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I really though Adobe Spark was a wonderful to use for myself to share information and also for my students to create presentations to present in person or even to post on our Google Classroom for others to view. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous about using Adobe Spark. Any new web 2.0 tool that I am not too familiar with, makes me nervous. I used Adobe Spark to create a presentation to help my students review key vocabulary they just finished learning. My students will take a vocabulary assessment on these words and will also be conducting various experiments this week to help them see the vocabulary in action. My students will have access to the presentation via our Google Classroom we have for science class. Presentation will also be added into our 4th grade google site page that my teammate and I share with our parents and students.
One portion that I really enjoyed about Adobe Spark was the simplicity of making the video. It was very easy to create, and I can already envision my students creating their own presentation with it. Adding audio to the presentation was easy to do. I liked how you can add audio/voice to each slide individually. This can be very helpful when students are recording themselves and not have to worry about recording the entire presentation.
I can see how Adobe Spark can be use in any subject in school. For example, in math students can explain how they solved a problem, describing each step they used or strategy. The math in fourth grade is very difficult and for some students and can sometimes take multi-steps to complete. Students also have the explain their understanding, so this is where Adobe Spark can help help facilitate that. In reading, students can use it to describe the main idea of a text or explain the sequence of events in a story they have listened to in class. When it comes to writing, the opportunities with Adobe Spark can be endless. My students are currently working on wrapping up their opinion papers and Adobe Spark can be a great opportunity to help our shy students share their writing a different way. Adobe Spark can also help students practice their speaking skills, one area that is many times weak for our ESOL and SPED students. Lastly, Adobe Spark can help students review key vocabulary in science and historical events in social studies. Adobe Spark can also be an option for students to help demonstrate their mastery of the research standards we have in fourth grade.
Although my students enjoy using technology in the classroom, I know they will need to continue to hear lessons on the importance of plagiarism. Many of my students still think that it is fine for them to just find a picture to copy into their presentation. My students are also still struggling with understanding the difference with copying word by work vs. writing in their own words. This really comes down to modeling and helping our students understand to be creative and unique in their own way, with their own words.
Extensions
One extension that I've started to use on a daily basis is Grammarly. I started to use Grammarly to help improve my writing skills in graduate school and also when sharing documents with my students during Writing class. I have also shared this tool with other colleagues in my building because several others are completing graduate work at the moment as well.
One extension that I have started to explore is called Read and Write for Google Chrome. Read and Write is an extension that can be used to help increase confidence in both reading and writing. Read and Write also offers different features such as text-to speech that can help those students that have difficulty reading a passage or article online. This feature helps students follow along with the help of a feature that helps highlight the words that are being read. Lastly, Read and Write offers a speech to text feature where students can dictate what they want to write.
References:
Adobe. (n.d.). Adobe Spark: A Guide for Schools and Educators
Adobe. (n.d.). Adobe Spark: A Guide for Schools and Educators