World Youth Day 2005 Germany Voice Thread

I really enjoyed this assignment. There was a lot of freedom to do anything you wanted, you just had to explain your pictures. I really liked explaining the pictures in Voice thread and tell my story of my trip to Germany. It's also very interesting to hear yourself talk and then replaying it. I never knew my voice was so high!

I can see myself using this in my classroom one day. I think the students would really enjoy it also. They could get out of hand with the recording if not kept in order, but I think they would really like it. You could use this tool as a presentation for students after they have done a unit on a country. The student could find pictures of the place on the Internet and then they could use voice thread and explain the picture. The teacher could also use this as an instructional tool on teaching the students how to use a computer or how to search for creditable Internet sources.

I feel really confident with this tool and I am excited to use it one day in my own classroom. I think the students would really enjoy it!

Almost done!

These are the last few weeks of class of the semester and it is really getting tough and I am having a lot of busy work. The weather is starting to get nicer outside and finally look more like spring. The end of this semester is kind of bitter sweet for me. This is my last semester at UAF. I am transferring down to UAA and am going to finish my program down there. I am doing this because my family is all down there, it will be cheaper living at home, and Tim got stationed at Palmer and I want to be closer to him and I would eventually love to teach in Eagle River. I have had nothing but a great experience here at UAF. My teachers have all been amazing and I have learned so much. This decision was hard for me. Surprisingly, I didn't have a hard time at all with all my credits transferring. I am still going to be finishing my degree the same time as I would have here.

I am just going to enjoy this last time here and get through all my classes. I am really going to miss all the amazing friends I have met here. They will never be forgotten.

Panraven Story Book

This assignment was a little difficult for me just because the features of this, aren't as developed as comic life or the flickr slide show. I kept trying to zoom in more on my pictures and it wouldn't let me. So then I tried resizing them, that didn't work too well either.

Panraven is a neat site and would be a great tool for the classroom. Students would have fun creating their own story, with the help of the teacher. The students could each create a part of a story and then at the end put every students together in one big book and see how the story goes. That would be a fun idea to do with students. I think panraven would be acceptable for students in the 4th grade and up. The younger students could still write a story, but the teacher could then put it on panraven and show the class what it looks like.

After using panraven, I feel more comfortable with it. I did have some frustrating times with it, but overall it is a good tool and would be beneficial to use in the classroom.

Flickr Slide Show

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I really enjoyed this assignment. I lhave never heard of Flickr before this assignment. I have heard of webshots, but not flickr. This was fun becoming familiar with how to upload pictures, put descriptions with them, and then put them into a slide show. It wasn't that complicated at all, but it does take some practice to get it down.

This would be a really good instructional tool for the classroom. A good assignment would be to have the students research a place, then find pictures that are from that place or show what it looks like. Kind of like what we did. This tool might not be feasible to do with all grade levels, but definitely the upper grades. One concern I would have is if not all the students have access to a computer or only limited access. If that is the case, this assignment would be a bit of a challenge.

Overall, this assignment was fun and I learned another helpful tool. I am learning great new websites to browse and use frequently. Hope you all like the slide show!

Sense of Place Poster

I love doing these assignments and going back and looking at the pictures I took of that trip. I keep learning more and more fun instructional tools everyday in this class. I never knew comic strip existed.

The camping trip me and Tim took was in April 2007 and it was still kind of cold at night. I like a nice warm bed at night, but I was a good sport about it being only 0 degrees outside. I have never been camping in the middle of no where before this trip. It was a great trip and definitely wasn't my last. Since then, we have gone on many camping trips and I am really starting to enjoy being in the middle of no where.

I can see how much fun students could have with comic strip in creating comics for an art project or for a sense of place assignment like ours. I love how you can be so creative with the project too. There are guidelines to follow but the creativity is all up to you. This project is a good way for students to express themselves with pictures they have taken. This assignment would also be good for a photography class. Have the students take a set of pictures and then make a poster of the final pictures. There are so many instructional tools with the comic strip. As I use it more and more I will become more familiar with it. After using it just once, I feel pretty comfortable with it now. I can't wait to see everyones posters!!

Digital video!!!

Horray! my digital video is finally posted! I really enjoyed making this video and looking back at the pictures and seeing how much fun I had. Hope you enjoy it!

Spring Break

I hope everyone's spring break was very nice and enjoyable. I know mine was. I ended up working quite a lot of it though, but it was still really good to spend some quality time with my family. My younger brother will be going off to college next year so I will only be able to see him on breaks so it was a lot of fun getting to spend a lot of time with him.

I am really excited to start the next couple of assignments with our photos. I took some photos of my hometown when I was home for this assignment and am ready to get started.

I know I am a little late on posting my digital video, but for some reason, it won't let me post it on my blog and it's been frustrating me. So hopefully in class tomorrow I will get that done!

Ok back to more studying for me! Spring break is over so let all the work begin again!