can be used as learning materials for future classes and exemplify what personalized learning and having a choice can do to engage students and increase their learning potential. The students can be creative and have fun learning in the process.

Storybird is really fun. I love the groups of pictures you can choose from for creating your book. The website is really easy to use, and different from other programs I've used in the past. Being able to purchase a paper copy of your book is a really great feature. - Maddi, student

Storybird is a creative and easy tool that I use inside and outside of the classroom. Whenever I have a project to do, it is my go-to application. I find it is really easy to use, especially with the foreign language. It benefits us with learning Spanish and makes it easier. - Ellie, student

Some fun examples we have used in Spanish are projects to describe one's family and create a family album and also to describe preparing for a special event and one's daily routine. Students have fun selecting their pictures to represent the members of the family, or activities in their daily routine, and as the teacher, I enjoy seeing their finished work and knowing that not only did they build their language skills, they had fun in the process and created something that they can share with others and author their own book.
Read more of our guest educator series to learn how other teachers use Storybird in the K-12 classroom. Do you have classroom tips or lesson plans you'd like to share with our educator community? Contact us!

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​​Storybird in the Foreign Language Classroom on the Storybird Blog

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Rachelle Poth is a foreign language teacher and technology ambassador based in Pennsylvania. We're thrilled to have her share her experience using Storybird in the classroom. I found Storybird a few years ago while completing graduate coursework, and was searching for a different way to present the information, that would be informative, engaging and memorable.

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EDPuzzle Interactive Video Lessons  Spanish III

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EDPuzzle Interactive Video Lessons  Spanish III

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July 2016

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Interactive Lessons: Let Students Create & Lead

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After recent technology showcases, finishing up an independent study focused on Student engagement, motivation and social presence, I wanted to learn more about what students want and what they need to do well. Taking the digital tools we had used, with me leading the lesson, I put it in their hands to create and lead....

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May 2016

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10th Grade student shares his Kahoot! experience

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Meet a learner who became leader: Ben, a tech savvy 10th grader, is inspiring his peers with how he creates, leads and shares kahoots!

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This was all focused on Dana, after PETE&C ,I contacted Pikto

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This post is part of our guide to using infographics in education. For more information, check out the guide here.

In this user story, we talk with Dana Grover, a high school student in Pittsburgh, about how she uses Piktochart inside and outside the classroom, why she thinks visual storytelling is important for her generation, and her favorite EdTech tools.

The fast pace of technology advancement is affecting students outside and inside the classroom. At Piktochart, we often talk to teachers about how they are using Piktochart in the classroom. Uses range from creating a new visual take of the traditional syllabus to utilizing one of our 500 templates to quickly turn text-based material into engaging visuals for the classroom.

But we felt like we were missing an important voice in the conversation. What do students think about Piktochart? Do they think that visual storytelling is a trend that will stick for their generation?

Meet Dana Grover

Dana Grover lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a student at Riverview High School.

"I am a theatre enthusiast who is involved with the marching and concert bands, orchestra, and chorus, along with the Spanish, drama, cinema, and Model United Nations clubs at Riverview," she told me. "If someone were to look for me outside of school, they would find me in the kitchen, listening to my extensive music collection, or just relaxing."

Dana first learned about Piktochart about a year ago. In fact, a big part of her discovery of Piktochart was thanks to her Spanish teacher, Rachelle Poth, who we profiled recently in our video user story series. Check out how Rachelle uses Piktochart in her classroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGeEBQUDK38
"Technology is a big part of our Spanish curriculum," said Dana. "We find new and interesting ways to use it, and showcase our knowledge through it. When I started taking Spanish, all of our projects had to be created using some sort of digital presentation application."

Dana said when Ms. Poth discovered Piktochart as a tool for students to use to create their presentations, she was quick to share it with all of her students, "as she is prone to do with all great tools," recalled Dana.

Dana said the way class projects are set up leads students to use new websites each time something is created. "So when I had already used Visme, Sway, Glogster, and others, I decided to try Piktochart," she said.

"What made me want to explore Piktochart more was when my peers presented in class and I saw how organized and aesthetically pleasing their projects were," Dana said.

When she thought about what she and her peers needed in an EdTech tool, Dana pointed to one must-have:

"We need to be able to express ourselves in creative ways. Piktochart lends itself to this perfectly," said Dana.

"Everyone wants technology to be fast and easy to use," she continued. "Teenagers want lots of choices when creating projects, because we are our own projects, and we want to be able to have choices and create ourselves in creative ways."

Dana's Work on Piktochart

When I asked Dana to share her favorite project on Piktochart with me, she was quick to point to an infographic she made about one of her favorite shows - HBO's The Leftovers.

"Piktochart was the perfect tool to use for this project," she said. "The Leftovers is such a good, well thought-out, creative show, and I needed a website that was going to be able to do it justice. I was really pleased with all of the options I had when making this project. I felt like I was able to create exactly what I had envisioned it to be, which is not the case for a lot of tools."

Dana's Tips and Tricks for Using Piktochart

Dana knows what's it's like being new to using Piktochart, so I was curious to hear some of her tips and tricks for newbies.

"The first thing I would show them would be text features, photo options, and background choices," she said. "Not only are those the basics to creating an infographic, but Piktochart does a really nice job of making these features accessible, easy to use, and extensive in their range of creativity."

Dana said that when she first started making infographics, she wanted to make the visual longer. The problem, she recalled, was that she couldn't figure out how to add blocks to build on to her visual.

"It probably took me a good 10 minutes before I realized that when I had a block selected, in the upper left hand corner was a button to add more blocks," she said. "And below, there is the option to re-size them, which is really helpful."

For those who are new to using Piktochart, this is what Dana is talking about. This is how to add more blocks!

Dana told me she loves how many symbols, shapes, and colors can be put into visuals she creates using Piktochart.

"Lots of applications have options, but not nearly as many as Piktochart for creative purposes," she said.

"My presentations don't have to be dry when I use Piktochart. Whatever I envision for my project, odds are I can create it with Piktochart." Click To Tweet

Dana's Favorite EdTech Tools

When she's not creating on Piktochart, Dana said she loves using Storybird. Storybird lets anyone make visual stories in seconds. The team curates artwork from illustrators and animators around the world and inspires writers of any age to turn those images into fresh stories.

"Storybird is another great website because it is fun to use and really simple," said Dana. "I love that people are able to write their own stories and use professional artwork to accompany it. The best part is that you can order your story as a hard or soft cover book. Everyone who worked on it is cited - the author, the illustrator, and the website."

Another tool in Dana's toolbox is Sway. Sway, a digital storytelling app, was recently released by Microsoft and is part of Microsoft Office.

"Sway's layout is very interesting, with options to make a beautiful cover page and online poster-style infographics," explained Dana. "There are a lot of options on Sway when it comes to pictures, so when I created mine, I only used images from the website, which was really helpful to save time and citation effort."

Looking for more ways to utilize Piktochart to make students excited in the classroom? Or maybe you're looking for ways you can use infographics to make your next school assignment shine? Take a look at how teachers and students alike are using Piktochart in the classroom!
This post is part of our guide to using infographics in education. For more information, check out the guide here.

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User Story: How a High School Student Mastered Infographics

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This post is part of our guide to using infographics in education. For more information, check out the guide here. In this user story, we talk with Dana Grover, a high school student in Pittsburgh, about how she uses Piktochart inside and outside the classroom, why she thinks visual storytelling is important for her generation, and her favorite EdTech tools.

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Narrated Audio Presentations Ellie, Alexa, Alivia  August 2016

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Projects are one way that teachers can assess students throughout the year. Regardless of the theme, students have a lot of opportunities today to complete their projects using a variety of presentation formats. They have more options for showing what they have learned and how they can apply the material covered in class.

With each passing school year, the options available to students increases, enabling each student to find and work with a digital tool that is personalized to them because it meets their interests and needs, and also their comfort level with technology.

While using tools such as Microsoft Word or a standard PowerPoint to create reports and presentations provides students with a foundation for learning technology skills, taking their knowledge of these formats and applying them to new technology tools can maximize their learning in many critical areas.

Depending on the type of project or assignment that a student must complete, tools such as Visme offer many options to users who want to create any type of project or presentation with a single multi-tool that integrates multimedia and many other visual elements. As a foreign language teacher, for example, I often want students to include an audio component to their project so that I can assess their speaking skills.

A recent example of this is a project I assigned to Spanish III students which entailed describing the life and work of an artist. The project required a certain amount of vocabulary to assess their Spanish language skills, but it also had to include images or video and an audio narration with their comments on the project.

Whereas in the past, they may have needed to use two separate digital tools to do this, depending on their choice, they can now rely on Visme to create their projects with all of these elements in one presentation.

There are many choices as to the type of format, whether it be an infographic, flyer or a presentation. Each of these have options to include multimedia and many other choices for audio, video, and other visual representations. With the new updates, these choices are even greater than they were for our prior student projects.

There are a lot of tools available which integrate various components, enabling students to record audio or upload audio files into their presentation, but these often require multiple steps, or specific formats, and in some cases may require advanced knowledge of technology.

However, with the recent addition of Visme's new audio feature, students only need to look to this one tool to create their presentations. They can add their voice-over directly into their project with just a few clicks.
RELATED: How to Create a Narrated Presentation With Voice Over Using Visme
Ideas for Using Narrated Presentations

There are tons of possibilities for using audio in presentations. As a teacher, I can create lessons for my students, with instructions on each slide, to guide them through the presentation. This is a great option for students who are absent from class or who would like to revisit a specific lesson.

I can also teach a lesson and explain grammar, vocabulary, culture, or any topic we are covering in class, and easily add the recording to the slide, making it easier for the students to follow along. The potential for this is huge, especially in flipped classrooms, or blended learning environments.

Anyone who creates a presentation, regardless of whether it is for use in an educational setting, can take advantage of the audio component of Visme, to really add that something extra to the presentation.

It can be a recording of one's own voice, or it can be other audio that has been added in from the library or uploaded from another source. There really are a lot of possibilities for enhancing anyone's presentation.

What Can Students Do With This?

Students were excited to use Visme's audio feature for recording voice overs and creating narrated infographics and presentations for our class. Some of the students shared their opinions of Visme's audio feature.

Ellie: "The audio feature makes it easier to explain your work more in depth when you don't want to have too many words on the screen, or simply want to describe an image."

Alexa: "With voice overs, it's easier to include all of your information and faster than reading slides word for word. It would be a lot easier to present it to people because I could take my time and make sure that my pronunciations were right rather than having to speak in front of people from memory. It's really easy to use, and it made my presentation more interesting."

From a student's point of view, presenting information to classmates can be a bit scary, and rather than speaking while displaying the presentation, the students can pre-record their information, and let the presentation run on its own.

This is a great way to help students gain confidence in the classroom and keep comfort levels in check. It is also a great way to have presentations available for sharing with peers and for use as a resource for future classes. Teachers can benefit by being able to record their own lessons, but students benefit by having everything they need to create highly visual and engaging multimedia presentations.

90% of all information transmitted to our brains is visual.
People remember...

Become a more effective visual communicator. With Visme, you can create, share or download your visuals with no design training. It's free! Take a tour.

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How to Use Narrated Presentations With Voice Overs in the Classroom

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Projects are one way that teachers can assess students throughout the year. Regardless of the theme, students have a lot of opportunities today to complete their projects using a variety of presentation formats. They have more options for showing what ...

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Students contribute to blogs and teach others

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Students contribute to blogs and teach others

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These are the projects that the students worked on and contributed to the blog posts and shared their perspectives and work. It was great to connect the students with the edtech teams, great conversations, and we all learned. I could not be prouder of what they have done.