A Modest Proposal

One thing I have found is that using movies, particularly popular modern motion pictures helps students become more involved and get a better picture or overall feeling for a concept or event. Particularly, as a History or Geography teacher, it can be difficult to keep kids interested or see how things relate to everyday life. Some movies are historically accurate and interesting, but the length, ratings and other factors might keep me from showing them in class, at least in their entirety.

I decided to download and learn to use Handbrake, a program that converts DVD to MP4 formats so I can easily store them on a computer, upload them or put them on an Ipod or flash drive easily. I will learn how to extract clips and use them appropriately in classroom media.

Using Media to Teach Students to.... Use Media.

Here is my Instructional Video! Enjoy!

Video Out-of-Sync

My Response to Trisha's Video



My Response to Ali's Video

Video Chat is the Next Best Thing

I was really nervous about doing some kind of synchronous chat conversation via webcam. I had never used the webcam on my laptop, never used any type of video-making or video-chat technology of any kind. I asked my friend Katie about it and she said she used Skype all the time to talk to her family back home and that it was easy. A few of my friends had done video chat, too. I felt left out. At one point when chatting with Katie on Gmail, I asked if we could try doing the video chat, and loaded the software for it. Pretty soon, we were up and talking! It was literally less than 2 minutes from instant messaging to video chat. We talked for about 15 minutes, and I am no longer afraid to use video chat!

I am going on a study abroad this summer, and I think I will load Skype and learn to use it. I think I can train my parents and siblings so that we can use it to communicate while I'm gone. Video chat is easy and definitely more personal.

Video Killed the Chalkboard Star

I just realized I never blogged about the use of video in the classroom! In a word, it's great! Just yesterday in my U.S. History class we watched part of Cinderella Man while discussing the Great Depression. It was incredibly helpful to our discussion and readings.

Using video keeps kids interested, and especially cool is having them submit their own videos. I am anxious to make mine, but hopefully it will work out ok. :)

CopyRightNow

Yes... copyright is boring. But it was a helpful lesson. I should be more careful about the pictures and things that I use. Also, as far as the internet and current events go, there have recently been many articles and issues regarding Facebook's legal agreements. As a teacher and an internet user in general, I need to stay informed about copyright.

Fair Use is awesome, and will definitely help me in my teacher career. Nonprofit educational purposes are exactly what I use resources for when I plan lessons. As long as I am careful and give credit where credit is due, I will be fine. :)

On the InterWebs

I am officially online! My class site is up and ready to go! It was so fun doing it. I am thinking about making one for my team to use as a team site for info, pictures, and communication. That'd be so cool.