Adobe Spark Presentation
I created a presentation using Adobe Sparke titled “The Road to Wealth.” One of my friend groups consists of 6-8 couples. We get together for holidays, birthdays, and monthly events. In January, like so many others, we had a vision board party. I noticed a reoccurring theme as couples or individuals described their vision boards; wealth, financial freedom, no more debt, and make my money work for me. The January birthday celebration started out with one couple present but not speaking to each other. Come to find out they were arguing about money. Another couple was talking about how they needed to save money and another was discussing how they were going to try to start a business. It was this outing that I saw a need for change.
Our friend group that is now an extension of our family, enjoys spending time together but we have other goals, how can we support each other in those financial goals? As I pondered thoughts ran through my head, an investment club, wait a small business. Then I realized I had to back up, all the way up. What we need is to start from the very beginning. Budgeting, emergency fund, snowballing debt and then investing. My birthday month is March and instead of us going out and spending money to celebrate I am going to have everyone over with a Wealth Coach to start taking steps towards meeting their goals of having a wealth mindset.
Spark Video Ideas with Project-Based Learning
Adobe Spark is a powerful visual learning tool that can be manipulated by young and old alike. I have created a project-based learning (PBL) experience for my fourth and fifth grade math students. Their goal is to plan a family vacation. They must budget, plan meals, accommodations and excursions. Along the way students are supposed to journal their trip. There are also challenges that the students can complete like producing a commercial or creating a brochure. The culminating activity is to give a presentation describing their vacation, excursions, places of interest and history. As I look over this PBL activity, I realize Adobe Spark could be used for one or all of these activities.
Another idea for using visual learning to support PBL is to begin your project-based learning activity with a visual learning hook, welcome or introduction. Using a visual tool to get kids excited about a project has the potential for higher project engagement. According to Fanguy (2019, par. 6) research has shown that people remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 50% of what they both see and hear.”
Copyright, Creative Commons and Fair Use
In our tech savvy world it is so easy to right click, copy and paste to create a project. Our intentions are not necessarily to steal, use without permission, or pass off as our own. But when we are unaware of the rules, regulations and laws that’s exactly what happens. It is important that we do not skip right to the “fun stuff” and we set our students up for success. It is our responsibility to teach students first the definitions of copyright, creative commons and fair use. Next we can use visual learning tools to show them what each of these looks like. Another important fact that we must share with our students is why copyright is in place. Copyright is in place to protect the creators and creative commons is a place to submit works to be shared (RealPublic, 2013).
Office 365 Add-Ins
I found several Office 365 Add-Ins I would like to use. The first one is theImmersive Reader. This tool reads text to students. This would be useful for students with learning differences and struggling readers and English language learners. UsingImmersive Reader is a way to differentiate assignments that require students to read. Struggling readers or English language learners can listen to grade level material and gain knowledge without having to struggle to decode words.
I found several Office 365 Add-Ins I would like to use. The first one is theImmersive Reader. This tool reads text to students. This would be useful for students with learning differences and struggling readers and English language learners. UsingImmersive Reader is a way to differentiate assignments that require students to read. Struggling readers or English language learners can listen to grade level material and gain knowledge without having to struggle to decode words.
The second Add-In I would like for students to use is Dictate. Young students and students who are not proficient at typing can get their ideas onto the computer without the frustration of typing errors. Dictate will allow students to let their creativity flow now that they do not have to worry about getting hung up on the mechanics of writing or typing (which ever of the two gives them difficulty or both if needed). This will also allow students to think more critically with other barriers lifted. Students will be able to communicate in a way that was once impossible or so complicated it was not worth the trouble.
The third Add-In is MyScript Math since I teach math my colleague Mrs. McEvoy suggested this tool for me. This Add-In allows students to write a math equation on a touchscreen and the equation will be converted into a typed equation in a word document (Greene, 2018). This tool would be useful for students who have a difficult time manipulating writing utensils. MyScript lends itself to be used as a differentiation support tool.
References
Fanguy, W. (2019). Piktochart. Retrieved from 3 Tips for Easy and Engaging Classroom Visuals: https://piktochart.com/blog/tips-easy-engaging-classroom-visuals/
Gonzalez, J. (2018, April 15). Cult of pedagogy. Retrieved from 4 Ways microsoft is making learning more accesible: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/inclusive/
RealPublic. (2013, May 19). Bing. Retrieved from Wanna Work Together? [CreativeCommons]://https://www.bing.com/videos/search? q=wanna+work+together+by+creative+commons&docid=607991853922389759&mid=244F50E4CBE1E464C610244F50E4CBE1E464C610&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
Fanguy, W. (2019). Piktochart. Retrieved from 3 Tips for Easy and Engaging Classroom Visuals: https://piktochart.com/blog/tips-easy-engaging-classroom-visuals/
Gonzalez, J. (2018, April 15). Cult of pedagogy. Retrieved from 4 Ways microsoft is making learning more accesible: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/inclusive/
RealPublic. (2013, May 19). Bing. Retrieved from Wanna Work Together? [CreativeCommons]://https://www.bing.com/videos/search? q=wanna+work+together+by+creative+commons&docid=607991853922389759&mid=244F50E4CBE1E464C610244F50E4CBE1E464C610&view=detail&FORM=VIRE