My Movie: A Family Story

This is an example of a family story movie that I would show my class before I required them to create a video to tell me a story they have written about their family! Enjoy!

Friend's Videos I Watched and What I Learned

These are the six classmates that I found that had videos posted to their blogs. It was fun to explore the different projects and see how everyone really made different but wonderful products. I feel like if I made another video, it would turn out even better because I have so many more ideas! (This was my first video attempt)

1. Ashley Daley
I learned that it could be fun to have someone else narrate the movie, because it can make it more fun- the narrator was great- very enthusiastic. (I also learned that there are probably better microphones for me to use because the one I used was very difficult to keep a consistent level of volume going)

2. Rachael Hamilton
I liked how the music credit was read aloud at the end. I think since she only had one reference, this was a good way to do it.

3. Katie Matthews
I loved how creative she was with her adventure story! Instead of just having children illustrate their fiction stories, I think it would be wonderful to offer another choice to children to create a movie if they wanted to. I felt like I was watching Reading Rainbow :)

4. Sabrina Huyett
She was brilliant on how well she timed the music. The movie did make me think, that I need to remember to be very careful when I add music to make sure that I can still hear the narration. Or perhaps I could use words written on those slides? Just some ideas,,,

5, Becky Edmonds
This made ne realize that even if I don't assign movies for my students to make, I should really utilize the movie-making tool so as a teaching aid. She made an ABC video that would be great to help children learn their ABC's.

6. Whitney Lethcoe
She really explored animation. I loved how the letters entered on the title page. I also liked the story she told- how she told us about all of her family. This would be a great video for the beginning of the year!

This is my Print Screen of my storyboard assignment for this week. I decided to do a family story using family pictures to illustrate how my parents met, moved to Mexico City, returned to the states when they lost everything in the bad Mexican economy and now travel the world!

Week 2: Pictures & Reflections

This week was a busy week in IP&T 287. One of the most interesting things things I created was my new wiki website. It may be found with the below link:

http://misskris.pbworks.com/

This last week opened up a whole figurative hall of doors for me as I learned about web 2.0. Web 2.0 are programs and websites that allow for interaction on the internet. This could include chats, blogs, wikis, etc... I learned that these sites could help make a classroom more organized and fun if used. For example, I built a wiki on which I posted an edited picture, a google map, a calendar and many other things that could be useful to a class!

I learned that creating a wiki isn't as hard as I thought it would be! Since I am used to blogger, there were some differences I had to acquaint myself with and adjust to, but for the most part, it was simple to create easy, accessible pages.

This week, I also signed up for an account and explored Goodreads. I had never even heard of Goodreads before, but I am glad I have heard of it now. It's a social networking tool so people can rate, compare and discuss books. I joined the Early Childhood and Elementary Education Books group and even added a book to the bookshelf and started a discussion. Below is a screenshot of my comment in the discussion:

In addition to this, I created an account on Diigo. This is a tool that helps people organize their favorite websites and findings on the internet. I added some of my favorite bookmarks onto my account. Here is a screenshot:


In addition to this, I also added a new blog to my Google Reader- a tool that helps one to read the various posts of all the blogs one follows. Since I have many friends with blogs, I had done this before so this was the easiest part of the assignment I had to do. I 'starred' one of the entries on this educational blog. Below is the screenshot:

I think the most difficult thing I had to do was when I had to figure out Diigo. I signed up for an account but I had to wait for an email confirmation registration from them. I waited a while, but I didn't realize that it had gone to my junk account, so I sat for a long time thinking that it had never come. But once I checked that and started working with it, everything else flowed smoothly.

I think the most useful thing I learned was how to create a wiki and embed information in it. I had seen people do this before and I had always wanted to know how they did it! I know I will definitely create such a website when I am a teacher.

I learned so much about web 2.0 and loved it, I just had to tell a friend. So this morning I called my cousin, who is a high school teacher, and told her all the new possibilities I now know are available to us! Below is a screenshot of our google chat:

As you can see, this was a great week!

I Love Education

I love education because I really consider learning to be one of life's greatest adventures! For instance, this summer I watched Planet Earth and it humbled me to realize how much there is around me that I don't know or understand. But it didn't discourage me; it just helped motivate me to search for more answers to all the new questions I began to have.
That is what education is about. It's about finding new knowledge so you can have a better understanding of your world. It's about developing a curious mind that demands to grow.
Moreover, I have found that most of the things I fear in life are the things that I don't know or understand. Education helps me to have more confidence and love for everything and everyone around me. Learning brings me peace.
I have a passion for learning and that is why I want to be a teacher. Not because I have a list of goals or standards that I want to check off as I teach, but because I want to inspire a curiosity that will continue beyond my classroom. I hope to show my children some of the wonders that can be found, in hope that when they leave, they too will always hunger to search for more.