Tool #3 - Image Generators and Mashups

1. I used Big Huge Labs (website) first and created a motivational poster. The photo I used came from Wayne on Flikr.
I'm pretty exited because I think this would be a good tool for exploring what classroom behavior looks like. Generally, as we begin the school year, we review classroom agreements, act them out and draw a picture, but this tool would incorporate MORE visuals, practice collaborating and integration into writing and drum roll please... technology.

I would like to create a gallery on Fliker as a whole class with student input on what sharing, respecting, listening, collaborating, etc. look like. Also, students could take pictures of themselves acting out wanted behavior. As an extension we will create motivational posters (using both class pictures taken and the Flikr gallery), first together, so that they learn the process of creating a poster and titling it, and then in groups of 2 or 3. When posters are complete we can vote on our favorites, print them and hang them in the classroom as reminders of what we expect and want our classroom to look and feel like.

2. I used the comic strip generator on http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

I chose Abraham Lincoln because we study his life in our Presidents Unit (second semester). This tool could be a good extension or reflection piece to a lesson. Have students think about something that the president might say and write it down. Edit with students for letter sound correspondence, capitals, lower cases and periods. Transfer sentence to comic strip. Print. An extension to that could be to paste comic strip in upper left hand corner of page and write a paragraph telling what you know about Abe Lincoln's life.
Those are just a few ideas I'll have to explore this site some more and see what other characters it has. Also I was wondering if you could sequence these strips into a story. Has anyone done that? Are there any strips in groups, or are they all individual?