I just finished up my website for my final project. I tried a few new things, like creating a video of me to introduce the site and adding it to the home page. I also added the Tech video from YouTube and put it directly on the site. The only major frustration I had was trying to add my mp3 files. I tried various gadgets but I just could not get it to work the way I wanted so I just added links to my blog. Let me know what you think.
I am currently working on the website for the final project but I am not really sure about my explanations and how to bring it all together. I have a separate page set up for each of the 7 projects that we turned in and the home page with the introduction and brief overview of the site. Not sure where to go from here but I am trying. Hopefully I will make it over this stump soon and have the final site ready by Wed. or Thurs.
In the last few days I have watched tons of videos on YouTube and found several that I liked and disliked. The first is an old favorite Schoolhouse Rock video called Dry Bones.
I love all of these videos because 1. they teach a lesson, 2. they are in terms that can be easily understood 3. they cover a wide range of topics across all content area and 4. they are all set to music which kids really seem to enjoy. If you work with kids 12 and under, these videos are a definite must (most of my high school students enjoyed them as well).
This video goes through the changes in the classroom through the last century and it is filled with some startling facts (I checked of course) that should open a few american eyes. It is also set to music that will catch that attention of young people.
The videos that I did not think were useful included the following problems: incorrect content, no music or music that most young people would find boring, small or illegible font, lessons that spoke above the intended audience, or made light of difficult tasks. Instructional videos are meant to be just that…instructional. They should catch the students’ attention, be up to date, and contain content that is used to enhance your lesson. If these guidelines are met, then personally, I choose not to use the video in my class.
I went through my updated iMovie program and redid my video with it. I have conformation that it successfully uploaded to YouTube but it may take a while to get it published due to YouTube server time. Anyway, I hope it it viewable there by this afternoon. The link for the video is below.
I am at my wits end with trying to upload this to Youtube. It is in the correct format and I even converted it to 2 other formats and they upload fine but when they come to the processing stage, it all falls apart. I do want to get this video to you so I am just uploading it here. I have set it to open in Q but if you have any problems, just let me know.
This just a rough draft in PPT form. In the movie credits, I listed all the websites where the information and pictures came from. Just let me know what I should change so I can finish the movie.
As I was preparing for this lesson, I decided to stay within the science field but to have a little fun too. My topic of choice is digestion. It may seem like a boring topic but it is really interesting to see the amazing way our body is made for our survival. All followed up by a School House Rock favorite. Hope you enjoy it (and learn a little something too).
It has definitely been a rough week, with my son in the hospital and my husband & I getting sick, but I finally finished my audio project. I had a difficult time deciding what to do but as I was playing the piano, I decided to start the project with a piano introduction then read part of my favorite book of the Bible, James. Hope you like it.
I subscribed to a couple podiobooks 2 weeks ago and it came in somewhat handy this weekend. My son has been in the hospital (finally released about an hour ago) so this gave me something to listen to while I sat there watching him sleep. The book itself if good (what I have listened to) but I did find one glitch. When I set up the initial subscription, I set it to add a new podcast every other day. Unfortunately, since I did not always turn on iTunes daily, not all of the successive chapters downloaded. I didn’t realize this until I was listening to the book and suddenly I was lost; something was missing. Had I not paying attention? Had I dozed off? When I started examining the downloads, I noticed that some of the chapters were missing. Lesson learned. If you are not online (with iTunes up) on a daily basis then it would be better to download the entire book but you can still listen to it one podcast at a time.
I know it is not supposed to have a title but I couldn’t help myself. Don’t worry, all the kids pictured here are mine and I am officially giving them permission to be in my project.
