Tuesday night 6 pm

Going from paper to Pecha K was a long process for me, I spend about 3 hours looking for the right pictures and most of them were ones I took! Then I put them all into power point and downloaded it to Voice thread. I really did have a clear idea of what I wanted to say, but it took 3 1/2 hours to get the words just right and into the VT. On the whole I am satisfied, and I will use it for my class. The most important thing that I learned in this class it that to get a quality product you have to put some major time into it. Then the project, hopefully, should be good to use for a few years.

Week 5

The prezi presentations were awesome. Makes even the digitals slackers, like me, look good. What I liked about the presentations is that even though we all used the same the tool (Prezi), the look and FEEL of each was different. You don't get that with Power Point. Even good power points are very linear. I am a very linear person, so Prezi was somewhat difficult to envision-at first. However when I got started,I like the way one can just stick the information up there on the Prezi board, like using post-its, and move it around. Any way that's what I did, put it all up there and then grouped and moved and joined, etc. The tedious reports, by fifth graders, about the 50 states might get alot more interesting. About rubrics. I still think rubrics are somewhat subjective, but they are a heck of a lot better than the teacher's personal opinion on a piece of work by a student. For example, I taught a long term sub in HS CD. One of my students was clearly more advanced in her thinking skills, than the others. I had a poster assignment. If I would have graded on my personal beliefs she would have gotten an A. However, she did not follow the rubric, and she got a C. There were guidelines (rubic) and they were not followed. Just like life, there are rules (like a rubric), and each of us get to follow them to the degree that pleases us, but then there are the consequences ( like getting arrested) I hope you are following me. Also I think it takes GREAT pressure off the teacher, because I can now explain exactly why Johnny got a C versus an A, (like he always gets, says his loving parents at conferences). I having mulling over the Pecha whatever, for a long time, mulling over the pictures and the audio, now it is crunch time, getting it into visual form. The story board is probably very good for me. I usually think it all out in my head and then just do it, but I think that one more step of wrting it down has helped. Because I know just with writing it down I have changed thing around several times, so I do not have to do that when I am putting it together. Looking forward to viewing everyone's PK.

Prezi

prezi.com/euttrcd0d0rs/

Prezi

Done! And it is impressive, if I say so myself-was it worth all the frustration-maybe.
I am going to try to download it here the first attempt didn't work.

HELP!

Just spent the last two hours working in Prezi. Boy I don't think like the program does. I don't understand the zoom feature. I downloaded all my pictures, no problem, other than it slow. Put a bracket in, moved pictures around, added a quote or two. But now I am stymied. The little control thing keeps disappearing off the paper. And then I have to go searching for it. With the zoom, like I said I don't understand, I have it all screwed up. Good Night,

Week 4

It is 3:15 in the morning and I can't sleep so will reflect on this last week's lesson. First I am overwhelmed. For me , personally, there is too much to do in one week. I do not have computer access at home, so have to sit at school to do my work. That said, loved watching Gar's presentations. He is so laid back. And his presentations seem so natural, and maybe, would ya think, that he PRACTICED it? Me, on the other hand, sort of formulate what I want to say in my head and then wing it, and it probably sounds that way. But I do look at every PP presentation with a new perspective now, I am analyzing it instead of listening to it-which in some cases is probably a good thing, otherwise would be bored to tears. Prezi was interesting. As I said in my posting about Prezi, it is all about connections. I have not tried it yet, but went through the tutorial, which I didn't quite understand, even though they insisted that it was so easy. That tool in the upper left corner is so different, not linear as I am use to. For my Prezi, didn't have problems picking out the pictures to use, some are way better than others, but trying to figure out the connection to each other will be interesting. Any project that has connectivity (meaning one thing leads to the next or things that are interrelated), would work well in the medium. Like causes of the Civil war, reasons I am up at 3:15 in the morning, characters in a book, that Solar System project, 50 state project, Wisconsin project,.....I do not have my story board done for the Pecha Kucha, it actually scares me a little. 20 seconds is really a long time to talk about one slide-I mean the pressure is on to have THE perfect slides. I can visualize doing a presentation about the Dewey decimal System (exciting as that may be to you), which I could easily do in 6.6 minutes, but in 20 slides? Stay tuned.

After and before

Here are my after and before Voicethreads. I am not real pround of this firstattempt, but I think that the 7 design criteria with stay with me forever. Was watching a PP presentation by our school nurse, you know that one we all have to watch. All the while I was thinking about how she could make it so unboring! made the time go faster!

Promotion 4

Promotion

Simplifying the Power Point

Just got done redoing my power point. It was an exercise in frustration and a great learning experience. The first good thing that came out of it is the idea of less is more. I like the slimmed down approach, and as I have viewed 2 Power Points in the last 2 weeks, I can so see what is going wrong with those presentations. But mine new one is to the point of boredom, I think. Some of the pictures I had in the first presentation, I thought, were okay, as they were pictures taken where the promotion was done. A lot has to do with the mechanics of the Power point it self. There are so many thing I don't know how to do. Put in background color, flip pictures ( I read the explanation 3 times and still couldn't figure it out), re size pictures, putting text over pictures, ect, ect. I hope I don't sound like I am whining. I want to learn this stuff, but I learn better by someone showing me. I loved some of the pictures that people were Photo shopping (for our picture a day), but have never done that, either. Anyway, I don't think my presentation is better , just different. Also even though I had a picture of what I wanted in my head, most times I could not find that picture on a free web site. I know for my 20 slide/20 sec Power Point I am going to use my own pictures.

First week of school

Well have made it through the first week of school. Time for celebration! I am so psyched about doing some of this stuff with my students. When out and bought two flip cameras for the library, hoping that students can do animoto with those. I can't believe it Animoto is not blocked on our school site. Have not tried voicethread yet, to see if that clears the filter. Have talked to a bunch of teachers about Animoto and I Believe. We librarians are suppose to be the leaders into the "new" frontier of Web 2.0. Except it is only new to us older folk, the kids "get" it already. Our district this year banned phones AND ipods in school. I always let the kids use ipods in the Library. Our district is so behind in technology. I hope I can infuse some excitement into teachers to do more with all these exciting platforms.