Course Reflection

I'm not so sure that there is enough space available on this site to record all the impressions I have from this course right now. Suffice it to say that I have probably learned more in this course than I have in courses for a long time. That is not to say that the other courses have not been useful or were too easy, but this course has presented new territory for me and that is exciting. I have found the Treasure Hunt sites to be valuable in providing some new and interesting resources and student activities that I will begin using this fall. And learning about blog sites and how they can enhance my teaching was excellent. Utilizing the blog in class and the interactiveness it provided with fellow students gave an excellent trial run for possible uses. Having a class WIKI was also a good learning experience for the same reasons and I will explore this aspect further for classroom and parental communication. Learning how to do a flip book on Powerpoint and how to do the iMovie was the highlight of the course. I am proud of both projects. The Powerpoint ended up being long, but that was necessary to have the action flow in the cartoon I made. The iMovie is my favorite though and I feel as if it is something I can use for students, but I can also use it to prepare with my professional development presentations in my Literacy Coaching with colleagues and at departmental meetings. Thanks so much for your patience and guidance, Liz. And thanks to fellow students for suggestions when things were getting glitchy.

I stayed in the lab after class today, finishing the burning of my DVD because I had lots of delays with downloading today. I thought it would go without a problem...After checking it, some of the narration was off due to the importing of a new slide at the beginning of the show. At that point, I had no other DVD to record after I fixed the problems. I will return to the lab tomorrow morning to burn again because I am determined to learn this so I can do it on my own and to be able to do it well on my next projects. All throughout the course, it has been a learning process, so these glitches are fine tuning me to produce better iMovies in the future. I truly wish this course were longer so I could learn more. It feels that we have only scratched the surface.

A post script: I did return to the computer lab and had problems burning the project in the mode we used in class. The computer was not switching on to burn mode. As an alternative, the lab assistant and I created a CD using the IDVD-One Step Movie. The final storybook project plays like a slide presentation on film and loops back to the beginning to repeat play after it is finished with the story. That would be beneficial to use for a display table or for back to school night/open house for parents. I like the format of it and will be able to present it in class on Friday. For a while, I was doubting that it would get burned, but I also got to learn another aspect of iMovie-making in the process.

Powerpoint Project

Digital Storybook Project

Next iMovie: The Dog Days of August 2007

July 23

My blog is crowded with the audioblogs I placed onto it in preparation for the digital storytelling project! Unfortunately, they seem impossible to remove. I consolidated the individual slide audioblogs I did into groups of 3 or 4 and that is why there are so many. That worked out well for the project. The steps of the process were very challenging, at times, because there were so many new things to do. But, that is how we learn. I always wondered what the commands "import" and "export" were used for. Looking at all of the available commands on the captions on the toolbar makes me realize that I am only at the surface of all that computers can do for my students and me. After placing the music on the digital story, it sounded so professional and I am planning to use this in my portfolio and my topic fits literacy education. There are a few things I want to do to make some fine adjustments on Wednesday and then I will also do some final adjustments on the Powerpoint. Both projects are things I have enjoyed learning and I have wanted to do these types of things for a long time. I find that many of my language arts students are so creative and really are coming into their own during the last two years of middle school and I believe these uses for technology will inspire them to write and put their thoughts together ways that will help them go further. Today began with a lot of glitches with the computer, but by the end of class, I felt accomplished. Looking forward to making the final product on Wednesday.

Rerecorded Audioblogs for the I Movie

I have rerecorded the individual blogcasts I made for the digital storybook. Hope it works out. I am concerned that having the comentary in groups of three will not allow for editing for timing because they seem so connected without time for transition between slides, but I am not sure how to do the editing process and will discover if more flexibility within each audio blog component. I am looking forward to today's class to see how it all works and hope it sounds as good as the examples we have seen.

July 20

This was a big learning experience for me today. Our process is complex, but many things seem a bit complex when you are learning for the first time. One thing I will do more consciously from now on is remind myself how my students are feeling when they are doing new things. I was certainly on the bottom of the learning curve when the procedure for the digital storybook began, but feel as if the concept and procedures are becoming more clear as I do the work. It is exciting to think that I will have a finished film at the end of next week. The prototypes we viewed seemed so professional. I'd like to get to be proficient in this medium so we can use video storybooks in some professional development presentations at department meetings and at staff meetings. And my eighth graders would probably love to produce movies. I'd like to do a project related to one of our novels or maybe poetry and assign it as a group project with a final "academy awards" day. We could even do a little buffet and beverage thing to make it a fancy occasion.

The Treasure Hunt presentations were quite helpful. I liked the Laura Candler website and marvel at people who have enough time to share their good ideas and maintain a website while teaching full-time! The kidsread site will definitely be one resource that I will use for student exploration when I do poetry. My students like to specialize in their favorite poet or a theme and that site makes it easy to dig deeper into those. Even though the poetry site is often under construction, that site continues to update and become better for those who might use it. Hearing actual poets recite their works might really appeal to students. I like that idea because you get the voice and intonation of the author and that might help to promote greater understanding and pleasure when reading a poem. All you have to do is listen and enjoy.

I am especially glad that we can do our audio segments on audioblog because this will simplify the process of getting audio to the computer. Hopefully, the sound quality will be high. I am thinking that individual sound bites might make it easier on the editing process, but since I haven't done that part am unsure about the practicality of 25 separate audioblogs. It seems that I could get the exact time down before editing to save time. So taking the time to record them might avoid audio editing glitches.

More will follow after the weekend! Enjoy.