Animated video

GoAnimate.com: Gemma and Christine by bahama.mama47

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com.
Using animated technology in a high school English classroom would open the door for a lot of self-expression on the part of the students.  GoAnimate.com allows for a certain level of creative license without allowing the students to become overwhelmed with the program.  There are scenes already set on the free level that would allow the introduction of the concept of animation as a valid expression of literature.  The characters are also present in the program itself.  There is no need for in depth technical knowledge about how to write programs for animation.  The characters all have a dialogue that is written by the student.  I would have the class incorporate their interpretation of a piece of literature into the scene.  This would also require a bit of decision making on the part of the student, as they would have to determine which scene and characters best fit their interpretation of the literature.  This is also a great way to help the students gain a firmer understanding of the concept of narrative voice.

Voki

I really enjoy the Voki application!  It is really easy to use (when the computer is working) and it lets my creative side go!  In the high school classroom, Voki would be a great way to create an anonymous discussion.  Each student could create their own avatar and post responses to questions that might engender ribbing from their classmates if they knew who the person was.  The site also prevents many lewd uses that teenagers would definitely find simply due to the fact that it is not completely freestyle in the character creation.  There are set parameters that are present in the software itself.  For example, although the character may not have visible clothing, only the head and upper shoulders are visible.  This would prevent actual nude characters from parading around in the classroom.  The biggest issue that I see with Voki is the fact that the students can write anything that they want their avatar to say.  This is where an in depth explanation of what will be acceptable for the assignment must be made completely clear before the first word is written.

Autism Wiki

Autism Wiki!!!

To be honest, I'm not sure that I would use this in the classroom.  I found it difficult to use for a group project.  The class presentation made it sound like multiple users could be on the wiki at the same time.  This was not the case.  A group might be able to use this if individual work time were assigned to each student.  Otherwise, work would be lost and students would become very frustrated.  It was suggested that each student could be assigned their own page.  This makes more sense to me than using it as part of a group project.  However, if there was a need to use this as the modem for a group project, I would make sure that every student had a separate aspect and page to work on. This would ensure that each student is able to work whenever they felt like it and not have to worry about losing something due to someone else editing at the same time.