Blab Blab Blabberize!

Blabberize! Blabberize is an appication! This application allows one to speak through a picture. With Blabberize, a picture can be manipulated to say whatever you want it to say. When you go to their site, they suggest it be used as a resource for students to retell a story, review books or create biographies. I think it can also be used by the teacher to tell a story to students. When I first looked at Blabberize, my thoughts went back to my childhood. I remember coming home after school and watching Garfield Goose and Friends with Frazier Thomas. One of the cartoons that appeared regularly on this show was “Clutch Cargo”. I remember, because even as a child, I was amused that it was only the lips that moved on the characters when they spoke. And here was Blabberize doing the same thing, showing only the lips moving! My first thought was that this would be a good way to introduce artists that we are studying and to show the artist talking about him/herself and their art. I started looking through my iphoto pictures and saw a Mayan Jade mask that I thought would lend itself well to use with Blabberize. Introducing a world culture by using a talking mask might be a fun way to do it! My Mayan Jade mask tells us a little about how important Jade was to the Maya. I wouldn’t say that Blabberize would help with student instruction. I think it might be fun to use a couple of times because students would enjoy and maybe get a chuckle out of seeing it. I see it as more of a gimmick and something that would be a novelty at first, but after a few times, I think the novely would wear off. I might use it in my classroom to see how my students would react. If I had more time with the students, it might be interesting to have students do a report on an artist and present some key information using Blabberize.