Animation work 2…
well, for some reason, Toon Doo is stubbornly refusing to let me embed my attempt at a storyboard, so here’s the link to the cartoon on Toon Doo – i hope.
Animation work…
This post follows on from the ToonDoo cartoon – this is one of the very first animations we have made using the Digital Blue camera and software. The next post will (hopefully) show the storyboard in Toon Doo. I’m going to do this storyboard as an experiment, but the video clip is all the students work using stop-motion animation.
Second Life – part 1.
As part of the course I am doing, I have to (a) create this blogsite, which is fun, and (b) check out other multimedia, or Web 2.0. resources along the way. Consequently, I have now become completely addicted to a site called “Second Life”.
Its kind of like an online, multiplayer version of the Sims (those of you who dont know what the Sims is about – where have you been???!) combined with the chat room principle that was popular a few years ago. You create yourself a persona, represented by an avatar, and then spend some considerable time wandering around a virtual island learning the ropes. Don’t leave this island too quickly, you cant go back and it all gets much more confusing once you are on the ‘mainland’.
I started off looking at it as a possible learning environment for some of my students … the appeal of only needing to be able to use 4 arrow keys and left and right click to interact with a range of resources is not to be ignored!! Now, i am not so sure about whether it will be appropriate or not – its great fun to roam around for a while, but setting up a teaching area needs a knowledge of the supporting script. Some places have done it, though, Bromley FE college has a beginners guide to the scripting language, and the OU apparenly has a site in there somewhere!
What has fascinated me more than anything though is the complete lack of interaction since i joined. In 3 days of being addicted, i have spoken to 2 fellow ‘newbies’ for about 10 minutes (this doesnt include the person who added me as a friend in the first 30 seconds of entering and then ran away! :0) Oh and the 2 people who were rude to me and told me to go away whilst they played with a bendy bin?!
The space is set up as an online community – a place for people to interact, exchange knowledge and ideas and even trade using a virtual currency. But the exchanges i’ve witnessed have been largely nonsense, for example, this evening, several people discussing bra sizes whilst my avatar did a chicken dace with back flips and an occasional “ow” in the background … and still got ignored!!!!! Do i smell, virtually speaking? I havent worked out the commands for sniffing your avatar’s armpits yet, but its my next mission.
Seriously though, it is intriguing. A utopian ideal that is reflecting mostly what i would view as bad about society so far, areas which are exclusive to members only, being ignored if you don’t ‘belong’, people being gratuitously rude simply because they can…. check it out if you have some spare time (*laughing)
All Images Copyright 2007, Linden Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
interacting for students who dont write
I’m looking around for the kind of noticeboard/ whiteboard that you find on sites like Bebo, where people can draw their thoughts and comments rather than have to write them. This is the closest i’ve found so far (although i’ve only been looking briefly) and its just cos i really quite like this!!
This is a very cool site…
I found this site on an american colleague’s blog – you can create your own cartoons 
blog address is in the blogroll… I think i might use this with some of my groups to help them storyboard for animation projects using the Digital Blue camera.
A Sensory Poem…
Oyster Boy – Sensory Story I used this story with my pmld learners. We made puppets of the characters first and used these through the story… 
Oyster Boy was a very sad boy [point to all the boys and sign boy]
He wasn’t much fun, or full of joy. (sign happy)
He was all soft and squishy in a very hard shell, [pass around a bag full of egg, followed by a sea shell to feel]
And following him around was an odd fishy smell! [pass around tuna in oil to sniff]
One day in the park, he met Staring Girl [point to all the girls and sign 'girl']
She told him her real name was Merle. (sign ‘name’ and ‘M’)
They walked and they talked, and soon became friends,[sign 'walk', 'talk' and 'friends']
And said they would meet every weekend.
On Saturday, Mummy boy went to the park.[sign 'saturday' and 'boy']
Because he was dead, he went in the dark! [turn out light]
As he walked with his dog, all through the night,[sign 'walk', 'dog' and 'night']
Suddenly, he saw a very bright light! [sign 'light', then strike long match, let it burn for a moment, then light candle]
“oh no!” Stick boy screamed, [big mack scream] 
Match girl, beside him, was on fire it seemed! [move candles around, sign 'fire']
Stick boy began to jump and shout,[sign 'jump', big mack shout "quick"]“Quick! Get the fire men to put her out!”Oyster boy and Staring girl ran over to see[sign 'run' and 'see']
what the happy ending would be. (sign ‘finish’ for end)
They watched as mummy boy was hosed,[pour water onto bandages or mummy boy]
Perhaps he was hot, they supposed.[sign 'hot']
But no, with a great shout,
The fire men used mummy boy to put the fire out![drop wet bandages or mummy boy onto the candle]
Augmented communication
Hi All,
From a post on the SENIT mailing list, I am putting this link up here to follow if you want to listen to an american dicussion about teaching literacy to AAC users – havent listened to all of it yet, but it sounds quite good.
Ideas…
Use the comments option to say what you’d like to see on the site…
Kabuki Syndrome
The second video clip from the Hope Centre mentions a rare syndrome called “Kabuki Syndrome”.
Find out more about Kabuki Syndrome here
Mediated Learning Experience
This video talks about the MLE approach. This is where the teacher acts as a mediator between the child and their environment. The teacher’s role is to guide, share, interpret and shape how the child interacts with each task in order to shape their understanding of the world. Learning takes place by teaching every task step-by-step, rather than assuming that the child will ‘naturally’ pick up skills.
MLE is based on the work of Feuerstein, who believed that every person is capable of learning more, regardless of any apparently insurmountable barriers.
There’s another video about the techniques used at the Hope centre on the autism page.
