How to Create an Audio Recording on a Chromebook Using Twisted Wave

I created this short tutorial to show students how to record "podcasts" on a Chromebook. We used Twisted Wave to record, edit and save their audio skits as mp3 files. Twisted Wave can be installed on the Chromebooks as an app or the students can just go to TwistedWave.com.

If the students have Google Apps for Education accounts, it makes it very easy to sign in and save their files to Google Drive. From there it can be shared with others or turned in through Google Classroom.

I was very impressed with the ease of this process. Students who wrote and practiced their scripts ahead of time finished their short recordings in about 10 minutes. Those who remembered doing similar projects with Audacity in the past agreed this was much simpler. (Though Audacity is an excellent tool for multi-track projects.)

We did run into a few bumps using the process outlined below.

• It seemed to freeze more often if students opened the recorder in full screen. I suggest keeping it in a smaller window as shown in the tutorial.
• When the recorder did freeze, closing and reloading seemed to solve the problem. No one reported that their file was lost. It autosaves frequently.
• Sometimes it wouldn't properly load the window asking for permission to access the microphone on the Chromebook. This stumped me and some students at first, but eventually the recording window would show up with a small icon in the upper right. By clicking that, I was able to grant access and complete the activity.

Thanksgiving Magnetic Poetry in Google Drawings

I created this Thanksgiving Magnetic Poetry* in Google Drawings for another teacher. If you click the link, it will ask you to make a copy in your Google Drive.

*If you get a message to request access when you click the link, it is because your Google account won't let you open it. It is shared properly and anyone can open it unless their administrator blocked outside sharing. 

I suggest editing it as you prefer, then assigning it in Google Classroom so all your students get their own copy.

The words are all images except for the five text boxes at the top. It might be cheating to type your own words in magnetic poetry, but teachers can delete those text boxes if they don't want students to use them. I would suggest students limit themselves to five of their own words at most.

You can remove any of the word images that you want too.

If you and your students enjoy this activity, please share a link in the comments of the poems you and they create!

It's inspired by this very popular, well done Halloween Magnetic Poetry activity from the Shake Up Learning blog.

If you like this simple activity, please consider purchasing one of my inexpensive tech activities on Teachers Pay Teachers. It helps me continue to make creative, educational resources.

• Comic Projects with Google Tools Bundle
• Animation and Interactive Stories Using Google Slides

If you like this post, you might also like:

• My Classroom Creativity Game - Make haikus or play other fun games as a class
• Comics with Google Apps - Resources for making comics from photos and more
• Use Google Slides and WeVideo to make narrated slideshows

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.

Creativity, Passion and Meaningful Contribution in School

Last week I had the privilege of presenting as part of the Education On Air conference. Jake Gentry and I did a session on my process of creating comics with Google tools. I was glad to see Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook highlighted both of my classroom activities from the presentation.

Before I got into all that, though, I gave a short, big picture overview of why I believe some teachers are wearing themselves out to make learning happen. I presented some thoughts on the importance of creativity, passion and meaningful contribution in learning. In about four minutes I talk about things such as:

• How I breathe life into a classroom.
• Why teachers need to dream more.
• Why Google tools make this easier.

That part of the session is in the video below.

If you're interested in seeing the entire session, you can find it at this link.

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:

Going Low Tech This Week - week four of the Smart Jams math and music video project

(This post is part of a series highlighting work in a project funded by a MACUL grant. See my Music Creation page for complete information.)

This week groups continued taking turns practicing their songs with Crystal. When she thought they were ready, they would record with me. While waiting their turn, they made signs for the video.  We easily could have come up with ways for them to make signs digitally, but instead we went low tech.

This weekend I am putting several hours into processing the music files we recorded.  We will have over 20 videos by the time this is done.  Even though I can simplify the process greatly and finish a song and video in under a few hours, each big step that I do on my own can take a long time.  Once I finally decide on the best way to do this (I have changed the plan a few times so far with the first examples) I will post a tutorial.

For now, some thoughts on the benefits of low tech are below.

When I was finishing my master's I was inspired by something Kevin Kelly said in an interview.  He had a big impact on my thinking from that point on.  I wrote to him once to ask for advice as I was doing the project for my final class.  

His brief reply gave me nothing specific, but he said to use non-digital tools whenever possible.  Actually, I'm not paid to spend time with classes when they aren't learning new technology, so most of the time I disregard his suggestion.  Still, I see the value of putting the computers aside.

Of course, I've seen the students enjoy creating with paper, markers and colored pencils just as much as with computers. I'm not a trained art teacher, so I can't speak to the value of virtual tools compared to real world tools in terms of developing creativity and artistic ability.

I do know there are usually two or three students in each class that don't like using computers.  They need tech skills, obviously, but I appreciate the chance to let them enjoy part of the project in their own way.

From a more personal perspective, I can see how hands on creation through early years benefited my own children.  My wife was trained in early childhood development and when we had our kids she stayed home to raise them.  Under her direction they grew up on good, old fashioned crafts with loads of glue, paint and glitter.  At a time when the early elementary art teacher tells me she finds more and more students who do not know how to use scissors or how to play with clay, I am very grateful for the balance my wife brought to our young family.

In our home there was also computer time and video game time over the years.  Now that my son and daughter are older they are just as comfortable (and, yes, too comfortable at times) with their iDevices and laptops.  But they are capable makers in the real and virtual world.  The versatility they gain as well as the opportunities it offers in finding their strengths is vital.

My favorite things to assign students (that they enjoyed too)

I've been working on a book for a few months now. While finishing a chapter tonight, I was thinking of some things I have assigned over the years that students really enjoyed and that I also had fun making up, talking about or grading.

In no particular order, here's my list:

• Self-reflection journals - I love to have students think about what they have learned or can learn from their own lives. Sometimes we delve into memories and sometimes we plan the future. The idea is to make school more purposeful by tying the content from the lesson to their lives. I believe all truly important learning has to start with a sense of purpose.
• Reading interviews with artists - I like to have them look up the person behind their favorite entertainment and read an interview with the person. I am inspired by how my favorite artists think and I want the students to see that they do in fact think.
• Similarly, quote assignments - Students love to find quotes they can relate to. I have them add the quote to pictures or incorporate them in their presentations in some way. You can also have students try to write their own "quote worthy" statements. We did one with six-word memoirs.
• Writing scripts for videos - I don't recall anyone ever asking me what they were getting for a grade when they were writing a script or otherwise planning a video. It is an engaging activity.  When assigned properly, it simply cannot be done well without deeply thinking about the subject matter. Here are my recent video assignments for high school students.
• Writing songs - These assignments can be difficult for students, but they are rewarding for all involved when the work is completed. Be sure to check those final submissions for plagiarism! See this page for my work in this area.
• Puzzles - It is getting harder and harder to make a good assignment out of these if the internet is within reach. If you make your own it's still possible to get students thinking about a good challenge, though. My favorite creations involved:
• A long list of directions that took them throughout pages in their math books.  Each step had them look up something that was used in the next step. 
• A triple puzzle I created that had scrambled words (usually content area words, but some teacher names or other school related things thrown in) that were also hidden in a word search. The third part of the puzzle was usually a quote or advice that was formed by entering circled letters from the scrambled word part.  I made these with PuzzleMaker.com.
• Visual puns like these.
• What advice would you give...? - I ask students to make comics or other creative works that could provide success tips to younger students. This makes it meaningful for them. I used to also give high school seniors a much loved assignment where they had to write letters filled with advice addressed to their past selves when they were freshmen. It is a good activity for teachers too!

Teach anything with just three apps?

I am a minimalist. I love finding ways to do more with a lot less. I hope someone speaks at my funeral about how I touched the world in a significant way using only what fits with me in the casket. It could make a great visual.  If nothing else, I’ll be clutching my iPad.

I was recently musing about what’s the least a teacher would need to teach anything. I tweeted this and it got a little bit of attention:

I think I could teach anything-CCSS, 4 C's, etc-using only an iPad with browser, 30 Hands and iMovie. Kids supply the ideas and style.
— Mike Petty (@mpetty39) August 21, 2013

I was exaggerating somewhat, mostly because I didn’t really go through all the CCSS and I had to fit it in 140 characters. I would certainly need a few other apps, even if just for recording notes while working. I’ll give a slightly longer list of the bare necessities below, but first here was my main thought behind this.

As I’ve written elsewhere, I think all learning should be posed as a creative problem solving activity involving three steps: find information, process it and present the solution.

Elaborating a little more, students need to

• research the problem at hand and gather resources or information that they already know. 
• process all that, getting their brains around it, synthesizing seemingly unrelated ideas, adding in their own thoughts. 
• present it in a way that suits the people who need to hear the solution.

So my tweet assumed that the iPad has a browser and the learner can access the Internet. That can help a lot with the “find it” stage.

30 Hands and iMovie are my favorite apps for narrated slideshows or videos, respectively. They’d be used for the presentation piece.

Being a little more realistic, I’d need some apps that would let them store the things they find. They also would need to process it all. I gave it more thought and made this list of suggested apps. I’m including the two I already mentioned, just to give more detail.

30 Hands - This is a great free tool for slideshows and I have a demo and review about it here. You can use your pictures as backgrounds, add text and draw on the slides. It is very simple to record narration for each slide, then it exports as a movie to the Camera Roll. I love it!

iMovie - I don’t usually by apps that cost $4.99, but this app feels like it’s worth so much more. You can easily add pan and zoom effects to pictures you’ve taken and edit videos you recorded (or even those slideshows you made with 30 Hands). It is also simple to add narration, transitions and titles. It’s a portable video studio.

Google Drive - Information gathered in research and your own thoughts could easily be taken in the Notes app that comes with the iPad. But Google Drive is free, so why not add this to the list? Sure, it’s limited compared to the version you’d have on your desktop computer, but I’m still amazed with how useful it is for productivity.

Doodle Buddy or SketchBook Express - Both of these drawing apps are free. These would be mostly for the presentation part of the process. We use them in school for titles and other graphics. Doodle Buddy is extremely simple. SketchBook has layers and some very good drawing tools making it promising, but possibly more complex than you’d need for most projects.

Inkflow - I haven’t paid for the Plus version of this yet, so for me this is like a stack of paper and a black marker. I love it for flow charts and visual thinking, so it’s definitely a tool for the processing stage of the learning process. You can also export the drawings and notes as jpg or PDF to use them in presentations too. (Side note: When talking at the coffee shop, this app becomes the proverbial napkin on which I illustrate my ramblings.)

Voice Record Pro - This audio recording app is incredibly versatile because of all the apps you can export it to. Files also can be opened in iMovie as the background track. So presentations can be recorded as a speech or conversation, then in iMovie you can add pictures or images you drew using any of the above apps. It also converts to mp3 so you can send it to others in a flexible format. (Bonus: I’m not including Video Star as a “must have”, but if you record yourself playing live music with Voice Record Pro it exports to Video Star so you can lip sync. Fun!) I wish Voice Record Pro had better tools for editing, but for free it is great.

GarageBand - I debated about including this app because original music is usually not necessary in a presentation. Still, there will be some topics where such a projects will be greatly enhanced because of the possibilities of this app. (And for some students it can make all the difference.) Like iMovie, it is $4.99, but whenever I use it I find myself sticking it in people’s faces, raving about how much it does for that small price. All the virtual and Smart instruments are outstanding.  For the basics, it is very intuitive to record and edit tracks.  As with Voice Record Pro, you could use this for any audio recordings. It certainly has more editing capabilities than that app, though sometimes I need iTunes on my computer to get the files where I need them.

So there you have it. I’m going to give my minimalist approach a try this school year as much as possible. I’ll edit this as necessary.

What am I overlooking? Are there any other apps you consider to be the bare necessities?

How to Inspire Creativity and Teach Content - Music video projects in under 3 hours

I've been doing more music in school the past two months and I'm finding it very encouraging. Obviously many students have a passion for it. Several of them are talented in that area and technology is making it easier than ever to create music even without a lot of skill.

For almost a year I have been testing and tweaking a process of creating simple songs and music videos based on classroom content. (Here's the post where I compiled all my music resources.)  The videos below highlight my latest attempt to present the basic idea.

I created a song and recorded it in UJam in about an hour. I finished a couple short videos in one to two more hours of total work time.  That time wasn't all in one setting, but I'm confident that with some focus and solid deadlines a group of students could make an original song and video in around three class periods.

This first video explains the process and contains all examples. Here's the breakdown of the video:

• Quick tips 0:38
• Writing the lyrics  0:54
• Recording the melody using GarageBand   1:21
• **Using UJam to make the music 2:33 - UJam is amazing!  Definitely watch this part if nothing else.  
• Recording the video with Video Star  4:53
• Editing the video in VideoStudio  5:54
• The example videos I created are at the end of the video, but also you can find them separately below.

Updated Creativity Exercises - Some creativity games suitable for the classroom

I've been updating and compiling some of my creativity exercise resources.  My previous post about creativity exercises can be found here.  Below is an updated video to go with that post.

The video explains how to play games that are part of a free creativity game system that Kory Heath and I worked on several years ago.  One game that I made for the system, called Abe & Einstein, is used as an example.

After watching the video you'll be able to play that game and easily adapt it to fit a variety of content areas. (That's if you're using it in the classroom.  It's actually a great party game for a group of friends.)  

I included a slide at the end that highlights some other ways that I have adapted the game for the classroom.

Here's the video.  Below I have the links to related sites.

Related links:
The creativity game page on my blog where all teaching resources can be located  (Also accessible on the menu at the top of all pages on the site.)

Kory's site for the system, which he calls The Chicken Game System

My classroom presentation games on Promethean Planet, including Haiku games and Why Did the Chicken...? for the classroom

A Flash version of Why Did the Chicken...? that I made, hosted at Stencyl Arcade

Updated Creativity Exercises and Games Presentation

I updated my popular post about creativity games and exercises (which some are calling class presentation games).  You can almost sit back and let me teach your class for one hour with this important lesson that I am passionate about!

Well, actually you'll need to be there to handle discussion and run the games.  But please take some time to consider this lesson.  We definitely need to teach more creativity in school, especially at the secondary levels!

The original post is here and I suggest you look it over to see all the details.  The information below is included in that post.

Just so it is available on the front page for a while, I also am including the new stuff here:

There are two videos below that you can play to present the information to your students, or you can watch my version and present it in your own way.

• The first video could result in some notes and discussion with the class.  
• The second part introduces a creativity exercise that you can run with them (stopping the video a few minutes to do the activity).  
• Both parts have suggested presentation games that you can play with the class.

Links to the related games are also below.  If you don't use ActivInspire you can download a free "personal edition" from their website and play the games or you can make your own versions.

Here is part 1 of the presentation.  It covers the purpose of the activity and provides a definition of creativity.  

The presentation leads into two free classroom games I created.  You can find information about those here:

• Oh, Really! classroom game
• This or That? classroom game (based on the game Take Your Pick)

And here is part 2.  In this one I lead a couple of brainstorming activities and show what it means to make connections.  After those practice exercises the teacher could lead the class in one to three games, which are listed below.

Games for this part of the presentation are here, along with the rules:

• Why Did the Chicken...? and the popular Why Did the Chicken...? Mythology Edition
• Say Anything and the Back to School Edition of Say Anything 

Please let me know if you have questions or any good experiences with this lesson.  I hope to improve it over time.

Creativity Computer Game - beta testing

Here's a draft of a creativity game I created.  It's another pass & play game for three to five players, this time based on Kory Heath's hilarious Why Did the Chicken...?

If it works well, the engine can be adapted to many of the creativity games I have on this site.

Check out the page and please share and give feedback if it looks promising.

http://bit.ly/wdtcgame

Creative Problem Solving - A Map for Learning

I've been exploring the idea of creative problem solving as the big picture for all of education.  It can be considered the why behind everything we have to teach in schools.

To approach learning this way, step one would be to develop a language that consistently refers to the need for creative problem solving.  As individuals, members of society or inhabitants of planet Earth, we will always be faced with problems.  Personal success will depend on our ability to contribute to the process of problem solving.  It is as relevant to us in the large and small scale of our existence as much as anything.

Step two would be to identify where, in this problem solving process, any current learning falls.

Whether it's a topic in a content area or a skill for communication or technology, it can fit somewhere in the map.  Most likely a specific topic or skill could fit in many places.  The map provides a consistent picture that we can return to between subjects or grade levels and extend into the world beyond the school.

So besides just pointing out where the skill learned in today's Algebra class might be useful, we can also indicate where occupations lie.  If we are talking about how to creatively solve problems, we are always talking about "real life".  

I made the picture below as a draft for a visual display, but the essential flow is as follows:

Finding Resources

1. Better define the Problem
2. Gather tools or resources for continuing the process

Develop Solutions

1. Incorporate existing knowledge, skills and tools
2. Form new ideas - This is the heart of the process, where connections are formed.
3. Evaluate options

Present Solutions

1. Who needs to know?
2. How can we best tell them?

I plan to elaborate on this a lot in the weeks ahead, but here are three things worth noting now:

• There is a circular flow in the map between the main areas.  Notice that most solutions are going to end up as tools available to us for further problem solving.
• There are countless problems to solve throughout the problem solving process.  In one degree or another, every step of a significant problem will likely contain smaller versions of finding, developing and presenting solutions.
• It could be argued that creativity and problem solving are the same thing.  Then creative problem solving is nearly redundant.  I prefer to use the term to emphasize the importance of creativity throughout every stage of this process.  It's the oil of the machine and we can see the whole system grind to a halt in formal learning structures when it is absent.

Teach Creative Problem Solving or Nothing

It took me a year and a half to get this straight.  Everything in school from kindergarten to a doctorate degree should be phrased in terms of creative problem solving.

No matter what the content is, it fits somewhere in the process of problem solving:

• Finding new information to identify the problem
• Processing that information to create and test possible solutions
• Presenting the best solution in meaningful ways to the people who need to it

We know problem based learning is an engaging and effective teaching model when done correctly.  Yet somehow administrators and teachers get so focused on tests that they overlook its importance.  Or maybe they're afraid to let go and trust that successful problem solvers can also figure out standardized tests.

Regardless, this is my mission from here out.  If I'm talking to teachers or students, it will all be phrased in the context of creative problem solving.  If we ignore creativity and problem solving at the expense of right answers in content areas we miss the point.  

When I realized this, a few other things became clear:

• True problem solving and creativity are hard to measure on standardized tests, but that's exactly why they need our focus.  Computers would have a hard time scoring such tests.  Tip:  Being able to do what computers can't is a good thing.
• Any technology standards, attempts at technology integration or what are referred to as call 21st century learning skills are addressed perfectly in the context of creative problem solving.  Technology simply becomes the best tool to aid in the problem solving process.  
• We know students feel that what they're learning in high school is irrelevant.  If teachers would frame their lessons in light of real world problems that can be addressed across curriculum areas this would be less of an issue.  Remind them:  Every class is providing tools for solving problems.  It's an unpleasant fact of life that problems always show up.  Good skills to address problems at all levels will always be relevant.

Say Anything Game - Creativity exercise for the classroom

Say Anything is a great party game from North Star Games.  The company was founded by my friend Dominic Crapuchettes.  Dominic is a game design genius, seriously.  He tells stories about how a game he made in junior high was so popular among students that teachers had to ban it.

But years later, I am thrilled that he gave me permission to create this flipchart adapted for the classroom based on Say Anything.  It makes a very fun exercise for creativity.  It's simple, imaginative and the students will have a lot of laughs.  

Like my other flipcharts and games based on creativity exercises, it is easily adapted to different needs including any content area.  One advantage of this one, though, is that it is so easy to play even younger students can enjoy it.

I have the rules, with clarifications and possible variations below.  A video explanation is at the end of the post.  Here are some related links of interest though:

• Say Anything at the North Star Games website
• I added a Back to School Edition to the site too.
• Two flipchart activities based on other games from North Star:  A Life Science activity and one for U.S. History

---

Donations are definitely accepted!
These flipcharts from North Star Games have been popular. If you find them (or any other resources on the blog) useful, please consider donating $1 to $3.  Any money I receive this way will be used in my district to purchase resources for technology integration. I and my students greatly appreciate your support!  I would love to hear how you use the resources too.

---

How to play the game in class:  (Most of this information is in the flipchart, but additional notes are in bold.)

In the actual party game, one player is the judge each round and a "good" answer is determined by this judge.  In the classroom game the class votes for the best answer.  Three to five students compete as contestants much like a game show setting.

1)  Choose three to five students to be the contestants.  They should sit at the front of the classroom.  Each will need a pencil and sheet of paper.  Each contestant must put his or her name on the paper.  All the other students need an Expressions or Votes device.  Those students can also use a sheet of paper to write possible answers or to keep their points.

2)  Reveal the current question slide and give the contestants a minute or two to write their answers to it. They should try to give an answer that the most students will like.  Answers are turned into the teacher.

• You can decide how rigid you want to be on a time limit for answers.  
• Sometimes it takes a round or two for some students to feel comfortable just taking a chance with an answer.  You might want to read a couple questions ahead of time and have everyone practice.
• Students who aren't contestants can still write down answers.  You might even require this to be turned in after the game just to keep them involved. 

3)  In random order, read each answer from the contestants.  A summary of the answer can be written on the cards slide (accessed by clicking Next on the question slide.)  The class should not know who wrote which answer.  You might want to have a couple students from the class read their answers as well, if they think they have a particularly clever or funny one.

4)  Have the class vote on their favorite answer using Expressions or Votes.  When finished, determine each contestant's score.  Points are given based on the percent of the class that picked their answer.  Round to the nearest 10th, so a percent of 16.6 would earn 20 points.  Record the score on the students' papers first, then click the Score button.  Record scores on that slide so the class can see who is winning.  The non-contestants can keep points as well.  Any student who voted for the answer that received the most or second most votes scores one point.  This score is done on their honor and is mostly for fun.  It can help encourage everyone to vote for answers they really think are best.

5)  Click the button at the bottom of the Score page to access the next question.  Repeat steps 2 - 3 above until four questions have been completed.  The player with the most points wins!  In case of a tie, all tied players win.

Additional Notes:

• I chose to limit this game to only four rounds because that seemed to be best for how long it worked in my classes.  You can play again immediately if students are up for it.  I prefer to stop too soon rather than too late.
• This activity can be used in other ways besides the game show format. 1)  A question can be given at the end of class and the next day all students can submit answers.  When the teacher has a chance, he or she can narrow the pool down to five good answers and the class can vote on the best.    2)  Likewise in the game show format, a teacher might choose to just do one question at the end of class and carry the game out over a period of time.
• Note that near the end of the flipchart I included several other questions from the family edition of Say Anything.  You can substitute any of the four questions from those I listed or you can use those to create appropriate questions for your class.  Let the students help!
• Of course, this game will be best if adapted to the unique needs of your content and school.  Think of questions that fit the subject area or include references to people and places in the school or community.

Here's a video explanation of how to play.  This was my first attempt at using Explain Everything and serves as a demo for that iPad app:

Mythology Edition of Why Did the Chicken...? - Fun exercise for creativity in the classroom

After all the fun we had last month with the classroom games and exercises for creativity, I am turning my attention toward more flipcharts in that style.  This Mythology edition is the same as my previous Why Did the Chicken...? game, but it adds Pandora's Box, filled with several nouns from Greek mythology.

Now your students can compete to give the best answer to great riddles such as, "Why is Zeus afraid of a teddy bear?"

I end up with mythology resources on the blog because each year the mythology teacher in our district likes to try a technology project just before summer.  Even if that subject is not of use to you, the flipchart serves as an example of how easily any content area such as social studies, literature or even science could be tied into the activity.

Be sure to check out the full rules for these games and look over the many resources for creativity exercises such as this one.

Epic Mythology Videos - GoAnimate with high school students

Melinda Newcombe teaches Mythology at the high school in the district where I work.  She asked me a couple weeks ago if we could pilot GoAnimate4schools with her class.  It ended up being a great project, definitely one of the best of the school year.  I was extremely happy with the engagement that I saw from the students at this point in the school year.

Here's a video that sums it up.  I also have the resulting videos embedded below.  The folks at GoAnimate have asked me to write an article for their blog and you can find the post here.


The Myths...
Persephone


Odysseus and Polyphemus


Ceyx and Alycone


Pyramus and Thisbe


Achilles and Hector

Creativity and Games - Classroom Presentation

This post about my highly entertaining classroom creativity games (which some refer to as class presentation games) has been one of my most popular. There are two parts here. First are links to the games, then I have a related presentation that introduces the exercises and the games.

Recent Updates 2/2016: I created this updated creativity game using Google Slides and these tutorials showing how to play any of these games using Google tools. The Google Apps make it much easier to enjoy these games with your class!

---

The Two Classroom Creativity Games

My generic creativity game system can be found here:  The Classroom Creativity Game

More recently I finished this creativity game about the important elements of a great story:  Coming Soon.  In it students compete to create the best ideas for a movie trailer.  It's part of a larger work I'm developing based on Donald Miller's Storyline book and process.

If you're interested in more information on these and other styles of games I have posted on this blog, see these pages. (They are also accessible from the top menu.)

---

The Presentation

When I began posting about my creativity exercises and games I also started developing the presentation I use in class to introduce them.

If you want to use (or deliver your own version of) this presentation, here's the outline:

• Define creativity.
• Offer practice with specific exercises.
• Give an opportunity to play fun games related to the lesson.

Effectively presenting and practicing the exercises before playing the games will greatly enhance the students' enjoyment of the games.  Written feedback from students has been positive with many expressing how fun it is to practice creativity.

Students learn that they can improve creativity by practicing certain skills.

This has been very encouraging to me and I am continuing to develop this into a unit of study or possibly a 10-week course on the subject.

The video presentation and tips for modifying it

I created two videos below that can be played for the students in class.  Normally the outline would be:

1. Watch the first video.
2. Play the example games I refer to.
3. Watch the second video.
4. Play the creativity games while they practice the skills.

Alternatively, a teacher could use my presentations as an example, but presentation the information and exercises in her own way.  If you're thinking of adapting it, here's a more detailed flow of the presentation:

• Examples from my creative pursuits in game design - A teacher would want to substitute his or her personal examples here.
• A working definition of creativity - "Making connections to find new, good ideas"
• The distinction between an idea and a final product
• Some questions for classroom response systems to measure students' own perceptions of their creativity
• Examples that allow students to practice the skills of brainstorming and evaluating ideas and making connections
• Sample games - Two are just examples of my own work.  The third is Why Did the Chicken...? which allows some students to compete to write the funniest answers to random riddles.

Here is the first video of the presentation. It covers the purpose of the activity and provides the definition of creativity used throughout.

The presentation leads into two free classroom games I created.  You can find information about those here:

• Oh, Really! classroom game (And if you don't have ActivInspire, here's a free browser-based version of the same game with a different name--What's It to Ya?)
• This or That? classroom game (based on the game Take Your Pick)

And here is the second video.  In this part I lead a couple of brainstorming activities and I show what it means to make connections.  After those practice exercises the teacher could lead the class in one to three games, which are listed below.

Games for this part of the presentation are here, along with the rules:

• Why Did the Chicken...? and the popular Why Did the Chicken...? Mythology Edition

• Say Anything and the Back to School Edition of Say Anything 

Again, if you don't have ActivInspire, these generic creativity games can be played in a variety of ways on many more computer systems than the versions above:

• The Classroom Creativity Game - Combines several versions of the creativity system into one webpage.
• Coming Soon - The Creativity Game of Great Movie Trailers - Students compete to come up with the best ideas for a movie.  This can be used to teach the elements of a great story.

Other things I've learned from using this in class:

• Have a backup plan in case the riddle game is not going over well.  Other creativity games or activities can be found through the related pages linked from the header of this blog.
• Pick yourself or another teacher as one of the nouns for the first riddle of Why Did the Chicken...?  It makes it much easier for them.
• The games and presentation does not have to be completed in one sitting.  Break up the elements of the presentation over several days or throughout the semester.  Most of the games I have created would work well as a prompt for the end of class.  Homework could be to turn in one or more answers to a riddle.  Votes for the best one could be done the next day or even later after the teacher has narrowed it down to some possibilities.

If you're interested in the previous version of my videos, they are here:

These videos are notes to a teacher rather than the presentation that could be played in class for students.

Part 1:  Definitions, examples of my work and the questions for the class

Note:  I neglected to mention in this recording that I also talk about the need for more creativity in school and how creativity enhances one's life.  I never present these activities as a way to convince students their ideas will make them rich.


Click here to view Part 1 at Screencast.com.

---

Part 2:  Examples from a game of Why Did the Chicken...? and some practice exercises for brainstorming and evaluation

Note:  In this clip I'm not sure I brought out the purpose of the brainstorming practice very well.  The end result is to find connections between the two lists.  I purposely did not have students turn those possibly good ideas into answers to the riddle.  In other words, I asked them to find the first good idea, but they did not necessarily turn it into a finished product.  Some naturally went further and made a funny joke.

I tried this activity last week without the creativity exercises before the game and the responses were much more interesting from the class that did the exercises.  Based on their answers in the game and written responses after we played there is no doubt they were thinking more and they better grasped the point of the activity.

Click here to view Part 2 at Screencast.com.

---

iMovie for Digital Stories and Flipped Teaching

In the past I made a few suggestions for using iPad apps for digital storytelling and flipped teaching.  I also have been trying to squeeze the most out of a few free video editors.  Then someone finally convinced me to spend the $4.99 on iMovie.  I'm very impressed with it so far.

I made the short video slideshow below that describes an experience* I had with some creativity games at the middle school level.  I love how intuitive is to arrange the pictures, set the length and adjust the pan/zoom settings.  Narration is equally as simple--just talk while the pictures go by.  Keep what worked and do the other parts over.

I haven't used the app to record any lessons for flipped teaching yet, but it makes a portable recording studio and I can't see why it wouldn't be perfect.  Cutting out a part of a clip is a swipe down to split it and a hold and drag to remove or rearrange it.  Prop the iPad up to record you presentation at the board, edit and upload to YouTube.  I am amazed at the power and creativity that this app allows.

I also love that songs from GarageBand (another $4.99 app that still fascinates me) are easily exported directly into iMovie.  I put a simple loop in the background of the video below just to try it out.



*Two notes about the classroom experience:

• My designated camera person did a good job, but she missed all the opportunities showing the class laughed A LOT as we played!
• I will have a followup post soon about the creativity exercises I mention in the video.

Why Did the Chicken...? - Exercise for Creativity for the Classroom

My recent posts about creativity games have drawn a good amount of attention, so I contacted Kory Heath about the game that sort of started it all.  He gave his hearty approval of a classroom version of Why Did the Chicken...?, the hilarious game of answering random riddles.  Two versions of the game are available for download from Promethean Planet:

• The original Why Did the Chicken...? flipchart
• Mythology version of Why Did the Chicken...?

---

Donations are definitely accepted!
These flipcharts (especially the Mythology edition) have been popular this summer. If you find them or any other resources on the blog useful, please consider donating $1 to $3.  Any money I receive this way will be used in my district to purchase resources for technology integration. I and my students greatly appreciate your support!  I would love to hear how you use the resources too.

---

Here are the rules as they appear in the flipchart, along with additional clarification and suggestions.  The couple changes or considerations for the mythology version are addressed below as well.

How to Play the Why Did the Chicken...? Classroom Game

Pick 3 - 5 "contestants" who will compete to write the funniest riddles.  They should sit at the front of the classroom.  Each contestant needs a piece of paper with his or her name on top.


To start a round, draw 1 Question prompt from the Question cards and 2 Nouns from the box of Noun cards.  (For the mythology edition, pick 1 of these Nouns from the Questions card and the other from Pandora's box.  The mythology words come from Pandora's box and it's best to have a real world noun combined with the mythology words.)  Put these items on the cards at the top of the screen.  Here's an example of how this might look:

So in the example, we get the riddle "Why is a tiger afraid of a rockstar?"

Note:  When it makes a difference, the teacher (with input from the class) may choose to change the order of the nouns to make the most interesting riddle.  As the example above illustrates, if "tiger" and "rockstar" are reversed the riddle lends itself to dull answers.

The contestants get 2 minutes to write a funny answer to the random riddle.  When finished, they hand their papers to the teacher.  Note that you can be as flexible as you want on this time limit.

Note:  Contestants might choose to write several answers in those two minutes, then pick one or possibly the teacher can just pick one.  It all depends on how much time the teacher wants to take in reading them.

The teacher reads the answers in a random order and writes them (possibly summarized) on the
board, one per sticky note.  Since the answers might be wordy, the key words can be written on the sticky notes just so the class can remember which is which.  If some answers are the same or similar, the teacher can have them submit another response.

The class should not know who wrote which answer.  In other words, don't always have the same student's answer end up on the same letter.

Using the Expressions (if available) have the class vote for their favorite answer.  After the vote, the contestants or teacher can indicate who wrote which response.  The player whose answer received the most votes gets 2 points for the round.  The player whose answer received the second most votes gets 1 point.

Keep score on the Score page.  Repeat for 5 - 7 rounds.  At the end, the contestant with the most points wins.

Students in the class (non-contestants) can play for points just for fun.  Any student who votes for the most popular answer gets a point.  These are tracked by the students themselves based on their honor.  They can compare points at the end of the game just to see who picked the winning answers the most.

Other details and suggestions:

• Before you play, have the class submit names of people, places or other familiar nouns that will make the game personal.  This lends itself to hilarious inside jokes, but some students will need to be reminded to keep it appropriate for school!
• In this version of the game there are five question formats, each repeated twice.  You might prefer to just choose them rather than randomly draw them, as some make easier riddles than others.
• If students are having a hard time coming up with answers encourage them to brainstorm more than one and just pick the one they like best for the official submission.  The game is an exercise in creativity and they need to feel comfortable failing.  Anonymity in answers is sometimes necessary to encourage continued participation.
• See this post about how I use creativity exercises before we play.
• Nouns from any content area can be substituted to make the game fit the course subject.  See the mythology edition as an example.  
• Instead of playing as a game, this can be used as an ongoing activity.  Riddles can be assigned to the entire class at the end of the hour.  All students would turn in answers the next day.  At an appropriate time the teacher could post five for a vote.