Buncee Blog

Imagine you are a student sitting in a classroom on presentation day.  You glance around and notice groups smiling and excited about presenting. The presentations that unfold are interesting, the graphics are clear, and you find yourself engaged in all topics.  

How can we make sure the student mindset of presentation day is one of excitement and interest?  For one group of 9th graders, the shift came when we app smashed Buncee with Keynote. Our school is a 1:1 iPad district and this group has had an iPad in their hands since the 6th grade. Their teacher asked me to come in to help them make their presentations even more creative, and to push them a little further.  Their topic was about healthcare in America and they were really interested in making the presentation engaging.

This dynamic group and I discussed building their slides in Buncee because of the plethora of stickers and animations.  Each student chose a section of the presentation and got to work creating slides that related to their topic. Because Buncee is such a student-centered app, there were plenty of available backgrounds, and images to quickly create slides.  Once they were complete in Buncee, they saved the images to their iPads and uploaded them into their collaborative Keynote. To keep the animations, the student used the record feature on their iPad to create short video clips. These were embedded into Keynote with ease.  

Once all of the Buncee slides and video clips were added, the students got to work adding in slide transitions to emphasize the important information.  For example, students asked the question ‘Who gets the best healthcare?’ with a Buncee slide full of people from diverse backgrounds. Using the ripple effect in Keynote, they could transition from slide to slide making it look like people were disappearing off the screen.

Watch here to see examples of students’ transitions:

When presentation day came, these students were excited to share their work.  Their presentation offered a springboard for discussion and kept their audience engaged.  These ninth graders were prepared to show off their creative presentations. Their teacher was impressed with the content, and their collaboration to complete an exemplary project.

Our fifth graders have just started a new project that will use both Buncee and Keynote.  They are creating road trips as a cross-curricular activity that challenges their math, mapping, research, and writing skills.  Students will create their slides in Buncee, including animations, and convert them to Keynote for the slide transitions. They will also use MyMaps to map their destinations, and incorporate them into slides.

Getting ready for the 5th grade Road Trips!

Buncee and Keynote offer the best of everything.  Buncee allows for student creativity to shine. Keynote offers them a chance to collaborate within the program and add in the slide transitions.  It is the combination of these two apps that allow for incredibly engaging presentations.

So imagine yourself sitting in this class, and seeing all of your peers equally excited to present their work.  The students researched, explored, and collaborated on their chosen topics and are more than ready to present their findings.  Those watching these presentations know that there will be nothing boring about this class period because of the app smash power duo of Keynote and Buncee.

 

 

Laurie Guyon is an Integration Specialist for Schuylerville Central Schools in New York.  She is a Google Educator, Apple Teacher, Buncee Ambassador, Seesaw Ambassador, Nearpod Educator and PioNear, Flipgrid Ambassador, Sphero Hero, EdTechTeam Teacher Leader and Blogger, Tynker Blue Ribbon Educator, Amazon Inspire Innovator, BreakoutEDU Authorized Trainer, Recap Pioneer, Osmo Ambassador, and a member of the NYSCATE Social Media Team.  Laurie was inducted into the Volunteer Hall of Fame for NYSCATE in 2017. She has presented at NERIC TechADay, NYSCATE, LIT, Apple Conference, and NYSMSA. She has taught workshops at Skidmore College on integrating technology in literacy, and teaches classes with the Greater Capital District Teacher Center. Laurie is also currently enrolled in the SUNY Plattsburgh’s School Building Leader CAS program.  You can learn more at her website, Integration Specialist.