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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Professional Development – Animoto, Flickr, & Jing

This week for my professional development piece I chose to make a Jing titled “The Making of an Animoto.”  Having the bright yellow sun at the top of my screen made this super easy.  That is, once I realized that I only had 5 minutes to talk and I was a bit too wordy.  After clicking the arm on the far left, I was able to capture the size of the screen I wanted to film.  From trial and error I learned not to capture the right side scroll bar so I could maneuver easier on each page once I began filming.

I photographed the students’ actual insect creations that they made in art class as they were displayed on the walls around the room.  I uploaded these photos to my Flickr account.  Theorganize and create” tab allowed me to drag the photos that I wanted to include in a new set onto the layout board.  Once I dragged all 18 photos over, I named the set “Insects.” 

From here, I logged into Animoto and chose to create a video.  First you pick a background style.  There are 16 free styles and 8 more available with package upgrades.  From there, you follow 3 simple steps.  The first step is to choose your photos and video images.  You can get these from your computer, Facebook, other websites (like Flickr) or select ones from their collection.  I retrieved my set of images titled “Insects” from Flickr.  The second step was to pick the music you wanted to accompany your visual presentation.  You can either upload it from your computer or use their selections.  The songs are broken down into several categories such as Classical, Oldies, Country, & Top 40 to name a few.  Under Classical music, I chose to select The Marriage of Figaro from their list of songs because I thought it best set the tone of the insects buzzing around the classroom.  The last step was to finalize my selections and confirm them.  There was a short wait while the Animoto was being made.  At this point I chose to pause the Jing so that I wouldn’t use up any more of my limited time.  Once the Animoto was ready, I played it. 

Even though I didn’t script out my audio comments, using Jing helped me to organize my presentation and hopefully address any areas of questions or concerns along the way.  While it was fun to make, I also realized that it is hard to multitask by talking, typing and thinking ahead.  As with anything in life, I got better with practice.  My sixth attempt was much better than my first.  I can see the value in this tutorial at a Professional Development Class because while you are still presenting, some of the initial pressure is off of you while the class is watching the Jing.  The class also has the benefit of seeing step by step how to go about creating something that looks so difficult but it really only takes a few minutes.  Another positive of having a Jing tutorial is that with the link to it, teachers will have access to the tutorial to refer back to it even after the PD class is over.  





Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Nook

Let me count the ways I love my Barnes & Noble Nook….I love the fact that every Friday they offer a free ebook!  This week’s choice was Millie’s Fling by Jill Mansell.  It seems to be a light-hearted romance that I probably wouldn’t buy but I certainly did download it for free.  I feel like I am stocking my book shelves for later reads.  This program is a great idea because it keeps people reading.  Frankly, who doesn’t like something for free!  It also opens you up to a new genre that you wouldn’t normally make the effort to buy or pick out at the library.  While this particular rating was very limited, I have seen other overviews that were 2 pages. 
 
The Nook offers games, shopping, my library, the daily (notifications), reading now, wi-fi selection, audio, web, and settings as your choice options from the main screen.  A nice feature that the Nook offers is highlights where you can choose to highlight a word or words.  It also allows you to add your own notes in the margin on a reading selection.  You have the option of searching by author, title, or name of publication.  The reviews option is also a great way to see how a book has been received by others.  A final favorite of mine is the wish list.  This lets you store books that you have come across but haven’t purchased.  Rather than carrying a few books on vacation or to the beach, you just need your Nook for a lighter option with more features.

My Top 5 FAVORITE Tools

# 5      
Jing – It is a wonderful tool to pull together a tutorial or compile a list of sources for another teacher.

#4       
Google Docs – This tool allows for individual work, student/teacher collaboration, and teacher/teacher collaboration.

#3       
Diigo – This tool lets you bookmark sites as an html and photo document in addition to allowing you to make notes and highlight important parts.

#2       
YouTube – There are just so many great videos archived on the site that can enhance a lesson.  (Especially if the video starts with "School House Rock")

And there is a tie for #1 since they go so nicely together………
Flickr – This is a wonderful tool to store all of the class photos by event or date.

Animoto – This is such a fun way to turn photos into a video presentation along with selected music.  It really sets the tone of the event or photos.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Honey Bee Interview with Joelle

Joelle is a very knowledgeable 2nd grader who sat down with me and shared her report findings on the Honey Bee.  I apologize for the poor sound quality and intermittent static, but she was just so enthusiastic that I needed to include this lovely interview.  Enjoy!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Student Art - Insect Creations


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Student-made creations are "crawling the walls" in 2nd grade because of the insect unit.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

My Interview with a Gamer


A friend of mine's son, who is a senior in HS, was very candid about his online gaming experiences.  Just to get an idea, he is gaming from 5 to 10pm on school days after his sports or when he doesn't have any after school sports, from 3 to 10pm.   Then he gets kicked off to shower and go to bed.

He seems to have gravitated to games that he had a prior off-line interest in, such as those involving characters from Lord of the Rings, Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, and Norse mythology.  Liking Lord of the Rings in middle school, he found an interest in Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, or just Oblivion. He likes the fact that it brings you to a made up world.  To me, this is the same attraction I feel for a book when I can picture the characters and the setting.

For roll playing games he also liked Fall Out.  It is based on a post apocalyptic current time that is 50 years after the "nuke was dropped in the 50's." He likes the fact that he is able to rebuild society. I found this same appeal with other gamers I spoke with.

As for "shooters," he likes Call of Duty and Halo on his XBox.  He said that at the entry to each level there is a video about different battles fought in WWII.  He felt he learned more from these videos about various historical events, than he did in school!  WOW!  That got me thinking that using the videos and getting kids to watch them is an important learning tool on these games. The only way to get some kids to watch them and not skip them would be to have useful information given in these videos to help them later in the course of the game. I can see a great tool for historical perspective that I would not have otherwise thought of.  Imagine a game that recreated the Civil War?

The negatives he found were it is very addictive and there are some mean people.  He said that you can mute anyone who is inappropriate and he is generally not bothered too much by them.  When I asked if he felt that he had as much a social life when he is at home, he said he did. Whether he is hanging with his friends at his house or everyone at their own houses on headsets playing together, it wasn't much different. He did admit that he felt less inhibited to say or try something while role playing than in real life. He felt role playing actually gave him more courage to approach people in real life situations because of the role playing experience.  I am glad that I had that conversation with him. His perspective was very interesting.

Just in case you were wondering, Dragon Age 2 came out the next day and he got it.  He has Dragon Age 1 and recommends it.  After a follow-up conversation with his mother, she reports that he has now taken over the living room large screen TV for better and bigger graphics.  I am sure there will be future conversations in regards to this at their home.

Online Social Gaming & Networking

Facebook
I initially set up my Facebook account because my oldest daughter really wanted one.  Personally I found the most challenging part of Facebook the friend requests.  I don’t feel the need to have everyone I have ever ridden a subway with or walk past on the street part of my friends.  Kids actively seek out higher numbers but it is not about the quantity it is about the quality.  This was one issue that my daughter and I faced.  There are those acquaintances that are not particularly a good friend that are requesting access to your life for sometimes their own reasons.  I told my daughter that if you wouldn’t share something with them at school that you would share with your circle of friends, then don’t accept them.  This becomes its own sticky social issue.  We came to a compromise and she has different levels of friends limiting who sees what.  I very infrequently go on to “see what I have missed.”

MySpace
The MySpace home page was visually over stimulating with all of its content crammed together.  MySpace claims to allow you to customize your own space.  It connects you with games, music, video, TV, celebrities.  I found a friend that had a space and used it to include his blog.  After already having a Facebook account I felt that MySpace was somewhat inferior to Facebook.  One video about the new MySpace logo really focuses on creating a space that is representative of you.

LinkedIn
This is professional networking site that makes it easy to be part of a business community that allows you to find past colleagues, find a new career opportunity, and ask advice of others within your field.  This site really takes the saying, “It’s all about who you know.” to a new level.  The nice thing about LinkedIn is that it sends you daily updates to your designated email if there are any changes, posts or new professional connections with people in your group.

Ning
Ning is a social website that you can use to inform individuals and encourage conversation while allowing for money raising opportunities for an organization or cause.  This site is presently being used by the Republican National Congressional Committee, Ellen Degeneres, the Epilipsy Foundation, and Hershey’s just to name a few.  When I went to sign up for the free 30 day trial, they wanted a price plan commitment.  Since I don’t foresee myself using this tool, I didn’t sign up for an account. 

This tool seems like it really protects its members from non-members searching and viewing member info available.  I didn’t like that I couldn’t really view actual examples of pages to get a better understanding visually of what Ning offered.  I feel like a better visual example even of a mock one would be very helpful. (What little I could see was viewed from the 2 inches of screen homepage above and below the box to sign in.) Anne Rice's site was down for maintenance, and both Barry Manilow and the Christian Authors and Readers had a sign in for members on their pages.  I also didn't want to give credit card info in case I forget to cancel my "free 30 day subscription," so I didn't.  It did seem like a blog to me. My only thought in regards to the social aspect is that you have to be really committed (monetarily as well) to join and will definitely find people with similar interests.

World of Warcraft
The installation took over 2 ½ hours.  After the first ½ hour I decided it would be a better use of my time to multi-task by making dinner.  Every page offered an upgrade to the pay version.  I chose to be a human huntress because my main purpose in this role playing game was to have a bow and arrow.  I had the hardest time trying to talk to people and then getting my reward.  On the 10 day free trial you couldn’t ask others for help, so I just kept clicking buttons until a right mouse click on the person gave me the quest.  I found it unfair that I could only target one person at a time while the ork’s were double-teaming me.  I saw my spirit at least 5 times in the hour I played it.  The first time I died I lost my wolf and I really miss him.  Marshal McBride keeps sending me on these missions that it seems his own troops can’t handle.  I feel like ork fodder!  I recovered some cool weapons, coins, and clothing.  I went to training for my new sure-shoot crossbow and I claimed a quarter-staff.  At the request of one of my bystander daughters, I hit the space bar and learned how to jump.  I used this skill in my fighting.  I’m not sure how effective it was, but I think I freaked the ork out, right before he killed me.  It was a busy day in the realm.

GaiaOnline
The hardest part of this online world is coming up with a name.  Just when I think I have one I like, someone else has it!  Uggh!  Like I couldn’t tell the airplane wasn’t going to blow up.  Not a very safe land if the person parachuting next to me says, “Don’t worry, this happens all the time.”  I felt very controlled when Bob the cat landed on my parachute.    I wish money did grow on trees.  Barrett tried to steal my hermit crab.  Ok, I actually gave it to him by mistake but he didn’t argue when I took it back.  Thankfully, both of my younger daughters are sitting over each shoulder so not a move goes by that isn’t heavily scrutinized.  Oh yeah, I’m having fun!  I think my capacity to make any rational decisions about hitting the save button is limited by their constant advice.  Help!

Ragnarok
From the sound of the name I expected Vikings of yore or something out of Lord of the Rings, but what I saw on the home page looked more like an edgier version of Japanese Animee than on GaiaOnline.  What a nightmare to get into!  The initial download was easy, the installation took a while, and then I was presented with 3 different versions.  It was hard to find any information about how to go about installing and setting up the game.  It was not user-friendly.  The help that they did provide was very simplistic and not very helpful.  I finally figured out that I had to register before I could finish the set-up.  The registration didn’t actually register you for Ragnarok, it instead registered you for Warpportal.  From there you then had to sign up for the game Ragnarok.  Accessing the game from Warpportal allowed you to buy points to “power up” your game to get added stuff.  Through trial and error I came to the realization that Valkyrie was the free version.  Exhausting!
Now for the game…I should have stopped before the installation.  There were 6 traits that you were able to change, however if you wanted a higher intelligence score, your strength score went down.  For every point increase there was a counter decrease.  I couldn’t seem to find how to enlarge the graphics bigger than a 4 by 5 inch window.  Within that window there were other pop up information that you needed.  When a message from someone in the game like my guide Sprakki appeared, it took up just about all the remaining screen space.  While I only made it to Level 3/Novice Level 2/Experience 3.3% I feel that I got a good idea of the game.  I like the idea of quests, but these seemed overly simplistic.  When I finally was done playing, I couldn’t leave the game because my curser was trapped within the limited screen of the game along with me.  I had to call my husband for help.  This wasn’t on the help screen, but then again, not much was.  I can’t image that anyone would buy the cost game after a marketing tool like this.

Chat Roulette
The site was very simple, meet random strangers and talk to them.  The simple green wallpaper screen, similar to something you would see at your grandparents’ house, with your visual and audio choices was the priority of that screen.  I needed to download the newest Adobe player but compared to the role-playing games it didn’t take very long at all.  I was not comfortable having my camera turned on or mic so I just viewed who was on there.  I only saw guys ranging from probably teens to maybe 40ish with one group of mixed 12 year old boys and girls.  Without a picture, most of the 10 people skipped me until I came to one teen.  Once I realized that I was watching something extremely indecent, I quickly ended my session on Chat Roulette.  I think that this is a good tool to be aware of and I am glad my children were not in the room.  On this site, you really are playing roulette with what you will see and hear.  Be warned!

Omegle
Simple premise, start a chat, text or video with a stranger.  On the main page they even mention that you can say as little or as many personal details as you want.  Here we go again!  On my third chat I was told by a stranger to, “Try the fun, adult version of Omegle!” I will pass.  The 4th person I met seemed normal and was not overly friendly.  He said that he liked and dislike Omegle because of the people.  Because there was the option of no video on either side I felt more comfortable when I chatted with a stranger.  I am still not a fan of these chat rooms.


Second Life
Second Life (SL) is a very complex online virtual reality.  After creating my virtual me, I went through a 6 step training program to learn the basics of operation.  While I took to flight right away, there were many other things in SL that were challenging.  The hardest thing for me was trying to wear something or changing clothes.  My virtual me even had her scalp exposed because I didn’t know how to edit my hair.  Thankfully, the two friends that I made on my first day were extremely helpful and were often available to walk me through another catastrophe.  While other interactive experiences this week seemed awkward or scary, I found this experience to be fun.  I used my time to approach random individuals and start up conversations about just about anything.  I found that everyone I met was at the very least polite.  

I told many people that I was using my time to explore SL for an assignment.  Many gave me suggestions to various sites or took me there.  My new SL friend, Sosuke, was very generous.  She helped me immensely and even gave me a Porsche and a Sailboat, among other things.  Sailing was so much fun.  I sometimes explored with a new friend or sometimes went alone.  (I even went zip lining and road a killer whale, as you can see from my pictures below.)  I was extremely lucky to run into a doctor that told me about his SL medical teaching class that uses SL patients and a hospital to simulate a real medical environment and patient symptoms.  His program is only in its second semester, but has received great reviews so far.  My conversation with him sparked my interest in the educational aspects of SL, so the next day I took a tour of the Imperial College in London.  After changing into scrubs, scrubbing in, and checking on the patient I earned a medical facemask.  The educational potential for this type of environment is still evolving.  I was very impressed. 


Friday, March 4, 2011

Online Mulitmedia

IPod & ITouch

Playing with the IPod was very easy.  It is still so hard to believe that something so small and so thin has such an amazing capacity to hold a large number of songs, store them on separate playlists, and provide a visual with text component.  The portability is such a wonderful aspect of this tool.  

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of educational apps that were available on the ITouch that my daughter has.  I was very impressed with the app by Appcylon LLC that could turn your ITouch into a graphing calculator.  I can see why “Time magazine selected it as one of the top 10 back-to-school apps.”  After spending over $90 per calculator for each of my three daughters this definitely has a cost appeal.  The app has a graphing display, calculator, equations, and table as some of the various features.  I think that this is an excellent use of technology in a learning environment.  My only concern is whether or not it would be allowed in a testing environment.  Even if it were not allowed, not having to bring the actual calculator to class each day would mean less to carry.  Now that we have the technology, being able to use it in a school environment only seems like the next logical progression.

Another app that I found creative and helpful was the Fractions App by June Infrastructure Pvt. LTd.  This app was geared towards younger children who struggle with fractions and the concept of comparing different fractions.  This app uses kid friendly, familiar visuals like chocolate bars and pizza to relate to them.  The difficulty level increases as the child masters the skill.  Working with 2nd and 3rd graders, I know that this is a math concept that is particularly challenging.  For those children that do struggle, I would definitely recommend this app.

I noticed the Basic Spanish for Dummies app by Skava.  The video tutorials really appealed to me.  In addition to learning Spanish, it is great for business travel or to refresh your knowledge of Spanish.  It comes with popular phrases that you can bookmark, a dictionary, greetings, flashcards, the basics, and videos to name a few areas of concentration.

I also liked the Flashcards Deluxe app by OrangeOrApple.com.  My oldest daughter uses this feature for her Spanish words and phrases.  When in study mode, the app shuffles the words or phrases and gives you 3 seconds to answer.  If you get the card wrong you can flag it.  Knowing how many index cards that we typically go through in a year, the savings of one tree is definitely worth the $3 app.

 ITunes

While you can’t physically touch the music on your ITunes account (unlike a CD, tape, or for those that have a really good memory…a record), once it is purchased on your ITunes account it will never get scratched, break, or wear out from overuse.  Initially I only thought of ITunes as a way for my oldest daughter to download songs, instead I found this site to have a wonderful educational value with the variety of podcasts available.  I was very impressed with the podcasts available through this site pertaining to the start of the American Revolution.  I found an incredible example of teaching and technology with the Project Revolution ’07 series of podcasts that were researched, written, and reenacted by this talented 5th grade class.  I found this site very easy to maneuver and my only difficulty was finding the URL for the individual podcasts.

YouTube & TeacherTube

YouTube and TeacherTube had some great videos and podcasts.  Granted the content wasn’t always age appropriate and some videos that would have been perfect were unfortunately edited so that adult commentary was posted on the actual screen.  It seemed like the 100 Acre Wood all over again!  I know that TeacherTube is more educationally geared, but I found YouTube actually easier to use and found more sites that were similar to what I was looking for.  On TeacherTube the most challenging thing for me was figuring out how to save my favorites.  This was not nearly as challenging on YouTube.  I also found YouTube a fun way to relive my youth.  I found old School House Rock clips that I used to love watching between cartoons on Saturday mornings…”No More Kings” was my favorite. 

Pandora

I am writing this while listening to Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  I like how you can rate the songs you like so that they will offer other similar songs.  The genre stations are great because while 80’s Pop Radio sounds great now, I could easily find myself hopping between the various stations depending on my mood.  This somewhat delivers on its claim to be “personalized internet radio.”  I was happy to find that I could skip some songs that I didn’t like, after a while I received a message that told me that there was a limit on the number of songs per hour that I could skip.  I was advised to create another station.  I found the ads to be very distracting.  While the Netflix is prominently displayed, it is the Just Fabulous shoes ad that keeps flashing and catching my attention.  I guess that is why you can pay to upgrade to the ad free package.  In an educational setting, you would need to have the upgraded package so the children wouldn’t hear the ads or see them.  While the classical music could be used for some nice background class music or as an example in a music class I think an IPod or ITouch would allow more flexibility.  This could be a tool for a teacher to find the music that they want before buying it.
  
Europa Film Treasures

As a child I discovered an early love of old movies, so I was like a kid in a candy store with so many different films from various parts of the world and time periods.  They are truly treasures.  I am watching a Macedonian film titled Ritam I Zvuk- 1955 that reminds me of my Albanian heritage.   Ritam I Zvuk - 1955  It shows women and men in traditional outfits enjoying life through song, work, and dance while showcasing the amazing scenery of the country.  It portrays a simpler but harder time that I had only seen in home movies of much lesser quality.  I think that this is a great site for teachers to help children experience different cultures.  They can see how the cultures maintained or evolved with their customs and traditions over the years.

Vimeo

I was very interested in learning about this tool after seeing Joyce Valenza’s “Read It” video a short while ago.  The series of tutorials, while simplistic in nature, are very helpful.  I was really excited about the editing potential that this tool offers.  The words like “blending, fading, and overlapping” when it comes to making a Vimeo production, seemed like something I would have thought only accomplished by a professional.  I also found the 4 levels of private settings very comforting.  This is something that you could definitely use with a class or personally with your family without worrying about unwanted exposure.  I think that this is a great classroom tool.

Voice Thread

I like that the home page very clearly has the products by market listed.  Their motto that “children’s work is worthy of public attention” because it is great really is obvious.  Their “safe and accountable environment for publishing” is possible with comment moderation where the creator(s) must view the work before the other users on the network can view it is a nice safeguard.  The hardest thing for me to do was to figure out how to save student work that I particularly liked through the menu on the thread I wanted to save.  

There was a wonderful 1st grade reading analysis from Leanne Windsor where the teacher took a picture of the child with their book (or just the book) and then the children gave the details of the story (setting, characters, problem, solution, & feedback).  The teacher meant for this to be part of their electronic portfolio.  I also found some examples of digital storytelling surrounding a picture or student generated book that allowed children to add a voice to the person or page shown.    This tool really does let students find and use THEIR voice and take away a potential roadblock to the traditional paper and pencil writing projects.

Education Podcast Network

I liked that this site made it very easy to locate the age group, topic, & program that you were looking for.  I did like that you had to apply to have your podcast listed on the K-12 approved site.  I felt that this acceptance by nature has more oversight built into this tool.  I was surprised that there were only about 700 subject specific podcasts listed from 75 schools.  I am guessing that this number will definitely grow with the desire to share information and show student work in a larger forum.