How to Make a Classroom Avatar with Tellagami

An Easy to Use App- Tellagami

Hey guys! Here's my introduction for you to a fun app that I found while taking the iPad in the Art Room  on-line class this summer with AOE.  You might like it. In fact, you probably will like it! The app is called Tellagami. What it does is- create an avatar!

The avatar can be male or female. You get to chose the avatar's eye color, hair color and clothes. Your background can come from your camera roll or a pre-programmed one provided by Telligami.

Below, you see my avatar in front of the Egyptian pyramids. It's my way to introduce the kids to ancient Egyptian art in my 6th grade art class.

Once you've created the look of your avatar, create your script and  type in your text. You can chose to record your voice or use a pre-programmed male or female voice. 

You can also choose the emotion that you want your avatar to reflect- happy, sad, surprised, angry etc.

So Many Uses!

It's that simple! Now all you have to do is figure out how you'll use it in your classroom.

You'll probably think of many uses for Tellagami in the art room. You can introduce a lesson. Explain a concept in a painting. Use it at Meet the Teachers Night. Or have your students create an avatar to critique an art project.

Take a look at what I've done with Tellagami. It's my introduction on the first day of art class.

Can you think of a use for Tellagami? Do you know any other great apps to use in the classroom?

Also, if you travel as an art teacher, here are a few other apps I've found that may be helpful to you.

The Secret to Collaborating on a Mural

Are you looking for a project where you can collaborate with another class? I was. And I found a way to do a project with the Life Skills class at my school.

The Idea

The Life Skills class has a program where they runs a cafe in my school.  Teachers and staff can buy a snack and have a cup of coffee there. The Life Skills teacher and I came up with a plan to how we were going to re- design the cafe.

The Support

 I had a 'Foster Grandmother'  volunteer and a teacher assistant (who wan't afraid to climb ladders) in my 7th grade art class. So I decided with those extra hands in class, that would be the group to work with the Life Skills class on this project.  My principal fully supported the collaboration  and bought all the paint/supplies for the project!

Our Cafe

The Steps

 After we cleaned and primed the walls, I sketched in the basics- where the chair rail would be, the curtains/tassels and the medallions. Then I just let the kids paint, starting with the stripes. The stripes were the easiest to paint. The kids who were not as confident about helping out with the more creative/detailed aspects were chosen to help paint  the stripes. After the stripes went in, the enthusiasm just continued to grow.

The Chair Rail

 After the stripes, we moved onto the chair rail. I showed the kids samples of easy flowers, leaves and vines to paint. But I was open to any flower design the kids could come up with. The chair rail was a good place to start for those kids who felt confident in their creativity. I just let them go after my demonstration. They were free to paint their flowers.

 Next, we painted the curtains. That was one of the more challenging parts of the project.   Luckily, my Teacher Assistant was happy to go up on the ladder to work on those. A few kids did go up, but I was very selective as to who helped out with the curtains. There was a lot of us standing around (even the janitor) ready to help out if some one was losing their footing or getting dizzy up on the ladder.

Have a cup of coffee while you grade papers!

 Lastly, we painted the medallions on the wall on each side of the doors. The kids who were very confident in their painting ability were chosen to help out with the medallions.  Again, my Teacher Assistant came in handy here. She would go up on the ladder with the kids who helped out in the painting of the medallions.

 One of the medallians

RMS Cafe Medallion

The Secret to a Successful Mural

All the kids in the two classes got to take part in the painting in the area they felt most confident. 
That is one of the secrets in painting any kind of mural.  Find out who feels confident in doing what. Some kids just want to do the basics. Other kids want to take on the challenge of the heavy lifting and show their creativity. Use that knowledge in choosing who does what on the mural.

At the end, our last step was signing our initials.   Those who wanted to, added their initials in an inconspicuous place near the door as you walk into the room did.

Our Initials

Have you ever done a collaborative painting project. I'd love to hear about it!

Drawing Hands

Do you need an idea to challenge kids to draw their hands? Here it is!

Drawing hands can be very challenging. (Whoa! Even for some of us adults!) There's a lot there- wrinkles, knuckles, nails, maybe even a hangnail. But what if your students are up to the challenge? Here's a good project to try. You won't be sorry!

When we start this project, the kids practice drawing their hand in many different positions on rough draft paper- pointing, fists, peace signs and open hand. Taking the time to look carefully. Your hands have a lot of detail.

My one secret I tell them- is to draw what ever is largest first. So the kids know, when it comes to hands, draw the palms/wrist first, then the fingers.

They then practice blending skin tones with colored pencils using the cross cross hatch method. On the finished project they will have to do a lot of shading along each finger, the palm and the wrist on the side they want the shadow on. (One problem- Just make sure they are consistent on the side they are drawing the shadows on. Finger, palm and wrist shadows should all be on the same side. It can get confusing for them.) The colors we use range from light peach to darker browns depending on their skin tone. 

American Sign Language

Next,  the kids get a  work sheet that has a copy of American Sign Language alphabet symbols. The kids then have to pick a word that's important to them and draw it using the hand symbols,  spelling it out with ASL.

The sample that is shown at the top of the post is a drawing of the student's name, but they don't have to draw their name. The kids have drawn many other words such as peace, love, laugh, football, soccer, Red Sox, Patriots, etc. Any thing that means something special to them.

Along with the hands, the kids have to draw symbols that go along with the word they have chosen. You can see a 'peace symbol' in the picture above; along with the word peace spelled out in sign language.

 Do you have your students draw their hands? I'd love to hear about it! You can comment below.

Ps. Here's another art project that involves hands.