Animoto

Just finished my first and second Animoto. I don't have to be creative at all, it does it for me. This is great for a student that says that they have no creativity-like me. I will probably make a million of these! This would have been my twitter posting-if I had one.

ANIMOTO

Didn't see the antimoto during class-must have been some kind of ilter on the system, but have watched a few now, and WOW. Are they amazing. I can see all kinds of uses for those. Personal and in class. How about for a book report, have 20 images that tell the story, or images that discribe the mood. Also liked I believe, although, since I din't know these people some of them were a little windy. If it was someone I knew then I think it would be great. I downloaded the educator "this i believe" curriculum for MS, el and hs also available (22 pages). Think it would be great for 8th graders who are so full of themselves. Maybe they would have to think about what they do believe. Also watched some of the wolrls bestPresentations. Very nice, few words, very visual, got the point across. I got sucked into the Josh one, thought it was a real guy, found out it was a book. But that maybe is the point, you don't know where it is headed. I am excited now, probably because school is starting and I can see some ways of using this. Now that I got Voice thread running, that also is a great for the classroom. Howabout you give each student a picture- like children in war. They have to write about it, then they can do a Voice thread showing the picture and reading what they wrote.

Fun but frustrating

On Sunday I story boarded my Power point on Civil rights, then proceeded to Voicethread, I loaded my first power point, an old one from class last year, and started putting the voice it, I thought I had to do that, anyway I ran out of time, so I bought some time, it was only $10, so I thought what the heck. Long and short of it, I was signed up for the wrong account, so was only able to post 3 times-which I did because I screwed up-and now I am stuck. The up side is that I emailed Voice thread and I actually got a answer back from a real person ON SUNDAY. We are working to help me get in the right account. So there is good support for voice thread.

Overwhelmed

This was the first week of school for me-a have a little extended contract. My job is located 90 minutes from my home-so I live away from my home during the week, and then go home on the weekends. It's a Tale of two cities. Viewed some stories from the Center of Digital story telling. Untitles, MSK Running, I think of you. The last one was too artsy for me. And, I think, sometime these stories are made not for the masses but for family. They are emotional, but we don't quite understand them because we are not in the loop. And there is nothing wrong with that. I have always thought I would record myself reading bedtime stories for generations in the future. But sometimes the stories are just not that interesting to me. I did like the story Corps vignettes. They are written to be humorous and entertaining, and they were. Listened to the one about a barbershop in NC and the man who made a American flag for his class

As for the reading in Zen, These are the points that resonated with me. In a good presentation the speaker given notes after the speech. I am one of those people that NEEDS to have paper to write on during the presentation-and probably wouldn't trust the speaker to have the CORRECT notes. Althought it sure would be nice to just listen to the speaker instead of scribbling notes.
What's the point? Why does it matter? I need to keep that in mind.
Use plain language. That is one thing I am good at, I don't try to dazzel people with big words. When I was reading this part it brought to mind Mission Statements. I hate those things. They are vaugely worded, catch-alls. Not concrete enought for me.
And finally the process-or steps in the process. This is what I need to work on. I am not a sketch it out person, so maybe the process will really help my presentations.
I signed up for Voice thread, but have not put something on yet. Hopefully it will become much clearer as I do it, because I am not getting it right now. I don't understand how I could administer it in a classroom, which is really my objective in this course. I get how useful it could be and even have some ideas for using it.

Can't sleep

1:29 am Have been watching some pecha-kucha (PK) on You tube. Interesting, but I think I was watching the clock more than listening to the person, to see if they could time it just right. And being a mathmetically inclined person, I have this feeling that if I know the presentation is a PK, then I will be counting in my head 1...2...3... instead of listening to the presentation. Drat, that left brain!

My story

Being a district librarian is a daunting task. I deal with teachers and students from pre-K to HS. Last year, my first, I didn't feel overwhelmed until the end of the year. Shows how naive I am. Anyway, using "good" power points and stories might lighten my load. I can see where I could do some of my lessons digitally and then could use them for a couple of years in a row (no not ten years in a row). The greater power I see here is exposing our staff to these great resources. Our staff, by their own emission, is VERY technology deficient. Therefore, just the introduction of a few on-line resources could (if done properly) really spice up the curriculum.
However, I am not so excited about writing my own story. I do have a vision of the future. And, I know, from reading that setting goals is the first step to obtaining them, however, dare I dream that high? What the heck! Go for it. So in my story you will learn what I really wanted to do for a living and how I will go about it, yet.

New to on line classes

Being one of those digital immigrant-I have been dragged kicking and screaming- well maybe only crying at times, into the 21st century. It's not that I am afraid of technology, sometimes I just don't get it. But when you have to, you do. For example I never knew how to use Excel and my last class was Statistics. Well, I know how to use it now, because I had to. I call myself a left brained person-loved Geometry-, but I also have a creative side in the craft realm. But my creativity tends to run in a very organized manner-weaving, very mathematical, X-stritch, very mathematical, and beading-mine is ALWAYS balanced. These creative assignments will be a real growth experience. I have not written my Personal story yet, even though I spent lots of time thinking about my future, as I am only 10 years or so from retirement. Anyway this class is very exciting for me. One of my jobs as a library media specialist is to find and introduce new technologies to the students and maybe more importantly to the teachers. Most teachers do not have the time to search out creative new ways to present materials in the classroom. I was told , by the tech person, to stay away from teaching power point and other word documents because I don't have the training, but after this class, I WILL be able to help students put together better power points. So, too teachers. Actually having only 6 words on a slide is great, then I can talk-which I love to do. The digital stories were interesting. But why do I care about the life story of some person in Alabama? True answer, I don't. However, I do care about the process of passing on thoughts and feelings to future generations of my own family-something we could only do with the written word before. Anyway, maybe I have dug myself in here.........

Pitures

Hello, I am still having problems being very creative in my picture taking. Even with a digital camera it is hard to go around and take random pictures. My theme will probably be the farm, because that is were I am now, but in 14 days the theme will be library, when I am back to school. Summer has come and gone in a blink.

Digital storytelling

Hello Fellow Classmates, This should be a very interesting class. I would like to pass this information onto my students in my library classes. I think back to the many inservices with power points that were chock full of graphics and words and how I don't remember any of it after I walk out the room, now I know why. I find the Presentation Zen book interesting in the fact that he is talking about content and brevity, but his text is a bit wordy for me.

Hello Everyone, Just checking out my blog to see if it is up and running yet.