Blabberize History

I had a great idea about how we can use Blabberize in the classroom. For those of you not familiar with Blabberize, it is a website that allows you to upload a picture and make it talk. I thought it would be cool to use it in history class. This is a good way to get historical figures to "talk" to the students. All you need to do is find a picture of the historical figure, upload it to blabberize.com, and talk as if you are that person. I prerecorded what I wanted him to say with audacity and then tweeked my voice. I chose Ben Franklin to test this idea. Check him out below. You'll have to excuse the sound quality, I didn't have a microphone handy and I was using the one that is built into the laptop. Also, pretend that the few seconds of silence at the beginning aren't there.

Scheduling Activotes

The Activotes are becoming pretty popular. I created an online calendar that I will update as people request them. Let me know as soon as you know you need them so I can post it on the calendar. To check the calendar, go to http://mrruddle.wikispaces.com/Cff+Schedule . There is also a link to it on my website (mrruddle.com under the cff schedule link). I will also put my schedule on the calendar so you can see when I will be out of the building.

History Tours in Google Earth

I recently received an email on the CFF Coach Listserv about a project two of my fellow cff coaches have been working on. Jason Heiser and Ian McCoog have created a wikispace that contains .kmz files that allow you to follow different historical events. The site is still getting started but they have done a fantastic job. Kudos to them for taking a fantastic idea and running with it. Check out their project at http://historytours.wikispaces.com