Teachers sharing their work with Flash

A new site for Ulverston - http://www.visitulverston.com

2010-10-10T19:30:00.000+01:00

Now completely independently of the council a private individual is producing a web site for tourists that is something that is already special and will get better as more and more is added to it and others chip in to help. Let's hope it makes a real impact next season.

Have a look at www.visitulverston.com

If you like it, refer to it on your web site or blog so that it sails to the top of a Google search for "Ulverston" where you may think it deserves to be.

The more references to it, the higher it will rise in the Google ratings.

Talking Heads in Thailand

2008-11-18T09:25:00.004Z

Maggie continues to do good work with this template.

Having successfully explored puberty and sex with a year 6 class ( the work is nor available for public view!) the work continues!

Here is just one of the examples from her current class. Get those headphones ready to go as we're right in there with a lively exchange between two students!

mark 6

2008-11-11T22:38:00.000Z

Shape and music done differently

2008-11-09T17:05:00.002Z

With a template, children from year 3 to year 11 could enjoy doing this.

Give them a boost, don't you think?

Latest try with shape and music!

2008-11-08T18:10:00.001Z

Shapes and Music

2008-10-28T18:38:00.002Z

This has lots of potential!

Having fun with this for a bit of fun!

Anyone interested!

New interest in Flash

2008-10-23T08:42:00.001+01:00

Peckham, watch out, Flash is invading your classrooms!

Are there alternatives to Flash?

2008-09-06T13:18:00.006+01:00

I received this email yesterday:

Geoff,

Have you thought of turning your attentions to MIT's Scratch? It is a
wonderfully creative tool, it's completely free (so once fired up children
can continue work at home), has an online community and though schools that
use it see the benefits pretty quickly it has yet to take off as a key tool
for engaging children in learning using ICT.

I'd download it, try reverse engineering some of the games on the site and
play!

Dan

Dan,

It's really good to hear from you!

Having used Flash in so many different ways successfully with such a range of abilities, even with three years olds but many 5 up to 16, educationally challenged students of all types, some using a joy stick others temperamentally unstable, I have problems turning to anything else.

The price is minimal - £200 for 17 licences for a primary school for Flash 4.

It's such a Rolls Royce piece of software I can't imagine how it can be improved on.

The schools I'm still working with continue to develope new fields of use and the work using shapes and music is just scratching (?) the surface.

So why not use one piece of superb software in a multitude of different ways - far less strain on teachers who don't have to keep on learning new software but working in teams to develop and share new uses for Flash.

The problem may be that I'm far ahead of my time, I say modestly ! ! Which is what Mike Bostok tells me - and he's trying to get me to write a book!

It's the way I teach with Flash that is perhaps special - where students are put in charge of their learning and there are few barriers to what they can do as their curiosity and excitement develop as they enjoy this kind of education.

The crux of this philosophy is not training but exploring our innate wish to ask each other "Why?"

Thank you for stimulating my response. I would be very grateful to hear your comments and awaiting these. Perhaps we'll get some other reactions.

Note I'm available at any time any place to run teacher training with certain reservations - that the teachers are going to be encouraged to teach with Flash themselves in the classroom (not a club) with my support in the background!

Geoff

Hourglass

2008-06-10T10:16:00.002+01:00

Here's a request for an animation that can be solved with masks!

Uploading to Youtube from Flash

2008-05-31T08:53:00.003+01:00

After a hard struggle with help from Chris Dennett, I am thrilled to bits to have managed to upload this short video onto Youtube.

This work was done with Flash MX which is needed if one is to incorporate video. Neither Flash 4 or 5 can handle it!

More to follow I'm sure!

Enjoyed this site !

2008-05-31T05:54:00.000+01:00

These were different - very gentle !

Flash and poetry!

2008-03-20T07:26:00.003Z

Ian Alexander in Colorado Springs, USA and I are exploring The poem Out,out by Robert Frost!

Remains for sound and the spoken word to be added!

Unspoken communication !

2008-03-14T07:08:00.003Z

Thanks Maggie for the thought - see comments below on "Animated shapes to music".

We could try to go back to the ideas that were used in the silent moves only without the captions. - Flash ballet! - I can see some animated faces now!

Trouble is can PCs come with the Flash work - long live Macs that are fine!

I feel a Youtube video on the way - who will be the first!

There are some very disappointing computer generated animations to music there - our kids can do much better!

How about ?

2008-03-14T07:00:00.001Z

using lines as well as the solid coloured shapes

Creativity Discussion

2008-03-11T15:01:00.002Z

Thanks for all the fascinating insights into what you are all doing.

You may like to take up some of the issues here!

Also, I'll gladly forward any emails for you - gd at tygh.co.uk

Creativity in the Classroom - your replies

2008-03-11T12:52:00.003Z

I emailled a group of teachers that are interested in the use of Flash with the following:-

Hi,

It would really help me understand where to put my energies if you could give me a quick reply to the following:

Are there problems bringing in programs that encourage creativity and problem solving into the classroom?

Do you see Flash as part of these programs?

What alternatives do you favour? and Why? ! ! !

I've suspected that the people introducing new approaches are those with some time to explore new initiatives.

In the private sector there are people with time and expertise who go into and support teachers in their classrooms.

Would you love to do Flash but can't get round to it or is it out of date compared with the alternatives?

What are these and why do these appeal?

Would welcome your response - even the briefest - "no time to reply" would tell me a lot!

Geoff

See comments for their replies:

Animated Shapes move to Music

2008-03-11T12:39:00.002Z

Maggie (IT), Mark (music) in Thailand and I are working together to develop the putting together of art and music.

The first project was done with a year 4 class in one hour ready for a whole school presentation.Seven groups took a short piece of music and created their interpretation in colours and shapes.
Have a look and listen!

There is plenty of room to refine and extend this idea!

Robert Hart, Intuitive Media, SuperClubsPLUSs and ICTOPUS

2008-02-04T20:38:00.001Z

Bob's work greatly interests me as he is encouraging young children to design their own web sites, some day they may begin to use Flash! - I've offered to be an expert for them.

I've expressed my doubts about children spending too much time at the computers when they could be going on real adventures in the real world. Furthermore the way that ICTOPUS are handling there blog is in my view a disgrace and quite dishonest. So I have tried to replicate the discussion before it was deleted by Heather Govier and the ICTOPUS team. At the moment I've lost complete faith in their objectivity.

This of course applies to those captivated by Flash - we need to 'get a life' and keep things in perspective. For me renovationg a house, a weekly pottery group, regularly walking the neighbour's dog, and a fortnightly philosophy group give me variety.

Must say the Flash I'm developing with Maggie in Thailand is proving very exciting - a great collaboration with their music department. This for me is what Flash is all about!

More to come.

Art and Music

2008-02-02T06:02:00.000Z

Maggie McGrane and I are working on a project that will extend the Christmas project into the area of animated shapes and music.

This is something that flash is ideally suited for.

The project came about because Mark the music teacher saw the Christmas Greeting work done by Year 3 (see below) and was excited with the possibility of doing something with Year 4 where animated shapes portrayed the emotions of the music. A brilliant concept that I've done some work with but this is a new approach that provides much greater scope for children's creativity.

Geoff has just prepared a tutorial on how to animate shapes in the way shown in the entry here much lower on Art and Music.

A second one shows how to add music.

We'll keep you posted (Contact me on gd at tygh.co.uk if interested!

Waking The Witch

2008-01-20T13:08:00.001Z

I stumbled on the excellent all female group 'Waking the Witch ' at my local club that has live music every month - they are on tour at the moment and could be coming to a pub near you!

You will hear two very different songs on their web site one cheerful, one dreamy.

I thought that with a title like that their music might lend itself to wonderful animations of flying witches, maybe riding or/and playing their guitars.

For an excellent Youtube video click here!

What do you think, or am I out of touch with youngsters' tastes?

I understand Kate Bush had something to do with the name of the group . . ?

It's assessment time

2007-12-31T15:27:00.000Z

Looking back and forward!

How are we doing?

How have we done?

Your comments will encourage more from me!

Geoff

What I love about Flash!

2007-12-27T21:47:00.000Z

Group learning taking place.

Who needs a teacher?

You can see there's some hard thinking going on!

Look around the classroom when they've got a challenging project to do and theirs a lot of consultation and thinking going on
.

Are they enjoying themselves?

Are they fully engaged?

Are they thinking?

Are they learning?

It gets kids co-operating!

This is what I call education!

Worldwide Christmas Greetings

2007-12-24T22:33:00.000Z

This group project went very well.

It was great to have so many teachers and children involved and they all seemed to enjoy it tremendously.

It was great for me to feel again the buzz of excitement in the classroom with actual children and teachers doing a Flash project.

Twiss Green with Chris Beedham was very special. To hear the children explaining to me how the animation worked made me realise that they were just one step away from changing the way it animated.

Geoff Davies in Swansea, Wales, is doing what I had hoped would happen and that is for my templates to be used in different ways. This will happen more and more I'm sure and I'm looking forward to working with Maggie in Thailand to adapt this template to respond and accompany Music of different kinds at the suggestion of Mark,'the music teacher'.

Then again to see the results of Angela Lee's class with those spontaneous drawings in Martindale Primary School, Hertfordshire, North of London was exciting.

What will really make my day is when teachers from one school start to suggest and implement ideas from another school - ideas sparking off each other.

When this starts to happen then we will know this blog has really taken off.

Christmas At Sandaig

2007-12-04T21:24:00.000Z

Today at the Computer club the children made some Christmas Greetings:

The Children used Geoff Dellow's Christmas template from Video Tutorials for Macromedia Adobe Flash.

Or see the animations in their own window

I posted this on the school blog too: Sandaig Otters » Christmas animations I am sure the children would appreciate any comments.

Photos to relax with - Flash slow motion

2007-11-27T18:49:00.000Z

Here are Linda Water's photos which I persuaded her to part with accompanied by music I chose!
Leave her a comment if you enjoyed them and we might get together and do some more !

A personal message concerning teaching with Flash

2007-11-27T18:33:00.000Z

I asked permission to include this as Joan expresses the frustration many are feeling at this time.

"Thanks for the update and for all the work you are doing with the tutorials. It is much appreciated. I think Flash is one of the best programs around and I can't wait to get back to experimenting again. I have been really busy at school, so it has had to be put on the back burner for the time being. We have just had 'Anti Bullying Week' in school and it would have been great if the pupils could have used something like the 'Talking Heads' template to create an effective presentation. I have a lot of good ideas on how Flash could be used in the classroom, it is just finding the time to implement them. Our next whole school initiative is 'Healthy Eating Week' and it would be great if we could create a movie with moving and talking fruit and vegetables. Am I getting too carried away?

Kind regards
Joan"

Art with Flash

2007-11-27T18:05:00.000Z

As you see, I've been experimenting with what I call animated art!

It's great fun and very relaxing - next thing is to add suitable music.

Click the title for the flash file and go to my web site for guidance on how to do this yourself.

Something to brighten up a winter's evening

2007-11-25T07:03:00.000Z

Click the title to hear Mark Robinson's Jam Machine created many years ago when he was at Ambleside Primary School.

Geoff added the animation as a separate file.

Something for a Computer Club!

Some new tutorials - walking figure

2007-11-22T17:42:00.000Z

The walking figure in the link from the title was made by extending one that Chris Beedham did originally using the figure.fla file.

Those that know Flash will enjoy learning how to make a figure hurdle with a stick in one hand, even with his head bobbing up and down ! - here

Then after this amazing feat he walks up and follows a bendy path into the distance.

What may impress, is that as the sun goes behind the hill the landscape gets darker and so does he - here, this time .

Stuff to amuse you on a rainy day or entertain and challenge your brightest students.

I will sit back and be enthralled by what you will now show me that you can do.

Contact Geoff at: gd at tygh.co.uk if you're interested in using Flash with your students or would like to discuss possible projects.

Breakthrough in video creation

2007-11-21T15:32:00.000Z

Have found out with prompting from John that I can add a scrollbar at the base of the videos which then provides a lot more control. See the Christmas project!

This scroll bar is also in place on the videos that have been done see Talking heads and the walking figure

Visit to Warrington

2007-11-18T19:18:00.000Z

Had a great time sitting in on Chris Beedham's lesson.

It was great to watch someone else handling the project and being back in the classroom with enthusiastic children and teachers.

I loved the way she got the children to think about what they were seeing from the word go.

In 50 minutes we had a romp through the Christmas project which is covered on the tygh site together with tutorials and supplementary templates.

I'm getting very helpful feedback on whether these tutorials work and have already modified the first with the ability to skip forward. Please keep the comments coming.

The next thing I can do is improve the clarity by better quality jpeg settings which although increasing file size can be counteracted by zipping the files for download.
John has also offered me advice on how to better access the video with a controlling menu - great.Hope to add more sophisticating control buttons as well - using scripting that is out of my depth!

I've also done a tutorial for Talking Heads projects which I'm beating into shape and will tell you about when ready.

Flash Ideas for Christmas

2007-11-18T15:58:00.000Z

I'm exploring the idea of making a Christmas cracker or present which will open with all the razzmatazz of the fireworks poem and from the inside will appear a Christmas message or poem. Any ideas for starting off?
Geoff Davies

Wish me luck!

2007-11-11T13:13:00.000Z

Hello Fellow Flashers!
I have my first lesson this Friday (16th Nov) and am intending to use Geoff's Circle_square template with 2 year 5 classes. I will let you know how I get on. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Some people won't blow their own trumpet

2007-11-10T21:02:00.000Z

Some I'll do it for them!

Look what Emma did a while back - fed up waiting for her to brag about it!

So here goes!

Two songs for the severely disabled - the monkey and the frog!

What a voice! Fantastic drawings. What happened to Miss Mousey? Next verse please.

- Dying to see what she's up to now!

Cracking eggs has something to do with it!

Brilliant new project from Swansea

2007-11-10T17:22:00.000Z

Geoff Davies has only access to two computers with Flash 4 running - very close to his classroom.

This is his second project working I think with year 3 and 4 - the idea:

Fireworks in Flash for Bonfire Night - with a poem - see the children's work in the title and here

This is the beauty of using Flash - the teachers can create their own projects to suit their class - starting from the square circle file and adding a space for a poem.

Previously Geoff 'Taffy' D prepared his first very own template for:
Exploration of Space - Mission Earth and Mission Mars

"Thought you'd like to see two examples of work from my class" he writes -

"Conversation between myself and Dylan, a Year 4 boy.

Dylan: My movie's running a bit too fast

Me: What can you do about that?

Dylan: I could always add some more frames

Eureka!!"

Idea for Blog - children's quotes/observations

Lastly - as I understand it - a talented year 4 student produced the phases of the moon himself - with a little help from teacher!

Brilliant - or have I said that before!

Star wars

2007-11-03T07:54:00.000Z

This is what big kids get up to when they're older - done with Flash 4.
Full of ideas of what can be done!

Good to show as a treat in the classroom - the whole series is there if you look.

Make a great sixth-form collaborative project!

John Davitt

2007-10-29T15:29:00.001Z

Many of you will know John as a keynote speaker on Creativity, Regular Journalist for The Guardian, Author of New Tools for Learning . . .

He was one of the first people I taught Flash 4 to, over the phone!

He said recently

"I applaud the use of Flash 4 because of the challenge it offers and the creative problem solving that it provides - something that has been sadly missing in many curriculum uses of ICT.

In Geoff Dellow's class one day an eight year old turned to me and said "This is a struggle - but it's worth it" and I thought
Hallelujah - low threat and high challenge in action!

The structured use of templates also helps to free up the teacher from having to start from scratch and allows children of all abilities to achieve.

I am Emma!

2007-10-22T20:09:00.000+01:00

As I have disgraced myself by forgetting my Flash lesson this afternoon, I thought I'd better post on here to make up for it! I am completely new to blogs so you will have to forgive me for not knowing anything at all about blog etiquette.

I am a teacher of a class of 7 children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. I love using ICT in the classroom as I believe that it enables pupils to create products that they can really be proud of, and provides a way of showing off pupil's achievements in the best possible light.

My aim is to use Flash to make single switch activated games for children to play, and to build opportunities for choice making into these. I am better at starting things than finishing them though - but am determined to finish off a weather activity for my morning circle very soon!

Needed - Creative solutions - exercise and ICT

2007-10-22T06:54:00.000+01:00

How can we promote exercise while doing ICT?

Kine - ICT - a difficulat nut to crack

Come on you guys - Don't we have the cream of the problem solving ICT world visiting this site?

Here I approach a problem like this using the 'brainstorming' approach:

You list as many crazy ideas as you can - one of which will lead to a possible globe shattering concept!

Idea 1 - Click title - needed Flash4 in pencil mode , Ghetto blaster, interactive white board finger on F6 or better? F7 result a time line that looks like this.

Idea 2 Cameras given out to orienteering runners to take photos of themselves (in date/time recording mode) at the check points. They then write a report - in Flash of course, about their fun run - This should appeal to Doug Dickinson Who's he and why? - Kate knows the answer!

Who's Kate? - She will come out of the shadows shortly I'm sure!

Fiona's performing dog problem

2007-10-19T15:38:00.001+01:00

No it's not weeing on the carpet! To view this click on the title.

TYPE IN a command and see what Happens... Sit, roll over, down, stand,

Sing, dance, shake, fetch, play dead etc.

And...it's also very cute if you type in a

Command that's not recognized...!!

Make sure you type in "Kiss" too, but do it last.

* * * * * *

Fiona writes:

How about this one? Please please teach us how to do this if you know

Geoff!

best Wishes
Fiona

Geoff says that he knows how to do it!

If anything it's easier to do than the egg puzzle though requiring the use of programming ie if what is typed in the box = SIT go to sit scene! similar stuff on my site with the adding file

Flash Challenge

2007-10-19T13:29:00.000+01:00

Emma gave me an idea (without perhaps realizing it) see challenge by clicking the title of this post.

Why not have a monthly challenge to stimulate problem solving with students (age 5 to 16)?

It would need care to handle it in such a way that youngsters where not put off.

Premise - I set (and then you set) a challenge that can be solved with the free download of Flash 4 that can be obtained here.

Tutorials would be available on line with enough information to solve the challenge.

It is open to all students worldwide. A worthwhile prize is given or possibly several prizes are given for solutions (for worthwhile read £50 financed my whoever wants to gt involved ! me to start with).

Each challenge would have room for improvement - which in the case of the egg is my view - there are some 'deliberate mistakes' (- well I spotted them afterwards!) giving rise to a really high value prize £100 awarded occasionally.

The prizes would be judged by me though if the challenge becomes popular a panel of other 'experts' would do this.

Aim - to promote :-

The use of Flash 4

Problem solving in computer clubs and individuals at home whether in or out of the school system and in any country world wide resulting in a lift gained by solving a moderately difficult problem - even if this did not result in winning 'the prize'.

Requirements: All software and tutorials available on-line.

Your comments appreciated - some version of the above will be activated by October 26th with modifications suggested by you taken into account!

Known problems:

The downloadable Flash trial lasts three months only.

PC users must ue Windows XP or earlier - Vista users use in XP mode.

Mac users - Flash 4 cannot be used with 'modern' iMacs with the intel processor which came in about two years ago. They have to use the 'inferior' Flash MX which they would have to get for themselves though deals should be available through there schools - purchasable on ebay.

Some learning platforms/ Local Edication Authorities may prevent/inhibit access to sites like this and the use of attachments especially flash fles that are seen as potential viruses.(true of Kent LEA at the moment I understand)

Geoff may cease to function adequately.

Flash 4 on line Video lessons

2007-10-16T19:46:00.000+01:00

First in the series now available at above link- Takes a while to get started!

Introduction to Flash 4 on a PC (Mac Flash 4 is very slightly different)
The layout of the software with Motion and Shape tweening
Pause button to be added!

Comments please!

Does it work/ flow smoothly /easy to understand/logical /detailed/concise enough/voice/someone else please/possible improvements/ marks out of ten/ eleven not allowed!

Book for Flash 4

2007-10-16T12:58:00.000+01:00

I recommend "Flash 4! Creative web animation" by Franklin and Patton ISBN 0-201-35470-5
You can pick up copies through Abebooks for $1 - 50p but then there's postage . . the supply seems steady!

I've been buying them up in batches and have about ten which I will sell on at £7 inc. postage - to save money buy through abebooks and wait about four weeks!

Introduction - John

2007-10-15T13:06:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Geoff for the invite to post here. I am John Johnston a class teacher at Sandaig Primary in Glasgow, I usually blog at John @ Sandaig Primary, sometimes about flash.
I've used flash with children to create animations some using Geoff's templates (I've made some worksheets on flash for children ).

I've used flash to make wee games for children and to display work and children's video on our website. I occasionally try things that are too ambitious.

I've mostly used flash 5 and MX with children, I've upgraded to flash 8 at home but haven't really figured out the difference between Actionscript 1 & 2 never mind Actionscript 3. As I don't use flash every week (or even month) I often feel I am going back to the beginning when I open it up.

I am interested in children using flash for fun, and teachers using it to create resources for children (and having fun). I look forward to joining in the conversation here.

What Geoff is doing at present

2007-10-14T19:38:00.000+01:00

The Tudors

My present priorities are :-

Teaching three teachers with about six ready to start in the near future

Supporting those that have already started Flash 4 with me.

Preparing more on-line tutorials - At present :editing "Introduction to Flash 4 - motion tweening and shape tweening" done with Camtasia Screen Capture.

Being ready to take on a new group of 'students' that may wish to learn Flash 4 as a result of an article in ICTOPUS "Sharing Good Practice in Early November.

Writng a short follow up article for the following week on a Year 2/3 Christmas project

Preparing a template and the use of Flash 4 with text and pictures as an alternative to Microsoft's Word

Clarifying the licencing of Flash 4 through the legal services of my union ( we need others to use their LEA legal team to do the same) Contact Geoff to clarify the issues.

Promoting the use of Flash 4 wherever possible

Working with organisations that wish to promote new Creative uses of ICT.

Getting some sleep and staying sane whilst enjoying walking other peoples dogs, gardening, making pottery, studying present day Philosophy in the midst of steady relationships !

Planet Talking heads

First Contribution

2007-10-14T09:23:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone, just thought I would introduce myself and show you some of my little projects. Don't worry, I won't give you my life history, I will keep it brief.
I am Chris Beedham, Primary ICT Consultant for Warrington. As I visit my schools they are constantly asking me for new challenges as the children's use of ICT is outstripping the QCA by a mile. When I contacted Geoff for my 'telephone lessons', it was the answer to all my prayers! Having spent many hours dabbling, I have now plucked up the courage to set up some training sessions for teachers. I will let you know how I get on. For now, I can point you in the direction of my personal efforts so far. Please feel free to use them and let me know what you think.

On this page you will find 'Why can't a cat go to school' - a predictive text story for KS1, Warrington at War - based on WW2 landmarks in the town.
'Have you seen Sidney' is less straight forward. It is a video story based on the animals in the Children's Zoo in Walton Gardens. Unfortunately, the VLE won't cope with the video files so it is a matter of downloading all the files into the same folder, then it should work.
Oh, one other thing, these have been made in Flash CS3 but if you want the original files, just let me know.

http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupRenderCustomPage.asp?GroupID=157367&ResourceID=601658

The following link is related to supporting the Self Review Framework.

http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupRenderCustomPage.asp?GroupId=155492&ResourceId=572209

I look forward to sharing/collaborating with you in the future. Happy Flashing!

Welcome

2007-10-13T22:35:00.000+01:00

A snap from an Emma song!

I see that Emma has accepted the invitation to be one of the authors.

Wonderful!

I'll leave her to introduce herself when she is ready!

Should any of you want to describe your interest in Flash and the kind of work you hope to do in the future feel free to to do so.

It would be good to hear from you all of you, no matter how little Flash you have done!

Participants

2007-10-13T22:22:00.000+01:00

In order that people using Flash in education can post their own work, I have invited some of those using this software to become 'authors' which means they can post information with images and links or start a discussion themselves.

I think the procedure for doing this is fairly straightforward and I've had no unrequested contact from those (Google) who provide this service.

Feel free to contact me if you have queries!

What next?

2007-10-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

May I suggest that some of you volunteer to be 'authors' and then you could post your URLs to your work.

Those of you that know how to use blog sites like this could give us ideas of what could be done here - I'm very new to this - started a week ago!

Could this blog be useful?

2007-10-11T19:34:00.000+01:00

Kirti's skater

How would we try to use it?

Would a simple email circular be better?

Could both have their uses?

What if any are the advantages of having a site like this?

Would it help to take the focus away from me if we had several authors making posts and sharing their ideas and examples/work?

Would the archiving facility help teachers who come here in the future?