Podcasts and Google Docs

As you can see from the above title, we learned about podcasts and Google Docs this week in class. I could see the benefit of including both in a high school English classroom.

I really liked how our instructor provided us with a list of places we can go to start finding educational podcasts. One podcast I found on Podanza was called "One Minute How-to," and it did exactly what you'd expect from the title. The podcasts had people explaining in only 60 seconds how to accomplish certain tasks. I think this could be a great pattern for an assignment--to have the students record in 60 seconds or less how to do something or what they'd learned about something. For example, they could summarize a short story or a chapter in a book in one minute.

Google Docs was also very interesting. I really like the idea of having only one master copy of a group assignment. It would relieve a lot of stress that often comes at the end of group projects when you have to compile everyone's data into one document. I know I have spent hours at the end of group projects trying to re-format everyone's work to make the assignment look uniform. However, I can see potential problems with using Google Docs, as well. In particular, I don't like how everyone can be working at the same time; it just seems like one person could be undoing what another person is trying to work on at the same time. That is why I think it would help to have a rule such as students only being able to touch their designated portions of an assignment (besides maybe being able to fix others' grammatical mistakes). Another possible rule would be to assign different times of the day when students are "allowed" to work on the document. There are a lot of possibilities!!

myMovie

This post is dedicated to what I should have posted later in the day on October 14th.

As you can see below, last week I posted the final version of my iMovie, but I didn't get a chance to reflect on how the whole process of using the program went. Overall, I really enjoyed this project--more than I thought I would.

One of the things that helped me be enthusiastic about the assignment was that we got to choose what we made our movies about. We weren't forced to do something that had no relevance to our studies or interests, so I automatically found the project more interesting. Another thing that helped was the fact that our instructor told us he didn't expect our movies to be perfect. Since this was my first time using the program, that caveat helped relieve a lot of pressure that I often put upon myself.

The thing I was most worried about with the project was the editing--which was the vast majority of the project! It's a good thing it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. The program was very user-friendly; if I didn't know how to do something, it had enough "help" options that I could usually figure it out. I didn't expect to be proud of the final project, but I actually was (whether I should have been or not)!! :-)

I think movie-making assignments would be a great way to get students to learn subject material. After all, we have all heard that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. I definitely felt that to be true while I was making my iMovie. I had to research my chosen topic, plan out the filming and editing, write a script for my voiceover, etc.

Even before this class, I thought it would be fun to have my future English and/or Library students film short Book Talks to encourage more reading. Now I am definitely planning on having that assignment at some time. The main thing I'm worried about is that my future school may not have the equipment necessary, but I'm sure I'll be able to work something out. I would only really need one camera if I spaced out the due dates for different students/groups. I could even buy my own classroom camera now that you can get something like a Flip Video for less than $100 if you catch the sales right.

In short, I'm glad we had this assignment, and I definitely plan on assigning a similar project to my future students.

Final Feature--Library Research Movie

Here is my final assignment for iMovie. Miriam and I used an assignment we have for another class to illustrate how to go about using research techniques. In the movie, we present the assignment we have in the other class, say what we decide to research, show how to find a book at the library, and check it out. Enjoy!!

Movie-making

This post is dedicated to what I should have posted on October 5th.

We have been working with iMovie since our Photoshop assignment was due. On September 30th, we chose partners to make a movie with. My partner is Miriam Andrus. Since we're both in the Library Media endorsement program, we decided to make a movie on locating resources in the library.

On October 5th, we got to class, got a camera, and headed to the library for filming. I was really worried that we wouldn't have enough time to record everything and download it to our computers, but we succeeded! It was helpful that our instructor had told us in advance how long downloading would take. I am one of those people who likes to know as much as possible about something before I try it, so I appreciated the extra information he gave us before he sent us off to record. I plan on giving as much information on assignments as possible to my future students, and hopefully that will help reduce their stress.

Classroom Drama

Well, I am quite behind in my blog posts, so today you are going to be entertained by my attempts to catch up. It's a good thing I have a good memory about what has occurred since my last post!! This post is dedicated to what I should have posted later in the day on September 28th.

September 28th was the day our Photoshop assignment was due. As my last post indicates, I had already completed the assignment by the time I got to class--or had I? Silly me, I hadn't thought of actually "turning in" the assignment. Since I have the program at home, I had done it at home and just emailed the finished product to myself. When I got to campus, I opened my email in a computer lab to make sure everything was okay, and everything was fine. However, when I went to the computer lab my class is in, I couldn't pull it up!! Immediately I started cursing Macs and panicking (again=).

Fifty minutes and a lot of wasted energy later, I asked my instructor to help me, and I was able to turn the assignment in. The process of getting the assignment pulled up successfully was pathetically easy; I just hadn't known what I'd been doing wrong. More than anything, I just wished the instructor had taken a couple of minutes at the end of the work period to help individuals--that would have eliminated my problem and my panic. I know that teachers are always pressed for time, and that was the case this time, too. However, I'm also sure that I am not the only student who has ever wanted one-on-one help and expended a lot of energy stressing because I didn't receive it. Thus, in my future classroom I will try to recognize those "stress-out" moments in my students and respond accordingly.