As a librarian I give many, many presentations, and I also teach a ton of kids how to present information. Since our school is a Google school, I have been using Google Slides as our default presentation tool. I really enjoy teaching Slides, and I think the kids like using it. I like that Slides makes it easy for the kids to focus on content, and even new users can create something without too much trouble. I recently used Slides to create a presentation of my Spring Break trip to Italy and Greece. It was a simple process and I didn't try to be fancy, but for this Thing's project I tried out an Adobe Spark page to compare the two presentation styles. I have used Adobe Spark before for a poster, and I really like the website! Creating a webpage was incredibly simple, especially since I had created a folder with the pictures I wanted to use before I started. I like that you can create a different feeling with every section of the webpage; sometimes the slides in Google Slide start to feel too similar. In Adobe Spark you can play with the dimensions of each photo to change things up as the user scrolls down.
Overall I think that Adobe Spark is a nice alternative to Google Slides, especially if your presentation does not need to be extremely formal. I think it would be nice for my 5th graders to use as an alternative presentation tool later on in the year. I could post the links to their webpages on my library website for students to explore! It would also be a fun way to teach them how to choose pictures before they start a project.
I also explored an article while completing this Thing: "Digital Storytelling and Stories with the iPad" by Tracy Watanabe. I enjoyed how Tracy broke down the different types of digital storytelling and stories; her labels and prompts gave me some good ideas about how I could introduce digital storytelling in my library. My favorite prompt was the one that asks students to be a plant and and convince others not to pollute the environment. I also am very appreciative that she included graphic organizers, rubrics, and other practical tools to help kids plan out their project and stay on topic. An excellent article!
