<![CDATA[MYTECHTTOOS.COM - Blog]]>Sat, 18 Nov 2023 01:38:48 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[New Techttoo -Kinetic Typography]]>Tue, 11 Sep 2018 04:55:51 GMThttps://www.mytechttoos.com/blog/new-techttoo-kinetic-typographyI just wanted to show you what one of my students did last year as an experiment with Kinetic Typography. As you know I am always on the hunt for the latest and greatest tech projects for my students as I want their work to be relevant. That's not to say that what is revenant today won't be obsolete tomorrow, but it you can't keep tech projects fresh, then why are we even trying.

So along came kinetic typography. I've been seeing it a lot on YouTube, so I wondered if my middle school students could do it as part of another techttoo. So like I always do, I pull a couple of students aside to make them my guinea pigs to try new things out. And this is what I got.
Pretty cool, huh?

This is why I am going to add it as a techttoo to the middle school technology curriculum that I am developing on this website.

​What do you think?
]]><![CDATA[Giving Students the Freedom to Explore with Tech]]>Sun, 09 Sep 2018 10:21:49 GMThttps://www.mytechttoos.com/blog/giving-students-the-freedom-to-explore-with-tech
I've spent a lot of time this past week planning and plotting how exactly the middle school techttoos will be organized. Since most of my experience has been with elementary students and using tech badges, this transition over to techttoos is proving to be a bit challenging.

With my tech badges, students would learn a tech skill, like animation, by following my tutorials, then to prove that they really know they have the skills, they make a project of their very own. So in the first part, the tutorial, there is no creativity on the part of the student. They are simply following the tutorial step by step. Their creativity is on hold as they master these new skills. They once the skills have been mastered they are then free to do what they like with these new skills. 

A good non-tech example would be learning to draw in 2D perspective. If you don't have the skills, it doesn't matter how "creative" you are, you drawing are not going to look that good as far as showing a 2D perspective. But if you were to be taught and then mastered the skill of 2D perspective, then you are free to let your creativity fly as you can then choose to follow or break the rules as you see fit as an artist. 

The same goes for tech, first students must learn the skills and then they be creative. I'm sure Sir Ken would disagree, but who cares, its what I've seen first hand in my classroom.
]]><![CDATA[Student Example - 2D Animation Techttoo]]>Tue, 04 Sep 2018 07:48:03 GMThttps://www.mytechttoos.com/blog/student-example-2d-animation-techttooThere is no doubt that animation is taking over education, everything from math to science now uses animations to engage and instruct our students. So it makes sense that our students should know how to animate as a way to show their mastery of a concept. 

In this student example a 4th grader needed a promotional video to get other students (mostly younger students) to give to the charity called KIVA. 

So for this 2D Animation Techttoo, I made tutorials that showed her how to write the script, record the voice-overs, and then how to animate using the available characters. The results speak for themselves.

As I design each techttoo as part of the middle school technology curriculum I try to connect the sample projects to real-world situations, and in most cases I use the charity KIVA.org

It upcoming posts I will explain why this is so important.
]]><![CDATA[Researching the Photography Techttoo]]>Mon, 03 Sep 2018 09:33:36 GMThttps://www.mytechttoos.com/blog/researching-the-photography-techttoo
Mondays are usually the day that I do my research for a new Techttoo. So today I took on the Photography Techttoo, and started to pour over all the books in my library on photography. I know what you're thinking, "Why would you need the Photography Techttoo?"

The truth is, your photos suck!
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Sorry about being so blunt, but the majority of people take really bad photos. So I think I offer this techttoo because I need do my part to improve the photos around me. The world doesn't need another bad photographer.
]]><![CDATA[Student Examples - Singer/Songwriter Techttoo]]>Sun, 02 Sep 2018 12:16:39 GMThttps://www.mytechttoos.com/blog/student-examples-singersongwriter-techttoo
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The singer/songwriter techttoo is one of the most popular with middle-school students. Here is an example that some 8th graders did. To earn the techttoo they had to write a song about giving money to the charity Kiva.org.

The first step was for them to watch this video about Kiva.org is and then write a song about what they saw in the video. 
The techttoo shows them every step in the songwriting process. ​I had no idea that students could write and perform such amazing songs. Listen to the songs and you'll see why I am now designing my techttoos as middle-school technology curriculum. 
This 8th grader wrote the song and then found the beat on a royalty-free music website, he then used an audio filter to lower his voice to make him sound older and deeper. The results are amazing.
This song is from a different 8th grader, who took a different approach to his song. He then got a high-schooler to record the vocals. The 8th grader performed the guitar. Another great song. 
]]><![CDATA[Techttoos for Middle School Students]]>Sun, 02 Sep 2018 09:09:45 GMThttps://www.mytechttoos.com/blog/techttoos-for-middle-school-students
For the past 10 years I have been using tech "badges" with my elementary students as a way for them to learn tech skills. See www.mytechbadges.com 

During this time I had many requests to build something the tech badges program for older students. So starting today, I am going to create something very similar to the badges program but using techttoos instead of badges. Techttoos are removable stickers that students can attach to their tech. These stickers or techttoos represent the skills that they learned. 

My new techttoos program should be a stand-alone technology curriculum for middle school to use in its entirety or just as parts. More info to come soon.
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