Animoto

Animoto (www.animoto.com) is a website that creates video/image/text slideshows set to music. It is SUPER SIMPLE, and can be used by both educators and students for various reasons. Recently, I had an English class create Animoto presentations for books they had read. They chose images from creativecommons.com or found cover shots and photos of the author. Along with the images, they incorporated key quotes from their novels along with their opinions and theme statements. They were also instructed to choose songs that fit the mood, theme, and tone of their novel. This was perhaps one of the parts of the assignment that they enjoyed the most! Once they gathered all images, text, and sound, Animoto created eye-catching slideshows and the students presented them to the rest of the class.

This idea could be used for teachers to create presentations to introduce students to new concepts. Librarians could create Animotos to spotlight various authors and books or as a new innovative way to do a book talk. It's also an excellent way for students share books they have been reading!