Create a comic with PIXTON

Hello teachers I sincerely hope all of you are well. I am heatlhy and very busy because, this week I've been learning how to create a comic using ICTs . Do you want to know how to make a comic book too? I'll tell you right now.

After exploring different tools to create comics I decided to use Pixton.

Pixton is a web tool used to create comics. The first thing you have to do is to choose between Pixton for educators, for students, for parents or for business. In this case, I've chosen Pixton edu for students, because I wanted to see if this tool is adecuate and easy to use for my students.

After signing up, it's easy to start creating a comic, you can choose different backgrounds, characters and customize the clothes, hair, change their position and expression. Moreover you can choose what the characters say, think,or whisper choosing between different speech bubbles.

What caught my attention about this tool is that you can put the characters in many positions, you can also put different focuses and change the expressions of the face, the latter is what I like most and other tools to create comics do not have it.I wanted to create a comic related to emotions so I needed a tool where I could change the expressions on the characters' faces.

In summary this web is easy to use, safe, and simple, besides the result is very good. However, from my point of view this tool could be improved if we could introduce objects into the scene. One thing I don't like is that the free version doesn't let you download, print or share the comic you created, so I had to take a screenshot.

I would use this tool with my students only if we can save and share the work we have done.

Remember that making our students create comics is a great opportunity to develop creativity, language skills and express feelings  . When pupils read comics they develop reading comprehension skills. The most important thing is that they learn by having fun.

This is the comic about emotions that I have created , it is for the third course of Primary Education. Here you can see a real example:

Genial.ly

Hello teachers ! How are you? To be honest,  these days have been tough at home due to the coronavirus pandemic ,so  I decided to spend this period of time doing videocalls with friends and family, reading, playing games , working out, watching netflix ,  and of course, learning!

It is a good opportunity to keep learning especially about  ICTs. Many teachers are adapting to this situation and use technological tools to keep their student learning. One of these tools is genial.ly

This week I have been learning and working with Genial.ly. It is a tool to create original  presentations, interactive images, dossiers, infographics...

I had always used Power Point or Prezi to create presentations, however Genial.ly has a lot of free options and it is really easy to use due to the fact that it has templates, images, icons...
but you can also insert your own or external photos, videos and audios. Moreover, Genial.ly  is more attractive for students since it has many interactive elements. They will love it.

I have created this interactive presentation about vertebrates animals for the 4º course of Primary Education, so  here  you can see many of their option.  I hope you enjoy it .

Gamification on Pinterest

Hello teachers!!  Today I am going to talk about a very useful tool that I have discovered some years ago , and I have been using since then for educational and personal purposes. This tool is called Pinterest. It  allows users to save , share and discover new images, web pages  and videos.  

When you see an idea that you want to use in class you can create boards and save the pins that you like the most so you do not forget or lose it.

In this case I save some interesting pins about gamification which is an active methodology that  briefly explained it consist on using game elements in the learning context to motivate students. Here you have some pins that explain evething about this methodology and how to implement it in your classrooms

Historical tour in Madrid

Image by Jean-Claude Decuyper from Pixabay 

Hello everyone,  it is the perfect time to know a little bit more about our city.

Today we are going to do a fantastic guided tour around the most important buildings and monuments in Madrid.

We will start in The Royal Palace, then we will visit La Almudena Cathedral , after that we will see La Puerta del Sol, and we will finish our tour admiring La Plaza Mayor.

We hope you to have fun and learn  new interesting  and curious things about the history of our city.

Welcome

Hi everyone , my name is Mirian and I am 24 years old , I am a Primary school teacher and currently I am studing a Master  degree in Bilingual Education in Madrid. I am a little bit shy but very friendly and I love spending time with my family and friends. Another thing that I love is travelling. I love to know new places , people, cultures, languages, food.... 

For this blog I wanted to create my own avatar. In this case I use the app Bitmoji. If you do not know this app i recommend you to have a look at it. It is free, easy to use and quick. You only need a technological device and download the app. Then you  can choose different physical features , clothes...  and in less than two minute you can have your avatar. From my point of view this app could be very useful and motivating in education.

I am going to upload  and share in this blog everything that I am learnig  about ICTs related to education and I hope you  learn and share your ideas with me. 

See you soon.