Updated Game Design Project Pack

I'll be presenting at the annual MACUL conference in a couple weeks. My friend Clark Rodeffer and I will be returning to a topic we presented on in 2017--non-digital game design projects.

We are going to focus on just one game, which I called Diamonds and Stars. It's one of several Game Design Project Packs. They each involve a simple game students can learn and play within one class period. Then resources are provided that allow the students to apply a theme to the game based on what they're studying in class. Through discussing and exploring the content, they delve into the material to form connections that fits the gameplay.

The full Diamond and Stars Project Pack can be found here. 

Here's the video that shows how to play:

And here is the Diamonds and Stars Planning Sheet, which requires the students to discuss the lesson content and use it to add a theme to the game.

Here's the page with all the other base games you can use for these projects.

Game Design Project in Mythology Class

Melinda Newcombe teaches the Mythology class at our high school. We teamed up earlier in the month as part of the Go Beyond Challenge I raised to myself and several teachers this school year.

In this overview, I'll link to a couple games that students made in this Mythology game design project. I'll also explain what we learned and give links to resources. 

Key Challenge to Remember:  The course content has to be the goal. If the students are thinking and talking about the content, it's a win no matter how the games turn out. 

We considered this project a big success in a lot of ways. It is a unique blend of content, game creation, collaboration and technology. Students and the teachers really enjoyed it throughout. I know from experience, though, that it can be overwhelming to take on the first time. This is not just a PDF download that you print and hand out. I'll list some tips at the end for anyone considering it.

My key takeaway: Working with this class convinced me this is a great project for a group of students who are interested in making a game. While it worked very well for us with a whole class, that brings a lot of obstacles you won't want to tackle until you've gone through the process a few times.

Overview

I put a lot of information about the game design project in general on my Game Design Project Packs site. Keep that link handy in case you want to use this someday. It provides a number of simple game options that the students can redesign based on the lesson content.  

We worked on the project for six class periods.

The overall process is:

• Learn to play what I call the "base games". These are games that will be new to almost all the students. They are easy to learn and they don't require a ton of printed materials. Don't underestimate how important those things are. It took a lot of work to find good games that fit that criteria. Since the games are not about the course content, I try to make sure the students learn them and play them in just one class period.
• Students then complete some planning sheets that help them think about how they will add a theme to the base games. This is vitally important, since it's when students apply the lesson content to the game. For example, if the base game uses chips as points, the planning sheet will ask them to think about what the chips represent from the lesson content. Here's the planning sheet we used for groups that redesigned Love Letter. 
• Next, students edit the templates I provide for the cards in the various games. All templates are in Google Slides, so the tech is not a huge obstacle. Students can easily do a superficial change, by just making the cards be about their lesson content. If time allows, though, you can dig deeper into game design here, asking them to make changes to the effects of cards and the rules of the game. (Templates are found on my Project Pack site. I'll add more soon.)
• When the templates are finished, it's time to print them, cut them out and see how well they work. Through playing them with other groups, students get a good review of the lesson material. It also lets them see the importance of testing and revision in game design (or any design for that matter). If there's time, you can repeat the previous step and this one, allowing them to improve the games.
• At the end, I have students do a reflection sheet that seals the learning. I ask about what they learned from the content, how they tied it into their games, and what they learned about game design. I also get feedback from them about the project itself, so I can do better next time.

Example Games Created by Students

Here are two different games students created as part of this project. They are two of the five different styles of games we offered. I made a few edits to clean up these files, but the majority of work was from students.

• Mythology Love Letter Retheme - A light strategy game based on Love Letter. This video shows how to play the original game. (Thanks for AEG for permission to use their Love Letter game in this project.)
• Take Your Pick Mythology Version - This is a party game I designed. It's published by SimplyFun. This video from the publisher shows how to play the original game. You'd need more cards to play for very long.

What We Did Differently This Time and What I Learned

As I said, this is the first time I worked with a large class and gave them the option of choosing from several games. I presented many options for them for the first day, as they learned the base games. Among all the groups, they chose to learn four different ones. 

Teaching that many new games to six or seven groups in 40 minutes (and giving them time to play) is a huge task. I've used games in class for 25 years, so I know how to teach them quickly and effectively. You'll make your life easier if you pick one game everyone has to redesign. 

Two of the base games I taught that day--including one that got the most repeated play--are not posted online yet. I will add them to the list on my Project Packs site soon. 

I will also add a section to my site for Mythology class projects specifically. There I'll post all the planning sheets, templates and reflection sheets we used. (The ones there now are generic, so teachers can adapt them to any subject or lesson.)

Two groups decided to branch out and make a game completely different from those I presented. What they proposed fit my criteria (not much to print, easy to learn, etc.), so I encouraged it. Remember that only had about 2.5 class periods to actually make the game content. You can probably guess what happened with both of these groups' game ideas. They had fun working on them, but they didn't get far in that little time. 

In fact, feedback from many students was that they needed more time. Students could stretch a project like this out for weeks, and if you're teaching game design you would need that long. All things considered, though, the teacher and I decided the goal was met and it was time to move on.

One big change I'd make was to focus more on learning standards as I met and planned this with the teacher. It was not a loss, but I could have done better in that area. The teacher told me she was really glad to hear the review taking place as students tested their games. There was conversation throughout about various myths and personalities. Once I read over everyone's reflections, though, I realized review was the most they got from it. With more planning, we could have achieved deeper learning goals.

Summary of Tips for Success:

• Keep content the goal. Remind students of that. Games might not work as intended. Art and fonts might look terrible. Many groups won't completely finish their game. If students were talking about and thinking about the content in new ways, your goal was achieved. 
• If students feel they don't have enough time or their game isn't going as planned, remind them they can always work on it as a personal project. Here are some posts that include a lot of tips for students who are interested in making games.
• These game design projects could fit in any subject, but they work best if you just finished a story or you've studied a historical period. Language Arts and Social Studies classes are easiest to start with.
• If you care about proper use of digital resources, provide a list of sites students can use for free images. I include that on their planning sheets. (See my Love Letter Planning Sheet as an example of sites I listed.)
• Let a motivated small group go through a Project Pack first, then decide if you want to try it with more groups or a whole class.
• Choose the game they will redesign, rather than just throwing several options at them.
• Contact me if you have questions. I can provide a lot more examples and resources than what I have here or on my other site.

Go Beyond Challenge - Update #2 - Choosing to Press On

I haven't been great about posting the projects, but we are still forging ahead with the Go Beyond Challenge I started this school year. Here are a few things we're doing or that I've learned.

• I had to decide recently if it was still worth doing this challenge. What does it mean to "go beyond normal" when very little feels like it went back to normal this school year? Is it crazy? We are still dealing with the effects of COVID on a regular basis, both in current challenges and the lasting impacts of the previous year. In the past two weeks, our district was one of many that was impacted by the devastating school shooting in nearby Oxford, Michigan. It felt so insane to make these projects work that I considered telling teachers we'd just let it go. I'm very glad to say I chose to press on. The teachers I'm working with have been extremely encouraging. For the students and the district as a whole, we know this is important. 
• It took about three weeks longer than we hoped, but we finally are wrapping up our ebook project where 6th graders write books for younger students. The overall theme of the project was overcoming obstacles in life to use our gifts for others. That was very appropriate for this overall endeavor! We lost time when the teacher and several students were on quarantine, but we didn't give up. I'm converting student ebooks this weekend so the younger students can read them. I'll update this blog with examples once we finalize that last step.
• In high school Mythology, we kicked off a game design project. I'm friends with another educator and game designer from a different Michigan school. We put several game design "Project Packs" together a few years ago that allow students to make unique card games that tie into classroom content. You can see most examples here.  I added two other original games in the mix this time and so far it is going very well. Finished games will be published on a website for other teachers to use with students. I'm also going to put some resources up so a teacher could duplicate the entire project.
• I worked with a 6th grade science teacher to bring some technology into a paper roller coaster project he found. I helped with some prep on the project, then we're also asking students to document their work through a short video. I showed students how to use the camera on an iPad, plus the iMovie app, to zero in on how long it took the marble to go through their coaster. That will allow them to do some required calculations they have to include in the video.
• Finally, here's a first grade project I'm really excited about. The teacher wants to have the students make number story problems, then record their thinking as they solve them. I thought it would be good if we could team up with a class from another district to share problems and solutions. We connected with a teacher in Dearborn, Michigan, who is very interested. Our class has already been working on their stories. We will share with the other school after we return from break in January. Resources we used for that project will be posted when we finish up.
• Besides projects, I had a great opportunity to connect with two innovative leaders who gave us amazing direction. Dr. Sonny Magana and Dr. Scott McLeod were kind enough to connect with me and some district administrators to discuss our next steps. The time and advice they gave us was appreciated. Ongoing discussion about it is helping us sharpen our vision.

In conclusion, these projects transformed some low valleys into insightful pinnacles for me. I can see they were positive for the teachers and the students too. Each time we try a new activity, it gives us something to look forward to. As the class works, we can make observations and have discussion that is beneficial. Even when things don't work, our reflection can help us glean the useful aspects and do better next time. 

Simple Podcasts or Audio Recordings on Chromebooks

I’m highlighting some projects I’m supporting as part of the Go Beyond Challenge I started in our district. The ultimate goal is to encourage and share student talent by intentionally stretching in a few specific ways. You can read about the challenge here. 

Last week Dan Huggler, one of our high school social studies teachers took some new steps with a podcast project. I've shared the template for that on my blog before, but it's been updated. Resources and examples you can use are below. 

We called it a podcast, but it’s basically an audio recording of an essay or script the students write. In this case, the teacher gave them two days to research, one day to write their script and one day to record and edit.

Here’s a sample one-minute recording made by two students. Elizabeth grew up in our small mid-Michigan community. Emma is an exchange student from Venice, Italy. I appreciated the conversational tone of their recording. 

Here is the direction template I shared with the teacher. In it, I recommend using TwistedWave* for recording and editing, since it is free (for under 5 minutes) and it works great on Chromebooks. Files are stored in Google Drive, for easy submissions. Steps for the process are listed and a video recording is also provided. 

Make a copy of the template, so you can edit it for your needs. Your main focus on the directions will be the list of requirements. That's where you can make sure students are accomplishing the learning goals you have for them. 

I added some suggestions and questions in the requirement section to get you started. Notice one asks students to explain why they picked the topic. That brief reflection piece is to remind the teacher and students that what they are learning should always connect to their lives or interests in some way. That's one important part of our Go Beyond Challenge.

The example recording embedded in the template is from a senior project we did in another class. 

I also recommend requiring students submit their written script or essay in Google Classroom. You can use the originality report feature to be sure they are submitting their own work.

*The students in the example provided in this blog post used a voice memo app on their phone to create their recording.

My Updated Animation and Interactive Stories Projects

I updated two of my popular lessons recently:

• Simple Animations Using Google Slides
• Interactive Stories Using Google Slides

Students love both of these simple projects and the lessons come "ready to assign".

You'll get access to student directions in a Google Doc that you can simply post in Google Classroom. Students will follow the step by step instructions and watch video tutorials as they go. 

Both projects work well in any subject area for grades 5 - 12. The students will create their projects using Google Slides.

The lessons are $2 each on Teachers Pay Teachers, but you can buy both in a bundle for just $3. Here are the links.

• Simple Animations
• Interactive Stories
• The Bundle of both projects

Short Music Video Project for Middle School

Here's a quick music video project we did for our middle school Computers class. We used iPads with the Pixlr app, GarageBand and iMovie.

The video that students produce will be very short and the song will be very simple. Here's a sample one I made with my family. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish, but students will probably take at least two class periods to work through everything.

All of the directions can be found in this document. It links to the sample video and to four tutorials. We assigned it in Google Classroom and the students were editing pictures and making songs in no time!

Here are a two notes:

• I made the tutorials as a series of slides rather than capturing the iPad while I used the apps. It was a shortcut that leaves out some details, but I like the students to have to explore and learn the apps rather than watching every single tap.
• Our iPads are shared between classes, so each one has a generic Google account on it. We encourage students not to sign in on them with their own accounts. That's why the final steps explain that the students must share the files with their account. If you have a different setup, you will want to modify those last steps.

It's really easy to add some class content to this project. Just have students sing a simple chorus or make a short rap about what they're studying. They could hold signs in the pictures or use text features of Pixlr or iMovie too.

I'll be glad to hear feedback if you get a chance to try this fun activity with your students!

Updated Comic Activity with Google Slides

Last week I assigned my popular creative comic assignment to the middle school Computers class I've been working with. I posted about and shared a similar assignment earlier this year.

This time around it was just as engaging for the students. I decided to extend it with a second part that required them to take their own pictures for the comics.

Part 1 introduces students to the simple process of making comics using real life photos and Google Slides. They don't have to take pictures for this part.

Part 2 has students make an original comic from scratch using photos they take. We use iPads in our middle school and each iPad has it's own G Suite account associated with it. So the assignment directions refer to that.

You can find the full two-part assignment as a free download here from Teachers Pay Teachers. The PDF download links to the two parts as PDFs and as Google Docs, so you can edit them to fit your needs.

If this activity looks interesting, be sure to see my full ebook (only $1), Creating Comics with G Suite Apps. In it, I explain additional publishing options and I have several tips for making a successful comic project.

Three Essential Tech Skills for Teachers with Chromebooks

I was at a small conference this week at our ISD. That means I spent a lot of time preparing sessions, presenting and chatting with colleagues. I realized I keep coming back to a few "essential skills for teachers", so I thought I'd compile my resources for them here.

These are not directed to teachers on the cutting edge of tech integration. They are for those many teachers who have Chromebooks, but mostly use them for research and managing assignments in Google Classroom. 

All of these appear on my blog somewhere else, but I'm combining them here along with some next steps or extended activities. And I added some essential reading at the end too.

Skill #1:  Getting photos and video from a phone or tablet into Google Drive

I'm still amazed at how many teachers don't use this. They (or their students) try to email files or even send them in text messages. If you can get a photo or video to Google Drive right on your phone, you have a bridge between the real world and your tech projects. From Drive, you (or the people you share them with) can open the images and videos on a Chromebook and use them in countless ways.

Here's my blog post and video tutorial about this. The video is just over a minute long, but I've seen this make a big difference for teachers.

Next Steps or Extended Activities

• Most apps have other ways of sharing out the files. I didn't include it in the tutorial because of all the possible variations, but experiment with it on your phone. Can you get the content from your favorite apps into Drive? If so, it offers great options for projects on the Chromebooks.
• The Google Slides and Docs apps on phones and tablets will allow you to insert the pictures directly into the document or slideshow. Imagine having a team working on the slides while another documents the activity by taking pictures. One teacher I showed this to last summer told me it's now a Day 1 activity for his middle school science classes.

Skill #2:  Making a PDF eBook Using Google Slides

PDFs can be viewed easily on any device. Teachers and students who can turn their slideshows into PDFs have a great opportunity for showing off the learning beyond the classroom. 

While it can take awhile to make attractive pages in Google Slides, the few clicks necessary to make a custom sized PDF only take about a minute. From there, the creation options for communicating to the world are endless.

Here is the blog post and tutorial for this. 

Next Steps or Extended Activities

• Mostly the next steps here are just to improve the design of your ebook. For example, more attractive images, better layouts, etc. This comes from exploring the different tools in Google Slides and learning about good design.
• I've helped very young students create presentations in Google Slides. Even in kindergarten we had success with it. Of course, you have to provide more structure in early grades. For example, in that project I built the slides and put clipart on each one. The students just moved the graphics around to design their pages. In third grade we made ebooks and gave the students more freedom. There I simply created a blank slideshow and changed the dimensions of the slides as shown in the tutorial above. Then I shared it to groups through Google Classroom and they added the content collaboratively.

Skill #3:  Making a Recorded Slideshow with Screencastify

I created this tutorial several months ago, but it was clear at the tech conference this week that many agree with me. Screencastify is the screen recording tool of choice for a Chromebook. I love how it records the screen and goes immediately to Google Drive.

In my district, I encourage all teachers and any student in grades 6 - 12 to use that tool along with Google Slides to make a "recorded slideshow". It's a good first step in screen recording that lets teachers communicate a lesson or other information. And students can use it to show what they've learned.

See my tutorial here for complete information on this important process.

And here is my free Tech Project Pack about the process. It contains information and resources to help teachers integrate it into any subject.

Next Steps or Extended Activities

• My tutorial is about recording a presentation as you click through the slides, but really you can record anything on the screen. You could introduce a website, a skill using a new tech tool or (by recording the camera) you can even capture live video. The paid version of Screencastify allows editing of the video to some extent and many other good tools are out there to make professional recordings. Camtasia is my favorite, but it is costly.
• Explore tab recording in Screencastify. It gives you more tools as you record.
• The same process can be used for digital storytelling. Imagine making the pages of a story in Google Slides, then recording it while telling the story and clicking through the pages. For young students, the whole story could be told with just a single slide or even a single photo.
• Students can also use Screencastify to record their explanation of a problem. For example, they might use Google Drawings to create a visualization of a math problem, then they could record themselves explaining their thinking. 

Required Reading for Every Teacher Who Uses Technology

Be sure to see my post from earlier this summer about Liz Kolb's Triple E Framework. It is the most practical, research based model I've seen for directing or evaluating effective use of tech in the classroom. As my post explains, her website contains a lot of valuable information, but her book is well worth reading. It's called Learning First, Technology Second.

So that's my current list of essentials. If you have questions or suggestions to add to the list, please add a comment below or send me an email.

Recording Podcasts with TwistedWave in Middle School

Here's a relatively short project we used in our middle school Computers class this week. It takes students through the planning, recording and editing of a short podcast. We used TwistedWave on Chromebooks.

Here is an example created by a pair of our students. While there's plenty of room for improvement, this was a good first attempt at an audio recording. What I loved most about the project was how students got excited about their podcast topics. You can hear that clearly in that recording.

Here is the assignment document. It includes all the directions and it links to the video below. I created that video several months ago and posted it elsewhere on this blog. It serves as a good tutorial for anyone learning to use Twisted Wave.

A couple notes about the project:

• In order to use TwistedWave, we required the students under the age of 13 to return signed parent permission forms. Even though they sign in using their school Google accounts, I felt this was important after contacting TwistedWave about their Privacy Policy.
• After assigning this project, I added a part at the bottom of the directions about the important differences between this simple recording and professional podcasts.

10 Ways Students Can Show Off Their Learning Beyond the Classroom...and PowerPoint is not one of them

Using The Cube to broadcast Geometry presentations

Two newer posts that provide updates to the items below:

• Tech Project Packs - Save time with these compiled resources for tech projects
• Adobe Spark for Narrated Slideshows and Digital Stories

This year my mantra is going to be Show off the learning!

When teachers and students show off the best things they learned, perceptions change and the culture changes. I want to make sure my district is known as a place where important learning happens every day.

I'm a big fan of that final essential stage of project-based learning: Put the final product in front of a larger audience. 

A lot of teachers in my district like hands-on, physical projects and they've struggled ideas for making them public. (How many art exhibits and science fairs can you do a year?) 

I compiled this list so now they have options for even those paintings done with real paint and the science experiment made of food.

Because I made this for the teachers I work with, please keep in mind:

• It is a tool for awareness, not a how-to guide. Teachers in my district would contact me for more help. I included examples and some links to tutorials or tips below, but all the tools will require further exploration beyond this post.
• Most classrooms in my district use laptops or Chromebooks. I didn't include options for tablets with most of the ideas.

I've listed these options roughly in order of how much tech is involved on the part of the students.

1) Live broadcasts of student presentations - Use The Cube. 

• You can broadcast to the internet easily with an iPhone or iPad. 
• Someone from your school will have to sign up and create an admin account at the site.
• Share the link to your broadcast with parents or to the community beforehand so anyone can watch live. 
• The recording can be left online, so people can watch it later if you want.
• When using live video, be sure you have parent permission to post online and remember not to identify students by first and last name.

2) Websites and Blogs - A simple site or blog (created by you or the students themselves) is the starting point for sharing all the other types of project presentations listed below.

• Any final product, even if it’s has no tech involved, can be posted online by way of pictures and text. 
• For websites, Google Sites is a good, simple option. I made this tutorial for my district for making a website with Google Sites.
• For blogs, use Blogger. Here’s a tutorial I made for creating a new one.

3) A PDF ebook - Within seconds anything students make in Google Docs or Slides can be turned into a PDF. From there it can be posted on any blog or website so anyone can open or download it like an ebook.

• With the file open, go to the File menu and select the option to Download as PDF.
• Once the PDF is downloaded, upload it to Drive again and share it as needed.

4) InfoPics - If he didn’t invent this simple concept, Tony Vincent is the one who named it and he sings its praises. This really is just a process of adding notes or other text to pictures that are related to a topic. 

• Here's Tony’s blog post about it (with examples).
• It would be very easy for students to make these and share the images on a website or blog.The pictures could also be shared by a teacher or a parent on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or any other social network.
• The device you like to use will dictate the tools, but I’d suggest Google Drawings for computers or Chromebooks. Pixlr.com is a good tool on many devices if you want to add more effects to your pictures.

5) Infographics - Students can create infographic images to show facts in a concise, visually appealing way.

• Finished graphics can be posted on social media or websites and blogs.
• Piktochart is a great tool for this.
• Users can log in on Piktochart with their Google accounts.
• Here’s a good article from Matt Smith with ideas for Piktochart in many subjects.

6) Audio Recordings (podcasts) - Students can create audio recordings and share them online in a variety of ways. These can be completed much faster than a video project. Here are a few details.

• Here’s a simple example of an interview between two students.
• On a PC with a microphone (or a laptop) Audacity is the program to use for recording.
• On a Chromebook you can try SoundCloud for recording (if editing isn’t necessary) or SoundTrap. Both work with Google accounts.
• Finished mp3 or wav files can be uploaded to SoundCloud so people can listen to them and even add comments.

7) Virtual books on Flipsnack - This site is a great tool that turns any PDF into a fun virtual book. 

• Important Note: I found out if students sign in using a Google Apps for Education account it uses the first and last name in the URLs. This is not a good practice. Be sure students go to their account page at Flipsnack to change their username when they first log in. It only takes a minute.
• I usually create the PDF in Google Slides or Google Docs first, then upload to Flipsnack.
• Here’s an example I use for a comic assignment.
• Users can sign into Flipsnack with their Google accounts.
• Free Flipsnack accounts are limited to three virtual books at a time.

8) Screen Recordings - Think of these as somewhat informal recordings of something the students show on the screen. 

• These are great for tutorials or presentations.
• Here’s an example from a teacher who has his students use this method a lot.
• They’re informal because editing is usually not part of the process. Students need to practice before recording!
• On a computer with a mic, use Screencast-o-Matic.
• On a Chromebook you can use the SnagIt app.
• Final results can be uploaded to Google Drive or YouTube for sharing as necessary.

9) Digital slideshows - These are a series of pictures combined into a video by using an editing program.

• These are a step up from screen recordings because you can (and should) edit them.
• Students can add audio. It might be just background music or they can narrate the slideshow.
• With narration, these become presentations that present themselves.
• They make a good introduction to video production, but don’t require as much time.
• I present on a method for making these with any laptop or Chromebook. Here is the resource site include my examples and the process using Google Slides and WeVideo.

10) Videos - Producing a good video is the pinnacle of technology integration in most classes.

• Good videos require several technology skills and a deep understanding of class content. 
• There is a huge range of possibilities for complexity. Don’t just tell students they can “make a video”! Know the options and set guidelines that are appropriate for your students.
• Here are my tips for teachers and students for any video project.

How to use the Google Slides mobile app to make comics from real life photos

A lot of teachers have been using my process for creating comics with Google tools. I was thrilled to find it can now be easily done using the Slides mobile app! The best part of this is now you can bring in the real world pictures very easily.

If you haven't seen the general process and possible final products, you can read all about it on this page from my Education On Air presentation from a few weeks ago.

That process starts on a Chromebook or a computer and it uses either Google Drawings or Slides.

Now you can start in the Slides mobile app. I did this on an iPad, but the Android app will be similar.

First, start a new Slides presentation.

On a blank slide, click the + sign and select Image.

Choose to get the image From Photos or From Camera. Notice that if you use the camera, this is an amazingly simple way to immediately bring the real world into your creations!

Crop, resize and move the image as necessary.

To add comic elements, click the + again and select Shape this time.

Select Callouts and scroll down to the three comic elements. Choose the one you want.

From there, it's just a matter of placing the thought or word bubble, dragging the point to the character who is speaking or thinking and then entering the text. Here's my sample taken from a game I was playing with my son.

A few things to consider:

• While the tools are easy to use on the app, you might prefer to just use the app to bring the pictures into the Slides presentation. Then you (and any collaborators) can open that presentation on a Chromebook or computer for easy editing. 
• See my two-minute tutorial on creating the comics using a computer. The first steps are now replaced by the import process above, but the rest of the video shows the details of adding and editing the comic elements.
• You can change the background color of the slides by editing the presentation on a computer or Chromebook at any time.
• See the Projects page of my website for possible end products we make such as PDFs, virtual books or videos.

miGoogle presentation for Comics and Creativity Games with Google Tools

This week I had to privilege of presenting at the miGoogle conference in Brighton, Michigan, along with dozens of great educators from around the state.

My topic was a very simple one--how to make comics by combining real life pictures with a few tools from Google Drawings or Slides.

Here's the website with all my resources, including:

• My presentation slides
• An example comic we started during the session
• Related tutorials
• Our sample project, including how to turn the comics into ebooks and videos
• Information on my creativity games

I shared many of these resources throughout other posts on this blog, but this one place to find them all as well as additional things I shared only at the conference.

If you want to see the sample comic we started during the session, it's here:

Mythology Memes Project

As I often do near the end of the school year, i joined the remaining students in our high school Mythology class after the seniors graduated. We took two class periods to try out a creative project based on popular memes.

This was an entertaining project that provided room for humor and plenty of room for references to material the students learned previously in the semester. Below I'll present the outline of what we did and also the presentation I used in class. At the end I'll give a few other thoughts of how I'd improve the lesson next time.

1) I introduced the project with a definition of memes, some examples and an explanation of why I find them valuable for a lesson.

2) We played a caption game using funny pictures I found online. See below for more details on the game.

3) I presented a few memes I created that refer to the mythology class or myths in general. (The teacher wasn't too thrilled with my couple jabs at the course, but I'm a former math teacher and the Mythology class is one of the most popular in the high school. I guess I was bitter!)

4) After that, I gave them the assignment of creating four memes using the pictures I saved to the network drive.

5) The next day I started with some thoughts about copyright and fair use.

6) I showed examples of memes that combine two or more pictures along with some text.

7) I assigned the second part of the assignment which required them to create one of these more complex memes.

Here are the slides for the presentation. I made some minor adjustments after the lesson, but this will give you a good idea of the flow and it includes all examples I used.



Other notes and thoughts for improvement:

• The lesson could be expanded to allow students to explore the copyright issues surrounding memes themselves.
• I planned on getting pictures of the students and the teacher so we could make our own memes, but we ran out of time.
• The teacher and I agreed that next time we need to give them more material to work with. I would list some myths and characters that they could refer to specifically in the memes. I also needed to provide some specific examples along those lines.
• I wanted to have students share their memes on social media and get extra credit if they received any attention from friends and followers. Again, there wasn't enough time for this part of the activity.
• For the creativity game, I chose one student to be the judge. I displayed one of the pictures you will see in the presentation. I gave the other students about two minutes to write one or more captions for the image. I read them (making sure they were appropriate) to the class and the judge picked his or her favorite two. We only had time to do this with three pictures, but it was good practice that loosened everyone up for the creativity required for the memes. See this page for many other examples of my creativity games for the classroom.
• I was going to use the meme creator at imgflip.com to create the memes, but there couple that were slightly inappropriate. I downloaded the blank meme pictures and showed the students how to use Paint to make simple memes. That very basic program worked well enough for the first part of the project, but it was tricky to use for combining elements in part two. I would have preferred to use GIMP, but we didn't have time to learn that more complex image editing program.
• As you might imagine, it did take some effort to make sure students were keeping their memes appropriate for school. I had to remind them a few times, but overall they were a great group to work with. Depending on your students, you might have to provide more boundaries on possible humor or limit the options in the pool of meme templates.

Interactive Game Assignment 2 - Career Quizzes

Last winter I worked on an interactive game project with high school students where they created Christmas games using ActivInspire.  We modified the assignment for the second semester and based the quiz games on careers.

Here's a list of the parts of the assignment with links to my sample resources.

• Intro to ActivInspire - I didn't create a file for this.  I just showed the class how to make some basic art.
• Title and Template Pages - Students were required to create more art and make some pages in ActivInspire.
• Career Questions - They were required to write10 questions related to their career or career planning in general.
• Final Game Flipchart - They put everything together into an interactive flipchart for the final step.

The flipcharts are being added here as we upload them.  You'll find examples from the Christmas games there too.

In other flipchart news, my own games are posted on this page at Promethean Planet.  Here are some points to note:

• My most downloaded game is This or That? and it will likely pass 2,000 downloads this week.  It's a personal milestone. 
• My Oh, Really! flipcharts have been downloaded over 3,000 times in all.  The original will probably pass 1,000 downloads this week.  Again, the numbers are not as high as many other flipcharts on Promethean Planet, but it is great to know the games have reached many teachers and students.
• And I posted a Jeopardy flipchart a few weeks back that a friend made.  It contains 17 trivia questions based on Romeo and Juliet.  I helped with some of the technical aspects of setting it up. 

And I was experimenting with Animoto and the pictures I took for this project...

Two Apps for Digital Storytelling

I have been working with teachers at all grade levels the past three weeks to do more digital storytelling.  Some teachers are focusing on just narrated video slideshows instead of actual stories.  Either way, having a video at the end of a project is a great way for students and teachers to show off their best work.

We don't have classroom sets of iPads in our district, but several teachers have them and others have iPhones.  So I looked for a couple very simple apps that would allow teachers and students to quickly put together stories that at least have pictures and narration.  Here are the ones I have been using.  Both are for the iPhone, but they work well on the iPad.

Story Kit - I love how this one makes the stories in book form, with separate pages.  It makes it so easy to edit the story in parts, one page at a time.  If you mess up narration you only have to do the page over that you are on.  It also allows for text and some limited drawing.  The downside is that the final stories are best viewed as books just on the device.  You can upload them to a website, but there the book displays on a single webpage with all pages of the story visible at once.

Storyrobe - This app is my preferred one because it outputs to a video in the Camera Roll.  It breaks the process of making a story into three very simple steps.  First you gather pictures and these can be from the Camera Roll or you can take them through the app.  Next you "edit", which amounts to putting the pictures in order.  Finally, record your narration.  As you record (up to three minutes) you can bring up each picture as at the appropriate time in the narration.  There are no transitions or features that allow panning or zooming.  Again, I see this as pure simplicity and I love it for the students who can get distracted by advanced options.  The only downside is there's no way to redo just a part of the audio.  One mistake during recording and you have to do it all over...or just live with the mistake.  It also doesn't seem to save multiple stories, so consider this for projects where the story will be recorded in one sitting.

Game Publishing for the Classroom

Going with my previous post about traditional games in the classroom, here's a resource that I recommend to teachers. It is a print on demand service that specializes in board and card games. Students could use this to turn a class project into a nice edition. Copies could be ordered for family and friends. With just a little more work, they can be made available through the site to the world at large.

The Game Crafter offers options for different sized cards, game boards and several other tokens that work for most games. I have published two of my own projects with them and I'm very happy with the results. The game pictured here consists of three different decks of cards and the accessories shown. It cost me about $20 to order my own copy. It's a little more than what I'd pay for a mass produced game with the same components, but it sure beats having to pay for a minimum run of 1,000 copies. My family worked on the project together and they loved seeing it finally arrive in print. I plan to offer it for sale, but to make a profit I will have to raise that price of $20.

So this won't likely be a direct path to a lot of financial rewards, but the site does have a Hall of Fame. There, designers who have used The Game Crafter as a bridge from idea to a successful mass production tell their stories. Certainly this print on demand service can get a good game into the hands of people who can take it further.

I can't say I've used this in the classroom yet, but I suggest it to teachers and I'm looking forward to the first time we can try it. The service is quite easy to use. The only hard part will be working with the graphics and most of that has nothing to do with The Game Crafter. It will depend on polished the students want their cards and boards to look.

I had a little trouble getting everything sized correctly for their site and the interface was a little frustrating at first. Familiarity with a program like GIMP or Paint Shop Pro will do the job nicely.

Once it's all created according to their specs (templates are available on the site) it's just a matter of uploading. You can order your own copies right away, but there are some additional requirements to enter if you want to put it for sale at the site.

If done right, a successful game project like this could involve all of these learning experiences:

• Game design, with all of the problem solving, testing and creativity that comes with it
• Graphic design
• Setting a reasonable cost through choices in the game design itself, component creation and selection of existing components from the site
• Writing the rules and informational materials
• Promotion of the final product

If it sounds promising, interested students and teachers should start here.

Top Resources in 2011

I started this blog in the summer as a way to highlight some resources I posted on Promethean Planet and to organize some other projects I knew would develop in the classes I'm teaching.

Of those on Promethean Planet, here are my most popular in terms of downloads.

#1: This or That? - This is based on my party game Take Your Pick. Being a great ice-breaker, most downloads for this activity took place in the weeks before and shortly after the start of school, but it continued to be popular for months. I am thrilled that so many teachers took an interest in it.

#2: Oh, Really! Back to School Edition - Obviously based on my Oh, Really! game, this edition was a last minute thought at the end of summer. Like the previous activity, this one took off in those weeks. Due to the title, it hasn't continued in popularity quite as much, but I think it is a great introduction to the original Oh, Really! classroom activity that can be adapted easily for any point in the year.

#3: Wits & Wagers - I'm actually counting the Life Science and U.S. History editions of this activity together as the #3 spot. As such, they actually beat out the Oh, Really! edition for downloads. The simple concept drew a lot of attention and I hope to create at least one more edition of this fun game in the early months of 2012.

As for lessons in class, the Interactive Holiday Game assignment drew more attention more quickly than any other. Some projects ended up on Promethean Planet and one of them had over 400 downloads by the time Christmas break reached most schools in the U.S. It was a lot of fun for many students who created the projects and for others who had a chance to play the resulting games. It also taught me some valuable lessons that I will highlight in my next post.