Video Thread Project

  This project was another new one for me, but it was very user-friendly and enjoyable.  It is a simple tool that can do so much.  I found it very interesting, and it really would not take too long to upload some photos and record you or someone else describing them.  The narratives add to the photographs, and I think that hearing someone talk about the situation would enhance the setting and the pictures more than simply reading a caption or looking through photos would.  I really liked Skip's idea about using a group photo to get each individual to comment on it.   That could be very interesting to hear the different perspectives, and it could be used for family pictures, class pictures, older pictures, etc.  

         I think that students could have a fun time playing with this and scrolling through pictures.  It would be simple for them to navigate through, and it could be helpful for the teacher to find out a little more about what the students know.  I think it would be slightly difficult to teach an actual lesson plan through this method, and it also costs money to continue using it though I believe it's relatively inexpensive, but it could be incorporated in other ways.  A teacher could use it for fun to get the students interested in the tool by posting random pictures and assigning certain people to view it and comment on what they get out of the photo.  The teacher could also post different significant historical pictures of people and have certain students take on that character and post a small voice comment discussing particular characteristics or happenings that relate.  These were just a couple ideas that came to me, but I am sure I would need to test out one or two before knowing for certain how well it would work in the classroom.  I really enjoyed the ease with which the comments could be recorded and edited.  If I was in the middle of recording and messed up, I could just cancel and start the comment over, which I did a few times. As with every other tool that I have learned and used this semester, it will be something I will keep in mind in case I find the right moment or lesson in which it could be used.  I will also remember most of these for myself or projects that I want to create; that way I will ensure that I will not forget how to use them and I have thought of many personal uses.  I have enjoyed learning everything that we have this semester, and I consider this class very important.  

Online Storybook

I found that this tool could have many applications.  I enjoyed becoming more familiar with it and playing around with different pictures and layouts.  There were only a couple of setbacks that I came across, but nothing was very difficult.  Most of the questions I had were only because I was unfamiliar with creating a storybook online.  I just had to mess with a few of the settings, and I ended up learning more.  I think those storybooks are the type of thing that gets easier the more you create.  I feel as if I would have no problem discussing with my students how to create one themselves. I was not able to collaborate with a partner on my project so I ended up just creating one on my own.  I think these books are wonderful to piece together a nice story about a trip or place that you've visited.  It could make great gifts for family members or friends.  A book could be created about a family or even as a gift to a mother if one was created about the life stages of her child.           The classroom setting opens up many opportunities.  I was thinking about how it would fit into the unit that I am creating for my other class.  If I had longer than two weeks for my unit, the students could partner up and compare the two different cultural settings. They could create a wonderful storybook that compares the Athabascan and Navajo cultures and their environments, and it could incorporate some beautiful pictures.  This could work for many different subjects or people that are being discussed.  Students could also create storybooks about their own backgrounds and share them with the class.  One of my concerns was about the option to purchase the books and whether students would accidentally purchase them or not be able to let the idea go.  If a student thinks that they have created their own masterpiece, they may continually ask about purchasing their book and other students could get caught up in it as well.  That would have to be handled by the teacher in the beginning and explained before the books are even created.  Besides that, I could see this being a helpful and exciting tool for students that they could easily use. 

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Creating a Unit

        Well, I guess it is that time in the semester.  I am at the critical point where I need to really demonstrate what I have learned in my classes through some rather intense assignments.  Recently in my ED 330 Assessment class, we have been discussing our Understanding by Design unit assignment.  I knew this would be an involved task, but I was kind of looking forward to going through all the steps that were necessary to create a two-week unit in a classroom.  There is definitely so much to think about and analyze.  Sometimes I have a tendency to over-think.. but in the end I decided that my topic would compare the environments of Athabascans to that of the Navajo Indians with my understanding goal stating, "Students will understand that the natural environments of the Athabascans and the Navajos impact their ways of life."  One of my essential questions for the topic is "What can we learn from the way the Athabascans live as compared to the Navajo?"  I thought this topic would be interesting to students in Alaska to compare the lifestyles of such different environments because both groups have such strong cultural beliefs.  I know that while teaching this unit I need to ensure that the students feel a relevance to the topic, and I need to be prepared to answer "Why do we need to know this?".  This can be more difficult to specifically address than it sounds.

For my performance task at the end of the semester, I thought it would be interesting for the students to create a journal describing their life using their role in one of the two environments that we discussed.  They will describe their homes, clothing, food, as well as how their food was acquired.  I am still developing this more specifically, but I wanted to be able to give students other options to complete the task that would still connect with my goal.  Because I am taking ED 329 this semester, I was thinking of ways that technology could be incorporated in my unit.  I thought it might be appealing for students to have the option of creating a blog if they were not drawn to the handwritten journal.  

I am excited to see the end of this unit and the final product that I will create. I am learning much more about the people as I am preparing for this assignment. I have some really good ideas for activities that can be done in the classroom during the unit as well.  

Picasa Slide Show

This was another fun application that I wanted to play around with much longer. :)  I was a little surprised at how relatively effortless it was to do everything and create the slideshow.  It sounded a little complicated at first and then Skip made it look so easy to do, but he always does so I was still a bit skeptical.  Once I started playing around with it, I was really enjoying myself and I began to check out the options available.  

I chose to show a very fun night I had this past December, celebrating the holidays with my family.  My mom, little sister, my boyfriend, and myself went to meet up with and spend New Year's Eve with my Grandparents and a couple of my cousins. Along the way we had to stop and get fireworks.  Although I would enjoy taking other wonderful family memories and creating slideshows, I do not think I would have a problem using it in a classroom and explaining it to my students.  I think this would be another good tool to recap events in the classroom and show to the students (or other classes, parents, etc) once in a while.  It would be fun to take candid photos throughout a semester and then piece those together in a fun slideshow with humorous captions.  It would also be nice to focus it on one event or field trip that the class went on as well.  This could be used as a presentation tool for students to use in reports or if a student wanted to create a slideshow as an alternative option for an assignment.  They could piece the bits of information as captions or explanations for the people or places that the pictures display.  Another fun assignment would be for the students to find photos of their favorite place or anywhere in the world that they would want to visit and have them create a slideshow about it.  There are many ways that this could be tied into assignments or research, and it would be great to be able to use it on the computers in the classroom.  

Comic Life Poster

          

 This program was very fun to use, and I had a great time playing around with it while I was deciding what I wanted to do.  I thought of many different applications that I could do in my life for trips, events, and family gatherings.  There were many ideas that were flowing while I was looking through my pictures.  I felt that this program was fairly easy to use, and it would be interesting to see other options that could add to the poster.

    I think that kids would have a great time playing around with this program and creating projects for school.  It would be a great addition to reports if a student could use technology to make a poster to go with it.  I really enjoyed the animal life "life of the polar bear" poster that was created in the movie examples, and it was put together so simply.  Skip gave us some good examples to look at in different subject areas.  I thought the "Who Am I?" poster was another good one that could be used for many different people in history.  I also thought it would be interesting if there were a way to use the pictures taken from the digital microscope to create another informative poster.  This really could be used in various ways as either homework assignments or to place around the classroom.  Fun pictures could be compiled and put up, or classroom rules could be placed on one to hang in the room as well.  I also thought that it could be placed in the room to remind the students of language rules and reminders.  I am just really excited about this program and how simple it seems to work in many ways. 

Digital Video

   This video project was one of the first that I have completed in this application, but I found it very enjoyable and easy to navigate.  I could definitely see the ways in which these projects could be used in the classroom fairly easily.  If the teacher has access to one or more digital cameras, many pictures can be taken of field trips, outings, studies, people in the school, and many other events.  

          I used it for this project to show the places and events that my boyfriend and I have been able to go to together.  We have had some great memories, and I tried to show a few with my video. It has been a nice journey so far, and I was also hoping to capture that. 

          I can tell that I would gain more comfort using imovie the more often I use it and the more projects I complete. I felt as if there was still so much more that could be done with this movie, and I found other options in the imovie program as well.  It would be fun to play around and create other movies just to become more familiar with the tools. 

           I think it would be very interesting to see what students would create with their movies.  They could use it in teams and make projects for certain subject areas, such as history.  I think if they found pictures that they could use about an event they were studying, they could create a pretty good movie discussing it in an interesting way.  They could also use it to show the life of a person they are talking about it class. One student could also be chosen to use the pictures taken during a school outing and put together a movie highlighting what they were able to see and learn.  It would be a great way to recap the event for the class and to see what the student gained from the trip.  The possibilities seem to stretch on and on when I think of using it in the classroom.  There are so many options- for class and for fun. Students could use it as a "show and tell" tool to showcase a recent trip or vacation, and it could also be beneficial for a student to create a movie about their own family culture or history. It would be a great way for the students to get to know each other and learn more about each other, and they would all be learning a little more about technology and its uses.    

Power Point as an Instructional Tool

           This assignment was very enjoyable and beneficial because I can take what I learned in Power Point and about the Corel Painter with me to my classroom.  I have created many power points before, but I have never really had to focus on using it to instruct on its own, so I had to use a slightly different mindset.  It was interesting, and I see how that could really help students get the idea down.  

I had never used Corel Painter before nor had I ever heard of it, but I enjoyed that program very much. I am not artistic really at all, but I always have enjoyed trying and playing with pictures.  This program was so much fun, and I love that you have so many choices with just a click.  The only problem I encountered was an error in the software on my computer I believe because it did not like it when I tried to use the pen to try to draw or paint.  I had to just use the mouse, but it still worked great with selecting and drawing.  I think that Corel can be such a great tool to have in the classroom.  It is a fun way to incorporate art into subject areas as well as incorporating technology also.  I think it could be very useful for the students to create pictures to go along with a story they are reading or even a story they are writing as well. The pattern pen in particular could add different elements to their picture, and it could help the children see the different effects in the Corel Painter while they play with the various colors and designs.  I want to work in the younger elementary grades, and when this is introduced it can be an effective way to get the students to appreciate and use art.  They can use Corel to create a picture to predict an ending of a book, or the teacher can have them tell a part of the story through pictures to assess their understanding.  It would be a great to get the students using technology and interested in technology, and it will get them interested in different elements of art at a young age.  I felt very comfortable using Corel, and it was fun even to explore the areas I was unfamiliar with to see what I could find.