The Week in Review – Roll With the Changes
Good morning from Maine where it has been a week all about rolling with the changes (insert REO Speedwagon earworm here). On the weather front we went from unseasonably warm temperatures early in the week to cold rainy to end the week. In school we went from hybrid classes to full online classes in the […]
The Week in Review – Heading Into Hibernation
Good morning from Maine where we’re going to enjoy the last warm days of the year this weekend. Warm is a relative term because while those of us here think that 50F-60F is warm many of my southern friends will disagree. Either way, the Maine black bears that my daughters and I saw preparing for […]
A Comics Activity as an Icebreaker
Disclosure: Pixton EDU is currently an advertiser on this blog. As the new school year begins you may find yourself looking for some new ways to conduct icebreaker activities. One thing you can try is having students create avatars for themselves then talk about their designs. Then after making those avatars you might have them […]
Updated – How to Create Virtual Class Pictures With Pixton EDU
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about using Pixton EDU to create a virtual class photograph for the end of the school year. When I originally set out to write that post, I had planned to include a video tutorial. The first video that I made wasn’t great so last week I recorded a […]
Create Virtual Class Pictures With Pixton EDU
Disclosure: Pixton EDU is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com As the school year winds down those of us who still have classes in June may be looking for some ways to replicate our typical end-of-year activities. One of those activities could be a class photograph. While you probably can’t get your students together for a […]
Five Comic and Storyboard Activities With Pixton EDU
Disclosure: Pixton EDU is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Online comic creation tools like Pixton EDU make it possible for almost anyone to create great-looking comics and storyboards without having to be a master artist. Creating comics and storyboards with online tools like Pixton EDU is a good way for students to share creative ideas, […]
Five Elementary Lessons You Can Do With Pixton EDU
Disclosure: Pixton is currently an advertiser on this blog. For many years I’ve promoted the idea of using comics as a way to get students to develop fiction and nonfiction stories. In fact, I’ve hosted webinars in which I explained how I’ve used comics as the basis for getting students interested in telling history stories. […]
The Week in Review – Bad News and New Fonts
Good morning from Maine where the 50F air and the appearance of red leaves makes it feels like the end of summer is near. This always leaves me feeling conflicted as I don’t want summer to end, but I also love the arrival of autumn. I’m looking forward to getting outside this weekend and I […]
Truth or Lie Comics – A Lesson Plan
Pixton is a service that teachers and students can use to create comic strips by selecting customizable drawings and adding them into comic frames. This enables even those of us who don’t have any drawing skills to make comics that look great. Pixton provides an online classroom in which you can view all of your […]
10 Ideas for Using Comics In Your Classroom
Over the last couple of months I’ve shared a handful of tools that students can use to create comics. I even conducted a webinar on the topic last month (the recording is available here). There is no shortage of tools for creating comics available to students. Regardless of which comic creation tool you choose to have […]
Four Social Studies Lessons You Can Update With Comics
Through the course of a school year I field a lot of questions that go something like this, “I need to use technology in my classroom, but I’m not sure where to start. Can you help me?” Integrating online tools into your classroom doesn’t have to mean throwing out everything you’ve done in the past. […]
How to Create Simple Comics on Pixton
On Monday I shared some thoughts about using Pixton to engage students in creative writing. Over the last couple of days some folks have asked me for a little more guidance on how to get started with Pixton. In the video embedded below I provide a demonstration of how to create a simple comic story […]
Pixton Offers a Great Way to Create Engaging Writing Lessons
For years I’ve advocated for using comics as a way to get students engaged in the writing process. To many students, creating a comic seems a lot less intimidating and a lot more fun than simply writing a story on a blank sheet of paper. One of my favorite ways to have students use comics […]
The Week in Review – A New Team Member
Good morning from Maine where I’m writing my first blog post since Tuesday morning (yes, I write and schedule posts in advance). I haven’t written a post since Tuesday because I’ve been a bit busy as my partner Jess and I welcomed our daughter this week. Isla was born on Tuesday evening. The room that […]