I think I must have stopped and started writing this blog over at least a dozen times in the past few months. Why, you ask? It could have something to do with me being a little on the ADD side, but I truly struggled with the path I wanted to lead you down. Realizing that not everyone looks at technology the same I had to remind myself that the purpose of this series is not to cause more anxiety, but to actually relieve it and push through it.
Part of my responsibility here on Planet is to place teacher submitted resources on the site. There are times when I see flipcharts come through and I am completely astounded by the quality that I think to myself…. “how hard do you think that was?” or “how long did that take to create?” or “why didn’t I make things like this when I was in the classroom?” I think a lot of why I never really attempted to make elaborate flipcharts is for the reasons I mentioned in Part 1. What do you do when you don’t know what to do or where to start? You fudge it. Now, there’s a concept. I am sure most of us have heard the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it”, well that’s just it! Pretend like you know what you are doing, and you will eventually get there, and then all of a sudden you are creating and submitting the very same resources I am in awe of when I go through and place them on the site.
By this point, you should know I like rules. I like things broken down into steps, it makes my life easier. So in celebration of making your lives easier as ActivEducators, I figured supplying you with a few tips for creating quick, simple to make lessons would be a good start.
Slow down on the information – Remember students digest information best when it is presented in small snippets. Too many words and long paragraphs will only make your students’ eyes glaze over with boredom. You will have lost ‘em before you had a chance to reel ‘em in.
Choose your colors wisely – Beware of high contrasting colors, they can be harder on the eyes. In other words, avoid white font on black backgrounds or vice versa. If you like a darker black background, then choose a lighter shade of grey for the font.
Pick a font that is easy to read – Stay away from script type fonts, although pretty to look at, they are hard to read. Instead choose fonts like Arial, Tahoma, Verdana..etc. These are easier to read and can be found on MACs and PCs, so when you share your flipchart with Planet your flipchart actually downloads the way it should.
I know, I know, I know. I just got finished telling you to make it all less cluttered and more streamlined. I am not referring to adding more content to the pages, but more visuals, sounds...something to break up the monotony of the lesson.
Add pictures or diagrams – Kids love pictures! Heck, adults love pictures. Pictures make things not only nicer to look at and help keep interest, but they can be a valuable part of a lesson. Pictures and diagrams make things make sense.
Add ActivInspire actions – Adding actions to items inside a flipchart is the difference between running a simple PowerPoint slideshow presentation and creating an interactive lesson. Adding actions forces you to take the pen out of your hand and place it in the hand of one of your students. All of a sudden the fog clears and your students are raising their hands, begging to be called on.
To help illustrate my points I stole (with permission) my former co-worker and fellow Planet member Betty Alspaugh’s PowerPoint presentation and tweaked it. Just so you know, Betty has had a board for quite some time, but still feels more comfortable in PowerPoint, than Inspire (I will wear her down eventually). The first thing I had to do was import the PowerPoint presentation into ActivInspire and save it as a flipchart. With the help of ActivTip videos, I just copied and pasted the text into their own little text boxes, inserted some star/sun shapes, added a restrictor, applied the "hidden" action to the objects, moved some of her images around and added page turn effects to create a more interactive lesson. Certainly not perfect, but not too shabby for wanting to keep it simple. You can see the difference by viewing the link to Betty's original PowerPoint and the attached flipchart below.
Original The Earth, Moon and Sun PowerPoint
Earth, Moon and Sun flipchart
*Please note I did not use all of Betty's slides
Now it is your turn to share. Let me know your thoughts about the tips. Are they too hard to follow, not hard enough? Do you have suggestions for making the flipchart better?
Meet you back in a few weeks (really, I mean it this time) for Part 3 of the ActivEducator Survival Guide: Turning “Wow” into “SHAZAAM!”
Peace Out!
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Great blog! I think many of us have started developing our first flipcharts with a PowerPoint mindset and have grown from there. This is very helpful! More, more!
I overheard one of my students say, "I wonder what she will do next." I keep that in mind when I create. I wonder what I don't know how to do yet! I was a big-time scrapbooker, so page layout is key to me. The great thing about flipcharts are that I don't have to fit as much as possible on a page. I stick to size 36 or larger font so it is visible from the back of the room. Whenever I start to feel like my pages are looking to "blah" I download a few from the planet to see what others have done to hook the learners. ActivTip videos are a wonderful resource as well. ActivInspire has allowed me to be the teacher I always wanted to be!
Adrienne, I love this blog, and really appreciate the common-sense tips you've shared. Every time I do a training for my faculty or teachers in my district, I get the same questions; "Yeah, but how do you START? What do you do FIRST?" Like you suggest, I've told them keep it simple, and start with the PowerPoints they already have and Planet resources. I love your tips and can't wait to share them.
I agree with Lisa, great blog! I've downloaded flipcharts from Planet and imported power points; but haven't mustered up the courage or time to create on of my own. That's my next time and plan to do one this weekend...I just have to learn how to add the cool stuff like the game you added to yours. ;)
@ Lisa - -Thank you so much for all the support! And I am working on the next one. :-)
@ Kimberly - what a great tip about the font size! I knew I left something out. I can definitely see how scrapbooking would help you build interesting flipcharts. I have never thought about it that way, but you are exactly right! If you look at it that way, you are not over crowding the pages and you are hitting the high notes. Love it! And will use your thinking for the next one.
@ Farrah - WONDERFUL! So glad I have this opportunity to share something useful. And please if you have other tips - bring 'em on!
@Crystal - SWEET! You can do it! And just know that if you need help, SHOUT! We are all here to help one another.
Great advise, I forwarded this to all the ActivBoard users at my school.
Great ideas!!!! I have used PowerPoints as my flipchart but never thought about giving them a 'make over' to make them interactive......I'm looking forward to trying this one out! Thanks for the tips!!!
This is crazy, I couldn't agree with you more.... I had just done a series of presentations at our Promethean One to Many events called "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" reviewing the exact same tips....except I did this presentation in early December...wish I would have read your blog before my presents as I love your section on dressing it up!
Great article....i will be sharing this with the teachers i meet on my travels. Very simple and practical advise for teachers. I also remind teachers that a good flipchart does not mean lots and lots of pages but rather pages that 'pull there weight' and have multiple functions.
@ Greg, Kimberly, Sheila and Samantha --Thank you for the support. I look forward to hearing more suggestions on how you are helping others at your schools and districts. And @Kimberly, you can do it!
@Samantha - you are exactly correct. Quality is what counts, not necessarily quantity.
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help -- just shout.
WOW x 2! This is such wonderful advise! I love the scrapbook comments as well. I used to love to scrapbook, but do not have the time. I am so excited about having my board and I love the tips and tricks that I'm learning! I can't wait to read from Wow to Shazaam!I have ton's of flipcharts--now I know where to start!