Exploring New Things (Thing Twelve)

As I started exploring some new tools that I haven't used before, I was drawn to Be Funky.  I'll be honest...I thought the name sounded interesting.  This website is great for photo editing.  It has an endless amount of photo editing features.  These features go beyond the basic cropping and changing your picture into black and white.  You can add frames, text, and graphics to an uploaded picture.  There are also different effects that you can choose from.  The site is incredibly easy to use.  I don't think it could be any easier.  The most challenging thing about this website is you could spend hours just clicking on the different features and effects to change your picture.  This is definitely something I will use on a regular basis for my personal use.  For classroom use, the students would enjoy using this site.  They would probably have a lot of fun editing pictures especially since many of my young students may not have ever done this before.  The most monitoring that would be required is making sure that students have uploaded an appropriate picture.  As long as the original picture was appropriate, they probably could freely use the features of the site without worrying about them running into trouble.  I think the students could show me their understanding of a topic by using the text feature of the site.  I could upload a picture that reflects a standard and they could label the picture with the appropriate text.  Also, I like the imaginative and creative element of this site.  Students don't get to tap into their creative sides very often so I think this site could remedy that.  Overall, I think this is a really fun website!  Check out my before and after picture below of my beloved dog Jules that I edited using Be Funky.

Before:

After:



After I had explored Be Funky, I decided to check out another website based on a recommendation.  I went to Glogster EDU.  This is something that students could really take ownership of and show their understanding.  Glogster is a site that allows you to create digital posters.  Above and beyond that, there are many great social features to the website.  Tags can be added to your glog and your glog can placed into a subject category that allows others to view your digital poster.  Glogs can be shared digitally or they can be printed.  Glogster would have a lot of uses in the classroom (for productivity and for students).  As a teacher, I could create a plethora of posters that I could use in my classroom or on my classroom blogs.  They could be content-related or related to the rituals and routines of my classroom.  Also, students can create posters using the site.  This site isn't quite as user-friendly as Be Funky, but it is still easy to use.  Again, this site would allow students to be creative.  It could really take the old "poster report project" to the next level.