Final Project : K - 5 Resource Page Wikispace

For my final project, Erica , Kaitlyn and I decided to create a Kindergarten to Grade 5 Resource wikispace .

For me personally, this project really was something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. In first and second year, I really felt underwhelmed in terms of having my classes provide me with actual concrete resources not just theoretically ideas. The prospect of teaching First Nation and Metis content in the classroom was something that I was quite nervous about however, my pre-internship provided me with a vast range of resources from a extensive list of First Nation and Metis books to a variety of math games that I actually had a chance to teach with. Having these resources available at my pre-internship school really helped me get over my fears and that is the main reason I wanted to include them as well in our wikispace.

Looking back, I would of found a resource page like this to be very helpful and a great starting point for me to get familiar with teaching resources in general. I plan on contacting several professors to let them know about our wikispace in hopes that it will not only help out future teachers but also bring together newly graduated teachers in order to collaborate and share resources.

Summary of Learning: Final Reflection - Seuss Style!

For my summary of learning, I decided to take my love of Dr. Seuss books and tell my technology learning journey through the characters and some of the events in the book, Oh, The Places You'll Go. Ever since I saw the stop motion animation in class I have really wanted to try it myself. I used Windows Movie Maker to edit together my pictures and for all of the websites, I used a combination of Jing and Snagit to take pictures and crop the logos.

Here are a few things that I learned while making my very first stop motion film:
1. It takes a lot of patience and a steady hand (next time, the camera will be on a stand).
2. ALWAYS check for shadows in the first few pictures before continuing on.
3. Windows Move Maker is a great tool to used, just be very patience with it.
4. SAVE! SAVE! SAVE you work!

In regards to the last point, the only part of this project that frustrated me slightly was that my Windows Movie Maker kept freezing up on me which led to me not only losing some of the work I did but having to wait about ten minutes for it to reload. However, patience is a virtue and I learned very quickly that I need to take my time and wait until my mouse pointer is finished loading before clicking or loading something else.

Anyways, with out further ado, here is my video. Enjoy!

Beginner Technology in Seuss English: Oh, The Places I've Been

Digital Nation - Part III

The last portion of Digital Nation brought up several points that really grabbed my attention. I found it very intriguing within the Relationships segment when World of Warcraft guild members said that they have formed closer online friendships than real life ones and the majority of them have never ever met one another face to face. I guess technology really has rewritten the rules of interaction for society. There is definitely a societal urge to connect to people online and I must admit that prior to this class, my connecting online did not extend past the people that I knew and had talked to face to face. However, I am now finding it easier to open up and put my virtual self out there by commenting on blogs and twittering. It is still in it’s beginning stages however, I have definitely taken more steps in this particular direction than I have even before. It is surprising and very satisfying the connections one makes via the internet. Making a Connection was a post that I wrote back in March about a connection I make with a student from B.C. by simply just commenting on her blog. Her comments back along with her enthusiasm made my day.

Since my boyfriend is in the military, more specifically the Air Force, I find myself becoming more and more drawn to military issues in particular. This world is definitely foreign to me in terms of lingo, procedures, etc. (kind of like how technology was at the beginning of this course) however, the more effort I make to learn about this world the more comfortable I feel. In regards to Digital Nation , the segments titled Can Virtual Experiences Change Us? and Where are we headed? have really struck a chord with me. Firstly I had no idea that the drones over in Iraq were being flown by pilots back in Las Vegas instead of the pilots physically being present in the country that the actual drone is in. Watching this segment reminded me of how people sit down and play video games to be honest, except in this case the U.S. soldiers are sitting down a half a world away to fight a virtual war. Boy, reality and virtual are overlapping to the degree that I wonder if you would be ever able to separate them again?

S.P.A.R.K. Camp

For the past week, I have been working at an Arts camp called S.P.A.R.K. which is put on by the Conservatory for the Performing Arts each year for children from ages 4 - 13 to participate in during Spring Break. There are a variety of camps all occurring at the same time: Kindermusik AM and PM, Mini Mozarts AM and PM, Arts Explorer, Romp & Stomp, Story 2 Stage, Creative Drama Studio 8 - 10 A & B, Creative Drama Studio 11 - 12, Showtime and Glee Club.

One of my favorite moments so far is helping the Guitar Camp tie dye T-shirts for their performance on Friday. The kids were so excited to dye their shirts and even us adults got caught up in the moment, which has not happened to me since internship. We unraveled our shirts today and it was the first time ever that a tie dye shirt has actually worked for me. I would like to thank the Guitar Camp kids for their color suggestions!

Even though that I have not been blogging as consistently as last week (boy, looked back I am really proud of myself how I found time to do so), I do believe that my time spent working with children has done me a world of good. It is so close to the end of the semester...and I find myself slowly burning out however, being at this camp even for a couple of hours a day is re-fueling my passion and drive in order to complete the last week to the best of my ability.