August 1 - iDVD

Caleigh's movie would not work on Jeremy's parents' computer, so I went back to the lab and worked with iDVD (after sending Jeremy out last night to get DVD-R's). I have to say that iDVD is a pretty easy program to use. In about 2 hours I made 3 copies of the DVD I made of Caleigh's movie and then I made a DVD of my summer 2009. I even put my iMovie on the DVD. It was really nice...I did not have to do anything to convert my iMovie; the program did all that for me! I brought the DVDs home and they all work!! Once again I have more ideas for school!!! I think that I will maybe play my DVD for our open house...and I am still crossing my fingers that we have all this tech at school. While I was waiting I played on the Mac. I found this program called PhotoBooth...pretty neat! That is where the pictures came from that are with this post. As you can see, I used PhotoShop on 2 of them. The other picture is a thermal image - how cool is that!

July 31 - Idea

I have been thinking about using one of my long bulletin boards as a photo gallery. I think I will start out with pictures that I have taken that represent me. I figure that I can probably get some cheap frames (different would be better) and hang the frames on thumb tacks. For a background, I am going to look at the clearance fabric section - something plain, but maybe shiny? I haven't figured out a border yet, but I think that will come in to play once I choose the fabric. Then I will invite the students to bring in photos of themselves or photos they have taken. Finally I think that I will have students display the photos they have taken for our class. I will have to work out the details, but I figure that I have 2 weeks before I have to decide. I want to be able to share the photo gallery with parents on Open House night. This way they can be informed of what we are doing and also learn about me.

July 30 - Caleigh's Movie is completed!

After only an hour (12 minutes faster than the computer predicted), Caleigh's movie was done being converted to QuickTime and I was able to burn it to Cd. It fit on my JumpDrive, so I put it there too. I am giving a copy of it to my mom tomorrow at lunch time. I am really happy with how it turned out. I found the Looney Toons sound clip of their closing music and also an effect that looks like their end and used them together to make a perfect conclusion. At 7 1/2 minutes in length, I have a really nice and personal memento of my daughter's first 28 months of life.

July 30 - My thoughts on our class...

I have really enjoyed getting to see what some of the programs available can do. I feel like I have worked more for this summer workshop than any other class I have ever taken... But I also feel like I got a lot out of this class. I really do hope to use digital photography in my classroom this year. I think the students will be really motivated - especially as they see their picture-taking ability improve and being able to use the projector to assist them in presentations. I was thinking that if we have the iMovie program on our school computers, I will put my "feelers" out to see if any teachers want to learn and offer to help them. I am looking forward to taking photographs for the yearbook this year... And since I am planning on having students help (for the first time) I think I am somewhat prepared to teach them how to take better photos!! I will definitely recommend this class to any other teachers I know who are asking!

July 30 - Am I crazy???

I have been sitting in the Northside Hall computer lab for the last 2 1/2 hours because I thought that it would be really special to have an iMovie for Caleigh since she has been so good throughout this course. I love the iMovie program and I thought that I could also burn this movie as a Thank You to both our parents for watching Caleigh during classes. It says that I still have 57 minutes left waiting to convert the file (that is better than 72 minutes originally). I think that everyone will really like this movie...I even had the opportunity to use Caleigh's favorite song, "Lollipop, " which I decided against using for my Photographer's Showcase. She loves seeing her photograph on our computer (and just about anywhere) and I cannot wait to get home to show her. What I am most excited about is that Jeremy says that copying it onto its own jump drive would probably allow us to show this movie on our television (through our cable box?). I hope it works, but I think it will depend on the size of the file.

July 29 - Lesson Plans

I plan on using all of the lesson plans that I created if I have students who have access to digital cameras (as far as taking pictures at home goes). The most challenging aspect of creating these 4 lesson plans was pretending that I was in a perfect world. What I am saying is, that I had to morph my mindset into planning for students who would have access to digital cameras and be allowed to use those cameras for school. I learned that designing lessons where students get to use digital photography is not that hard (in a perfect world). I also got the chance to think about how much more motivated students would be for lessons that they would get to take pictures and "play" on the computer. I think that they will be really proud of themselves and their end products will be nice reminders of how intelligent they really are. Real confidence boosters!!

July 29 - Project 3 Podcast

Going into this project, I expected to end up with something that I could use for my classroom. During the making of the Podcast, recording the sound was the most challenging part. I am definitely glad that I typed my script! The first time I recorded, the microphone was not working well. When I reviewed the QuickTime file, there was volume but it was too low to hear. So I recorded again (on the 3rd computer I moved to) and the sound was there! I kept my third recording. The Podcast that I submitted has a lot of background noise in it which is annoying, but still think that I can use it. I may re-record if I decide to purchase ProfCast (which sounds like it is fairly reasonably priced for teachers). I could definitely use this in my classroom to help students who are absent and also to help students who need review of major topics. I think it might be useful to have students record their own Podcasts to cover our standard about informational presentations - they could easily make a presentation on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, how to do skate board tricks, etc.. If I had students making a Podcast, I would require them to write a script.

July 29 - Project 4 continued

I selected pictures for Project 4 by looking at all of the photos I have taken over the course of the class. I copied all of the images into a folder called Project 4. I had way too many photos - over 70! So then I made a subfolder called Photos to Use. I moved my favorite pictures into the folder first and then I began adding pictures that most appealed to my eyes. I still ended up with more than double the requirement.

I grouped my images by subject. I wanted to have something creative about the way each group was named. I came up with the following groups: Family, Flora, Fauna, and So Forth.

I think the images that I chose show that I am willing to wait for the perfect shot, that I am always looking for interesting shots, and that my family is very important to me. My photographs say that I have a range of interests and that I do not discriminate against subjects that other people might not take the time to notice.

July 28 - Project 4

Making an iMovie was so fun! I really enjoyed organizing my pictures that I had taken throughout this course. I spent a ton of time picking just the right ones and I am happy with how my iMovie turned out. I found the program fairly easy to navigate through and the Help section was easy to understand and follow. I was frustrated when I thought that I was finished and then my sound disappeared. Then I realized that I had closed out of iTunes! I knew the programs were interconnected, but I guess it took this experience to realize it for myself. Once I opened iTunes back up, my iMovie had sound again. I am really hoping that we have iMovie on our Mac's at school...I think students would really enjoy organizing their photographs like this. I would probably use iMovie to reward those students who finish early when we are working. It would be a great way to showcase photos we have taken from sports, field trips, etc. Maybe I could use this program to get students interested in the yearbook...tease them with some of the photos that will be in the yearbook. If we ever buy a Mac, this would be a great way to show how much Caleigh has grown...and it takes a lot less time than scrap booking!!!!

July 24- Project 4 photos

We went to Lake Webster today and took our cameras to get some more pictures for project 4. Walking around by myself (everyone else took the toddler on a boat ride), I was able to quietly sneak up on 3 cranes relaxing in a field. I ended up getting an awesome photograph of a crane spreading its wings! I also got a cute picture of a bunny and a close up of an ant climbing on a tree...that was difficult, but I think it paid off.

July 23 - macro photos

I really enjoyed taking photos that were too up close to identify. No one guessed my photo that I put on the forum! Ha! Ha! It was a bike pedal reflector!

July 22 - Project 2

For Project 2, I did the Power Point presentation to cover a math standard. As I was working I found that navigating through the Power Point program grew easier the longer I worked. I used the Help section when I was stuck and learned some good shortcuts (at least I think they were less work)! I think my biggest challenge on this assignment was finding the perfect background for my slides. I must have spent an hour just deciding! My other challenge was finding the time to complete my project. Jeremy and I took turns going in to the computer labs on campus because our computer moves at the pace of a snail. I was able to work with Power Point on a Mac and a PC so I learned where different pieces of the program are on both computers. All total, I think I probably spent about 7 hours working on just 1 Power Point document. And that is not including the time spent searching for and photographing triangles! As far as classroom applications go, I would love to have my students use Power Point for their research projects second quarter and maybe for an introduction to who they are first quarter. Students could also publish their narratives in Power Point. Finding a picture of the author would be easy! Having a power point presentation available for reviewing a concept might be a powerful tool...assuming I can fit in the time. I have 1 good Power Point for this year already!

July 20 Project 1 cont'd

An unsuccessful attempt at photographing Caleigh while avoiding merging :)

My project 1 has been completed for a few days and now that I have thought about it (and checked the message board on Oncourse), I wanted to make an entry that covers all my bases. While I was working on this project, I enjoyed taking many pictures. Once I started photographing a subject, I found that I was coming up with more ideas easily. My camera cooperated and only told me that the batteries were exhausted one time (I had a spare pair in the car). I was amazed that the batteries lasted so long! I had not changed them since the start of class. My challenges were: catching my little girl without merging, entertaining the little one while continuing to take pictures, choosing the final six, and dial-up Internet(waiting to get to IUSB to upload the file in Drop Box). I learned that I am a very organized person when I want to be (I knew at all times which principles I still needed to search for. I also learned that I feel pretty confident behind a camera and fiddling with some of the different features. Last, but not least, I learned how to lower the resolution on the camera so that my picture files were not so big. The Nikon CoolPix has a setting that is actually geared towards pictures that you want to display on a computer screen! As for classroom applications, I think that teaching students how to take better photos would result in better presentations and help students gain confidence in their ability to take awesome photos and wow their classmates. I am still unsure of how to get a camera into my students' hands. I know that some of the students will always have access to that kind of technology, but then some will not. I am thinking that some of the parents might not want to send their cameras to school with their child(ren) due to the cost of replacing and the chance of theft/loss.

July 19 -Project 1

I just finished project 1 for class. I must have taken 100 shots to get the 6 pictures that I used. I feel good about the pictures that I chose. I must be crazy but I took at least 7 pictures of a pigeon and then decided not to use any of them! I used the baby as my subject for avoiding merging and every time I lined up my shot, she would move slightly and wind up with a pole or a lamp post sticking out of her head! She was a very patient little girl while we were taking photos Friday so we went to a playground and let her play. I kept taking pictures, but at least she was really burning some of her energy off. I had to wait until she went to bed to work on my Word Document. I still feel insane for taking so many pictures of the pigeon, so I that is why I included it here.

July 17

The Photo-Bets assignment is completed! What I learned from this assignment is that it is difficult, but not impossible, to take photos during a thunderstorm. We ended up rolling the window of the car down and taking pictures from inside the car. My favorite letter is the "C" on Caleigh. The letter came from a sewer lid that was somewhat rusty.

July 16 -After Class

I have enjoyed using iPhoto for about 2 years now, but I absolutely love the iPhoto book I made!! It was so easy! I think I might have to add to it so that there are no empty pages and then order it...then I need to make a book for my daughter!!!!

July 16

I am having fun taking lots of pictures for our composition assignment. I figure that I will take a ton of pictures and then sort through them. However I wanted to make sure that I don't miss one of the categories, so I have ideas jotted down by category.

July 14 -Taking Photos

I really enjoyed being able to leave campus to take photos. It gave me a chance to get used to the camera I am using. I might like the Nikon CoolPix better than our Canon PowerShot (which Jeremy is using for the course).

July 14

Hmmm! I heard someone talking about using this with their students. I was thinking that would work if my students had computers at home. I am also wondering if this site is blocked for South Bend Schools.