What is Animoto? Part 1 of 4

Greetings,

I hope you are doing well this week.  Today I will be sharing with you a great web site where you can produce your own videos or slide shows by using pictures, videos and music for free.  The web site is called Animoto.  Simply click on the picture below, and it will take you to the web site.

Animoto is a web site that allows you to produce your own videos by using your own photos, video clips and music. Animoto will look at your photos, video clips and music, and put them into a mini video, like a 30 second movie trailer. Once the song or video is created, it will have its own unique design.

According to the Animoto web site, they state that no two videos are ever the same. This tutorial series will be a four part tutorial with pictures and details of the process to create your customizable video. This is how the tutorials will be broken down.

Week 1: Introduction to Animoto and Sample Civil Rights Video

Week 2: How to Sign up for a Free Account

Week 3: How to Create and Produce a Video

Week 4: How to Promote Your Video

Stay tuned for week 2 on how to sign up for a free account. I will see you next week.

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What is the Hat?

Greetings,

Today, I will be blogging about the Hat. The Hat is a random number/name generator you can use with your students. This application makes sure each person is randomly drawn equally. What's neat about this application is once you download it, you do not need to be connected to the internet.

One of the great features of this application are the fun special effects. The generator will make a toggle noise and a drum beat noise as the names are being shuffled and selected. This tool has given me another option to use, besides my traditional popsicle sticks in a cup. The popsicle sticks in a cup still works, except this generator has sound effects and is very visual. This makes it more exciting for the students.

To download this free and fun tool you can visit the following web site: http://www.harmonyhollow.net/hat.shtml
Here is what it looks like after you have downloaded it.

The fist thing you want to do is input the students names manually.


Once you select the Add Names Manually button, you will see the following window screen. You will need to type in your students name to add them to your list.

After you have all the names of your students in your class. You have two choices.

1. You can shuffle the names and the names will jump around from top to bottom to different position. You can either chose the name on the very top of the list or the bottom of the list. Then you can chose to delete the name.

2. You can chose to draw the names randomly out of the Magic Hat. The student will see his or her name appear on the middle part of the hat.

I personally like using the Magic Hat, that way the students are selected randomly to answer questions when I am presenting a lesson to the students. The names can only be chosen one time, so it is a true random sample.

Once you have drawn all the names of the students, you will see an indicator that says all the names have been drawn out. Then you can reshuffle, and continue to draw out the same names randomly.

If you have more classes you can chose to delete the names, clear the list or import the names into the generator.

You can also go into the options setting and change the interface or sound effects if you would like.

I hope you enjoy this fun and useful tool. I know your students will enjoy it. Remember download it and play with it, and you will be ready for your students when you need to ask questions to your students randomly. Hope his helps you out. See you next week.

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