Blabberize is an easy (for the most part) to use web tool. It can be fun and funny but the main benefit is the ease of use. It is simply talking through a picture. Students can manipulate a picture to get it to say what they want. Retelling a story, reviewing a book or summarizing a person’s biography — all are terrific educational uses.
My first use of Blabberize was to book talk the fantastic novel in verse, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. This Newbery winner is uniquely told, incredibly relatable, and an emotional story.
The Blabberize tool was easy to sign up for. The site itself is simple and uncluttered. Instruction was basic and easy to follow. The tools and icons in the site were intuitive.
Now for the hard part: creating the mouth. I still do not understand why I could not create a mouth that appeared the way the mouths do on other Blabberize creations I have viewed. I spent WAY too much time trying to get it just right and never succeeded. Actually, I spent four times longer trying to get the mouth right compared to how much time I spent writing my book talk. I hate that! I would be crushed if I discovered my students in that situation. So I finally accepted that my mouth would not meet my standards and moved on. The creation is still effective — I shared my book recommendation.
I had the same problem with the mouth on Blabberize! I tried to have Prokofiev talking about his life, and I just couldn't make it look believable at all. I decided to use another tool instead.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so it wasn't just me! Are we too picky?
DeleteAh...the Blabberize mouth...OY! I have found that the starting line always needs to be just under the upper lip. You have a great solution of having the basketball talk instead! I know your district is more app based than laptop based so take a look at PhotoSpeak as well. Our librarian had the students select book covers to use as her "come alive" photo with student reviews attached.
ReplyDelete