Post 446: Use of Bitmoji To Brighten up my Power Point Presentations

 Use of Bitmoji to Brighten up my PowerPoint Presentations

 When I present my lessons, if I just use text in my slides, that looks so dull and boring. I look to add my Bitmoji to make it seem like I am there talking to them.

In addition, I will be turning these slides into a video presentation where not only do students see my Bitmoji in my lectures, but they will also hear my voice. 

I can also add other effects like music or call outs from my Camtasia program to make my video presentation even more interesting.

As you can tell my dear readers, I am totally addicted to Bitmojis ! They are a better looking version of me :)

Prof. H

Post 445: The ritual of Spring Break should be canceled at all colleges from now on.

 Post 445: The ritual of Spring Break should be canceled at all colleges from now on

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A majority of U.S. colleges have canceled spring break, in an attempt to curb student travel. But the rise of online classes means students can now attend college from anywhere, including Miami Beach.

Photo by: Elissa Nadworny/NPR

 Article by Yvonne Ho

What? Cancel Spring Break? No way says students who are tired or stressed out from a semester of work! Unfortunately, when students take spring break, they wreak havoc on beach side communities by getting drunk, being loud, throwing parties on the beach and leaving trash behind. One CNN reporter interviewed a student asking him why he is not wearing a mask and the student said, "It's Spring break and where I live we are in strict lock down, it's nice to just take a break from all that because here in Florida, you can go maskless and party with large groups of people and just have fun." This student misses the point of it all--that we are still in a pandemic and students should be staying home and studying. This is one reason why Spring Break as a national ritual should be eliminated especially during a pandemic.

During a pandemic, Spring Break causes a surge in COVID19 cases which promotes the rise of mutations and variants that causes doctors to have to create new vaccines which causes people to have to get another booster shot. When cases surge, lockdowns occur, schools close, businesses close, people lose jobs, families go hungry because they cannot put food on the table or pay rent.  Therefore, schools should not even give 'rest days' or 'wellness days' off. Schools should have school as usual and have teachers make sure students are in class and in their dorms or at home where they belong.

If everyone stays home during the pandemic, we can lessen the spread of COVID19 and give doctors time to vaccinate the entire population of 350 million people in the United States. Kids need to be taught respect for others and others well being and health before one's own need for fun in the sun.

If we get rid of the entire ritual of Spring Break from now on, then students would not be tempted to have wild parties on the beach and infect everyone with variants of COVID19 in the future. Even if we return back to normal with everyone vaccinated, I think Spring Break should be eliminated and students should just focus on studying all year long to keep them focused on their studies and eliminate the spread of COVID19 variants in the future.

Right now, COVID19 is brand new. Doctors do not know the long term effects of COVID19 even with herd immunity. So, as a society, we need to realize COVID19 is here to stay. It will be the new normal, and since it is so virulent, we need to adopt a more sober more group oriented otulook where we care for our elderly, our vulnerable populations by getting rid of superfluous super spreaders like Spring Break.

Post 444: Write From The Heart Bitmoji Cartoon

Post 444: Write From The Heart Bitmoji Cartoon

This week, I was responding to forums like usual. Then, one student wrote, "Thank you Prof. H for giving me the confidence to write from the heart." I responded to that student in the forum, "Javier, it is my job to teach students to write from the heart. Then, just as I was writing that response, this inspired me to create this Bitmoji cartoon as the weekly writing inspirational message. I always love it when my students are inspired to write from the heart because in my book, that is the best reason to write.

 

Post 443: Using Bitmoji Cartoons to Remind Students of Zoom Lectures and Teachable Moments about Credible Sources

 Post 443: Using Bitmoji Cartoons to Remind Students of Zoom Lectures and Teachable Moments about Credible Sources

Here is an example of a Google Slide Bitmoji where I remind students to use the CAPOW method to find credible sources.

C--Currency--How current is the article?

A--Author--Who wrote the article?

P--Purpose--What was the purpose of the article?

O--Objectivity--How objective and logical is the article?

W--Writing--Does the article have any grammar errors?

I placed this Bitmoji cartoon right next to the Zoom class reminder to remind students to attend my Zoom Lecture this coming Friday about using the CAPOW method to find credible sources for their paper and how to avoid fake news and fallacies by learning the CAPOW method.

Post 442: Using my Bitmoji to Give Graphical Comprehension Cues in My PPT to Enhance my Lecture

 Post 442: Using my Bitmoji to Give Graphical Comprehension Cues in My PPT to Enhance my Lecture

When I simply discuss or review previous topics, I use this Bitmoji. In the beginning of my PPT lecture on Different Kinds of Writing for Nurses, I review my Ethos, Pathos and Logos PPT and I review my Different Kinds of Essay PPT from which my current PPT Different Kinds of Essays for Nurses is based on. Thus, this graphical cue signals to students that I am reviewing previous material and that I am scaffolding their previous knowledge to activate their memory of previous material I had covered.

Then, I use this Bitmoji to introduce new material. Each time I introduce a new type of writing used by nurses, I use this Bitmoji so that students can visualize and better remember the lecture and better visualize this material in their head. By giving graphic cues each time of when I am introducing new concepts, this helps students take notes for later use for exam and studying purposes. Each slide which introduces a new concept has this Bitmoji of myself on it.

When I have my Discussion Slide where we discuss each new concept, I use this cute Bitmoji to cue the students to talk and discuss the concept. I like to break up my lecture into chunks where students every 10 minutes speak and interact with the material to break up the monotony of a long lecture, and to help students better retain material.  I put this Bitmoji on each discussion slide.

As you can all see, I am addicted to Bitmojis because it makes my online classes more interactive and more three dimensional. I also feel my Bitmoji increases my teaching presence in my lectures, and in my online classroom furthering the bonding of myself and my students in order to turn my online classroom into a true learning community.

 

Post 441: Why Making a Bitmoji Classroom is like Retail Therapy

 Post 441: Why Making a Bitmoji Classroom is like Retail Therapy

 

I love putting together a Bitmoji classroom because it satisfies my need for retail therapy and shopping. When I find furniture for my Slide rooms, money is no object. I can pick expensive furniture for my rooms. I can pick the most luxurious lamps and carpets for my reading rooms. I can imagine myself in a giant castle ready to invite my students to a night of reading by the fireplace. 

These Bitmoji scenes bring humor to the online classroom, and it makes students 'feel at home' while at the same time I have fun decorating the different rooms of my Bitmoji house (my Bitmoji ppt slides). So far, I have a Yoga room which has minimal decor, reading rooms with expensive sofas, wood paneling, fireplaces, a theatre stage where I am singing up front where I have fun placing and finding rare theatre posters to fit the decor, or for my French classes, I put in pictures of Paris.

I love trolling the Bitmoji groups on Facebook and copying with permission of course other people's Bitmjoi classrooms that are furnished with really cool looking furniture that I can then add to my slides. As I decorate my classroom, I also improve my graphic design skills. Arrange/Bring to Front or Bring to Back has become my favorite go to function to arrange my furniture correctly in my Bitmoji rooms. Who needs movers right?

I do not spend half as much time trolling Amazon to figure out what to buy ever since I got addicted to Bitmoji classrooms because I satisfy my shopping addition by finding cool and fun furniture, decor and resources (ebooks) for my Bitmoji classrooms.  

I create classrooms of all the classes I have taught throughout my teaching career--Postcolonial Literature, American Literature, Asian American Literature, African Literature, African American Literature, French 100, French 101, ESL, Linguistics, English Writing classes just to name a few. I miss teaching literature classes and having intelligent literature discussions with my students, so finding sources for my Bitmoji literature classrooms helps fill the literature void. In the future, I will create Shakespeare room, Canterbury Tales Room, English Senior Capstone Writing Room because these are also classes I have taught and I want to showcase my teaching talents in my Bitmoji rooms.

Here is an ESL classroom I created:

 

 

It is fun finding themes for my rooms and then going shopping to find the right decor, sources, books for each room. All of this is available on the web. Bitmoji shopping is really relaxing for me, but since I am addicted, I have to be careful not to let my Bitmoji addiction take time away from real life duties like job and family. :)

Post 440: Using Bitmoji to Encourage Writing

 Post 440: Using Bitmoji To Encourage Writing

Today, I just posted in my Canvas classroom, three Bitmoji cartoons to lighten the spirits of my students, and to encourage them to write using the Writing Process.

The Bitmoji are light-hearted and reinforce the core concepts of the class, while still entertaining the students.  This is exactly what I wrote to my students today:

Students,

There are three stages to the Writing Process: Pre-Writing where you let your creative juices flow to create your thesis; Writing the Rough Draft where you transform your creative outline into paragraph format and Rewriting the Rough draft where you correct for essay structure (Revision) and grammar mistakes (Proofreading.) Here are three cartoons I made to represent each stage of the Writing Process--(Stage 1--first cartoon),  Stage 2--2nd cartoon and Stage 3 (3rd cartoon) :)

Prof. H

When I posted this on Facebook, somebody on my Teachers Working With Tech loved it so much, she wanted me to make it shareable! I was so flattered!  I told her she could use her own Bitmoji and her students would love seeing their teacher in comic strip format encouraging them on to write!

The Pre-Writing Stage

  The Writing Stage   The Re-Writing Stage