Task 064_Larissa’s_Movie

Creating movies seemed to be a very daunting task, however with much persistence, trial and error, and time I was able to create a pretty good first picture video using my new audio editing skills and some nifty programs on my new Mac.  Unfortunately the video was too large to place on my blog, so I had to create a YouTube account.  Please copy and paste the following link in your browser to view the video.  Enjoy!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xnCvmm9JwU

Larissa

Task 052_Larissa’s_JING Tutorial Video

Using JING I created a short video on how to manipulate and order photos from www.costcophotocenter.com.  I like this website because although it is basic, its very user friendly and they will store all of your photos for you, saving space on your hard drive.  Oh yeah, and their prices are amazing!  Enjoy!

http://www.screencast.com/users/kleinla/folders/Jing/media/08be2a1e-49b0-4c35-b282-7b0a11e1e874

Larissa

Task 0210_Larissa’s_Editorial Image

Editorial Image Production

To see the photos above full size, please click on them.

Part A

This image is of a little girl who is standing in grass.  There is a person moving behind her that seems of no importance to this image.  The observer is taller than the subject in this image and is looking down at her.  We are not able to see what the little girl can see, however given that she is holding a bunny basket with a visible egg, one can assume that she is on an Easter egg hunt.  The mood of this image is one of young happiness.  The girl is smiling and seems to be enjoying herself.  I think the author wants us to enjoy the excitement of youthful games.

Part B

The plan for this image is to rotate it so that the main subject is in proper position.  Then I will crop the photo removing the mystery person passing through the image behind the girl.  I feel that due to the poor skin color (pale) of this image I will have to also change the tint of it to soften the appearance.  I plan to remove all color and go with black & white.

Analysis

This image is about the fun of being young…dressing up, playing outside, and enjoying ones childhood.  The point of view the observer takes on is through the eyes of someone who is older and more mature.  We know this because the little girl is looking up at us and we see nothing but what is on the ground around her, aiding us to believe we are looking down at her.  Light is flooding the picture and the girl is frozen in time from her youthful play, evoking our memories of childhood games.  I feel this picture now says to take time to smile and enjoy life as though you were young again.

Task 018 your_Larissa’s_Illustrated Poster

Final Project

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to teaching from our reading curriculum at my school technology is lacking.  For my final project I’ve decided to create PowerPoint presentations on the new vocabulary presented with the story selections.  This will allow me to have pictures, sound bytes, and video-clips (when available) to accompany each new vocab word.

The idea is to teach through the multiple intelligences allowing more students to attain concepts.  This will be especially helpful for my non-English speaking students who really benefit from picture clues.

I will be using an online hosting site (http://slidesix.com) as a sharing platform for other teachers to take advantage of my work.

I’m so excited about this and know it will be a grand success this year when I use it!

PS.  My favorite thing about the Lesley University tech courses is the ability to adapt the assignments to be something you can actually use in your classroom!

Check it out at: http://slidesix.com/user/kleinla

ECOMP 6008 at Lesley University

I absolutely loved this class!  Actually, I have truly enjoyed both of my classes at Lesley University so far.  When people ask me how my masters is going all I have are rave reviews about the positive experiences with assignments and professors.  Granted these are my first two courses with Lesley, but if the rest are anything like these then I will become the next new spokesperson for promoting the university! (Well….as much as I can because I’m actually quite busy at the moment between masters, work, life, and family!)

The World Wide Web as an Educational Resource has opened my eyes to the great resources at our fingertips.  I’ve always considered myself to be fairly computer savvy, but this has been a very humbling experience.  My technology vocabulary has grown, my confidence with computers has grown, and my peer/family demand for help with their technology issues has grown (not that I know what I’m doing when I help them)!

I am so excited about this adventure and am thirsty for more technology knowledge.  Thank you, Mr. Woolums, for such a great class! It has been a pleasure working with all of you.  Best of luck!

HTML & FTP

I find creating web pages very interesting and a fun challenge, however almost useless for my job due to our district prohibiting us from posting anything on the internet about our classrooms.  The only way to justify the use of this knowledge is to say that my students are creating one, but I work with 7 and 8 year old low-income students of which most don’t even know how to use a mouse upon entering my classroom!

To be honest with you, I did this assignment twice!  Once with Mac Text-editor and again with Dreamweaver.  The first time around I wasted hours upon hours and became frustrated (not to mention blowing up our professors email in-box with silly question after silly question).  Most of it had to do with not being able to see a preview before uploading to the server (or maybe I just didn’t know how to see it any other way).  Dreamweaver allows you to see a preview, which is very helpful!

My second roadblock came with uploading through FTP.  The Mac tutorial must have been for an older version of Mac’s operating system because nothing looked like what I was experiencing.  So I fumbled my way through the process and am able to see everything from my computer.  Check out my site (that I made for my husband’s softball team) at http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/mwoolums/students/mw090203/mw090203_pg1.html. (Hint: You may need to copy and paste the link in your browser.)

I wish you all the best and hope you are more HTML and FTP savvy than I as you embark on this assignment.

Ciao!

Larissa

Who knew?

Sorry to all of you who don’t need links to audio books!  If you are not one of those people, then you will enjoy all of the online audio books that were added for K-2 students.  I have not had the resources to purchase a good collection of audio books and was thrilled to run across a free online collection.  Enjoy!

Note: To access them, simply search under tags for:ecomp6008.

Making writing and math fun again through the use of online projects…Part 2

MATH

I don’t know about your math curriculum, but mine does not hit time or money hard enough for my students to actually learn it! Not only that, but learning time and money is a state standard! So what better way to teach these topics than a game?

Through the use of this 3 day interactive online form of logic and problem solving, students play a math and language arts game where each adventure focuses on one math skill.  Students will solve real-world math problems using embedded clues from a poem.  Immediate feedback is provided from the online characters as well as extension activities for those who need additional challenges.  The teacher guide offers everything you need from background and national standards to assessments.

For grades K-2 telling time and adding money is a really tough thing to do.  Making learning fun is a must and using an interactive game is absolutely the way to do it.  Due to this being a Scholastic game, I can add it to my Scholastic Class Homepage for students to easily access (maybe as an extension activity???).  I’m definitely going to do this and take full advantage of all the hard work someone else has put into making online learning fun, easy to access, and free!

The details…

Grade Levels: K-2

Time Frame: 3 class periods

Costs: Free!

Materials: A printer and paper for a student Activity Page

Check it out…

http://teacher.scholastic.com/max/coins/index.htm

Making writing and math fun again through the use of online projects…Part 1

WRITING

Do you need a way to help your K-6 grade students get excited about writing?  So do I!!! This is an amazing helper for students who can never think of a topic to write about (or don’t like the ones you chose for them).

With this activity they get to use a spinner wheel to generate a creative story starter.  Then they choose a format such as notebook, letter, newspaper, or postcard and type their story directly into it!  Students use the drawing tools to computer generate a picture to go along with their story as well as add blank pages if they run out of room to type!  Its super user friendly, fun to use, and includes a “Teacher’s Guide” link including reproducibles to enhance your students writing experience.

Now that I know this highly motivating way of free choice writing exists, I’m going to use it at least once a week in my classroom.  Students need an outlet for silliness and I feel this is the perfect way for them to be creative, use computers, and WRITE!

The details…

Grade Levels: K-6

Time Frame: writing block (20-60 minutes)

Costs: Free!

Materials: Printer and paper (if you want your students to print their story)

Check it out…you won’t be sorry!

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm