Video Platform

In my library, students have a variety of video platforms to use for projects. Library Science I students explore each type in different projects and then have the option of using their favorite platform for remaining projects.

One particular format has been used at both the elementary and high school level to great success. (Although visions of students spread throughout the library, hiding in nooks and crannies, attempting to record their voices at the elementary school without echoes of other voices can still make me giggle a bit!) This platform allows students to create animated videos using stock or uploaded photos for backgrounds. They can also customize characters, upload or use stock music, insert speech bubbles and text screens, and create animated transitions between scenes. It's called GoAnimate4Schools. Not only is it easy to navigate, but it's cost affordable, with a class of student accounts and two teacher accounts costing slightly over $100.

When students compare the different formats: stopmotion animation, GoAnimate, green screen, and live motion not using the green screen, GoAnimate and green screen are usually tied for the most popular. Shyer students prefer to be anonymous and, therefore, prefer animated characters made to look like themselves. Extroverted students enjoy the animation, but they love using the green screen because it has fewer steps involved. (Stopmotion is fun, they all agree, but tedious and time-consuming for tiny clips of video.)

The problem?

GoAnimate ends this summer.

Although it has been written about in every educational tech magazine as the number one platform for students...

Although it has a great following on social media...

Although many of us have asked (okay, I admit, BEGGED)...

They are no longer going to have a school plan/pricing with their new platform. And I can't find an affordable, comparable alternative. There are other animation websites. However, it's hard to compromise on the features that work so well: upload pictures to have it set where you need it (our library, cafeteria, etc.); create characters with a variety of looks and clothes or costumes; huge amount of movements, facial animations, and emotions from which to choose; stock music to fit different moods; ability to download and put the video on a website; make a class set of accounts affordable; easy, easy, easy, easy to use.

They suggest their new platform, Vyond. I am sure it has all the features I love. Except one: AFFORDABILITY. There is absolutely no way a school can afford the business (or a teacher afford the personal) pricing!

So I am still searching for a replacement...and hoping some other company steps up and does what GoAnimate4schools has always done for countless educators and students! Suggestions are welcome!

March Book Madness Update

Who has moved on to the Elite 8?

The new matchups are as follows:

All the Bright Places
v.
Children of Blood and Bone

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
v. Scythe

Crossover
v.
If I Was Your Girl

Long Way Down
v.
The 5th Wave


I have to admit some of my favorites are still in the running while a few are out in the first round, surprising many students on their bracket entries! (A few have only one book left in the entire bracket...)

Which ones am I disappointed to see out of the competition?
Warcross is the main one. I didn't mind The 5th Wave too much, but parts of it were just a little off to me personally. I don't think the movie helped me like the book at all. However, if it had been against a different title, I probably would have been rooting for it! Having just finished Warcross as a preliminary read for a possible Battle of the Books title for next year, I really enjoyed the dystopian future that wasn't quite so miserable and bleak.

Oh, well! It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of this round of voting. Although you cannot enter a bracket submission, don't forget to vote!

www.marchbookmadness.weebly.com/ya-bracket.html

An End in Sight!

With a lot of sweat equity on the part of my Library Science students, Library Assistants, and some great volunteers from the National Honor Society, the books are all labeled (except for some that are still checked out)! Not only that, but in just 3 days, we managed to move over 9000 books from their alphabetized order onto tables and then back into alphabetized genre sections!

The only job left to finish, which is up to me, is changing the sublocation of each book in the library catalog. This way students can look for books by genre or locate a title in it's new genre location. Action/Adventure/Survival, Dystopian, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror/Thriller, Mystery/Suspense, and Paranormal are finished with the update to their records. Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Science Fiction, and Sports Fiction still remain. Our goal was to be finished by spring break. We should be finished next week! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Meanwhile, we are participating in March Book Madness. (#2019MBM) Students can turn in their bracket guesses by tomorrow. They can also vote in each round to help determine the winner in this world-wide activity.

This year's "Sweet Sixteen" of Young Adult fiction?

The left bracket is as follows:

All the Bright Places
v.
Love, Hate, & Other Filters

Children of Blood and Bone
v.
An Ember in the Ashes

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
v.
The Reader

The Marrow Thieves
v.
Scythe

And on the right:

Crossover
v.
Simon and the Homosapiens Agenda

The Poet X
v.
If I Was Your Girl

Long Way Down
v.
Outrun the Moon

Warcross
v.
The 5th Wave

Voting for this round is March 6-12.

The Elite 8 voting is March 13-19, Final 4 voting is March 20-26, and Championship Game voting is March 27-April 2.

Anyone may vote at marchbookmadness.weebly.com/ya-bracket.html