Swan200t’s Weblog

Hello fellow bloggers, here is Lindsay’s and my final ECMP project. For our project we made a detective film and we interviewed people about what they thought art was and about arts place in education. I hope you like it, please feel free to leave comments and any feedback you may have!!! I noticed the first time I posted this I posted it as a page woops, well here it is now as a post, enjoy!!

I wanted to try doing another voice thread so I could practice using my mike. I think this voice thread sounds pretty good. I was looking at Nicole’s blog and that’s where I got an idea to share some of my favorite quotes and poems. I still cannot figure out how to embed my voice thread ,but here is the link if you want to check it out http://voicethread.com/#u61077.b107028.i547028 Enjoy!

Well fellow bloggers of ECMP 355 this is it, class is over it is the last day of classes. Now all we have to deal with is finishing up final projects and studying for exams. I had lot’s of fun blogging in this class. It was difficult to know what to talk about sometimes ,but I always found something or another to talk about. Any way now that I have about 43 blogs in total I don’t really want to stop. I would like to continue blogging through out the summer. I was thinking of doing a series called dirt bike diaries. These blogs will be more personal than educational in content, but I promise they will still be interesting. I probably won’t get the chance to blog as often, but we will see this is a test. I want to build up a network like Dean so that I have lot’s of online help and support when I become a teacher. I also want to create my own online portfolio so that I have something unique to show in future job interviews. Any way I just wanted to thank all of my readers and people who have made comments. They have been very useful and I hope you stay tuned! Bye for now 🙂

For my blogging mentor-ship project I chose to comment on Maria Knee’s kinder kids classroom blog. I was interested in working with this class because I am interested in eventually teaching kindergarten. I tried my best to comment once or twice a week. When I commented I wrote on as many student blogs as I could. I tried to comment more  on the students blogs who had received fewer comments. I think it is important that students know that people are reading their work and care about what they are writing and what they are doing. In my comments I tried to ask questions, to simulate conversation with the students. For example on Maddie’s blog I asked her “What did you do for your holidays?” and she responded “my dads famle cam ori 1 nit”. I then responded “Hi Maddie, thank you for answering my question! You are doing a good job on your sentences. Here is how you can fix you sentence. My dads family came over one night. I hope this helps, keep up the good work with your writing!”.  I think it is very important to encourage young students with their writing so that they are excited and constantly encouraged to keep improving their writing. Another example of a comment I left on Briana’s blog was “Hi Brianna, I like your poem about the Macaroni Penguin. Do you know what other kinds of animals live in Antarctica?”. I wanted to see if she would reply and tell me more about what she learned about the macaroni penguin. Or I wanted her to think about what she learned about the Macaroni penguin, and perhaps ask the teacher more questions about penguins. I also made comments on the teachers blog directed to her whole class. I think one of my most successful comments on the teachers blog was when I did an audio reply on her voice thread entitled “Who Do You Love”.

Another example of a comment I made on the teachers Ooblek blog is “Wow that looks Ooblek looks like lot’s of fun to play with! What happened when you picked it up? Did the Ooblek melt in you hands? Then did it get all hard when you stopped playing with it?” I thought these were some good questions to ask. I know that Ooblek is cornstarch and water and I wanted to see if they knew the difference between a liquid and a solid.

One day I got an email from Maria and she asked me about growing up in the north and what kind of animals live up there, etc. I responded in an email. I wish I would have made a wiki about growing up in the North then somehow shared this with her classroom. I tried to talk to Maria’s class on the Yak Pack feature she has on her site, but I must have hit the wrong time. I was just curious to see if it would work. If I could do this mentor-ship again I think I would have liked to have a Skype conversation with Maria’s class like Brittany did. I think it would be really neat for the kids to see me and for me to see them. Then they would have a better idea of who I am and what I sound like. Any way these are all things I would like to experiment with in the future. I learned about a lot of different programs just scrolling around Maria’s website like bubble share,  one true media, voice thread, etc. I think it is really neat how Maria combines technology with her Kindergarten class. Before I started mentoring I wrote a blog about how I didn’t think technology like blogging could work in a Kindergarten class. Maria Knee’s blog has proved me wrong. There are so many interesting possibilities for online learning with younger students. Her kinder kids even have online buddies, and I think that is really neat! Over all this has been a very good learning experience for me and I will make sure to keep checking out the updates on Maria’s blog! I would also like to say thank you very much to Maria Knee for allowing me to participate in your online classes! It was a fabulous learning experience!

Last summer I worked at a camp for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. The first cabin I got was a group of 12 women. Any way I will only talk about one of the women who really got to me. She was in about her 50’s or 60’s and she used to be a teacher. She had short term memory loss. So I could have a conversation with her for about one or two minutes, then she would ask me who I was and where she was. It was really sad. One thing that she could remember though was her music. She always wanted to play the piano and she could play every note perfectly. I would always sing along with her, and she just loved it. This women also spoke french so I spoke to her in french once in a while and she liked it. You could really tell that she was a great teacher and that she was very smart. I just think it is really sad how someone who is such an amazing person could lose their memory. I remember having the same conversation with her 30 or more times in one day about what we were going to do and where we were going. At first it frustrated me, but after a while I realized that there was nothing that could be done about it. I was very patient with her, she was such a wonderful woman. The sad thing about it is if I ever meet her again she will not know who I am, or remember the time we spent together, but I will always remember her. Below I have posted a video of a man who has a very short term memory. He can only remember things for about 30 seconds or less than it is gone. This will give you an idea of what it is like to have a conversation with someone who has a short term memory. Also if you want to read more about short term memory please go to http://www.memorylossonline.com/glossary/memory.html.

So I was reading Nicole Little’s blog and I came across a really cool program called adobe photo shop express. I decided that I wanted to experiment with this site for myself. It offers a lot of features like crop and rotate, auto correct, exposure, red-eye removal, touch up, saturation, white balance, highlight, sharpen, soft focus, pop color, hue, black and white, tint, and sketch. I have never really edited my photos before except for the basic crop and lighting feature. Any way below I have posted some of the my pictures that I made on my express account. They are pretty crazy ,but I like them. I think you could get your students to use this program to create really interesting looking photos then could write a short story about the person or object in the picture. Enjoy! ,and thank you Nicole for posting about adobe photo shop express to start with, it is a fantastic program!!

We all know what time it is getting to be, yes that is right you guessed it exam time! This can be a very stressful time for some people. For others this is a nice relaxing time because there are no classes and you are not the type of person to worry about exams because you are a very good studier.  I thought it would be useful to find some good studying tips and to share them with everyone. I found a site that lists 11 tips to improve studying results called http://www.soundfeelings.com/free/studying.htm

Here they are:

1. “Study in Short, Frequent sessions”(soundfeelings)

People tend not to be able to focus for large amounts of time. So it is better to study in small sections like 10 minutes then take a break and study again. According to the article on sound feelings website “the brain needs recovery and recharging time for “protein synthesis.” The rest periods are when your brain assimilates your effort. They are a powerful tool which many teachers do not acknowledge”.  It is not very useful studying for a couple hours straight, this is distracting and you really don’t retain as much information.

2.”Take Guilt Free Days of Rest”(soundfeelings)

According to the article taking a day off studying allows your brain to rest and rejuvenate for next time you study.

3.”Honor your emotional state”(soundfeelings)

Study when you are relaxed and not stressed out this allows your brain to process the information easier.

4.”Review The Same Day”(soundfeelings)

When you are studying and you memorize new information make sure to look over that information again later in the day so that you do not forget it.

5.”Observe The Natural Learning Sequence”(soundfeelings)

According to the sound feelings website it is better to get an idea of the overarching concept you are studying then to fill in the details afterwards because this will lead to success.

6.”Use Exaggeration”(soundfeelings)

If you are learning a language or working on spelling exaggerate the sounds of the words so that when you get to writing that test spelling all of the words is easier.

7.”Prepare Your Study Environment”(soundfeelings)

Figure out where the best place for you is to study. Make yourself as comfortable as you can with snacks lighting and so on. In my first year I studied in the library and it was far to quiet I always fell asleep. Now I always study in my room and if I start to fall asleep I turn on the radio or take a break.

8.”Respect Brain Fade”(soundfeelings)

When you are studying it is easy to forget things you have already gone over. Always make sure to do quick overviews over all of the material you have covered so that you have a better chance at remembering it.

9.”Create a Study Routine”(soundfeelings)

This is something I must try. Plan out a time each day that you are going to study. Write it down in your planner and do it. Usually if you don’t do this you tend to over procrastinate like me and not get in enough study time.

10.”Set Reasonable Goals”(soundfeelings)

Do your studying in steps, break it into sections instead of trying to cram all of the information into your head at once.

11.”Avoid The Frustration Enemy”(soundfeelings)

Don’t stress yourself out. Take your time with studying and know that you are doing your best and that is all you can do. Also don’t be afraid to ask for help sometimes there are quick fixes to your problems. Study groups can also be great ways to study for finals.

Any way I hope you found some of these tips to be useful, and I wish you all luck with your finals. Remember not to get stressed out and just to take your time! Below I have posted a funny video about over studying, check it out!!

As a future arts educator I know that I will have to be skilled in five areas including dance, music, theater, english, and art. The area that I am weakest in is the music area. I used to play the clarinet ,but since then I have not really picked up an instrument. I am not great at reading musical notes. However I have been singing in choirs for quite a few years and I think I am okay at reading and following along with that kind of music. Any way I was looking for a podcast that would help me improve my musical instrument skills. I came across a podcast called Beginner guitar lessons and songs played by iPlayMusic.

This podcast has free beginner guitar lessons on it, and they seem easy to follow along with. There are also children’s songs that you can learn how to play. I really want to teach elementary school ,and I have always imagined being able to play the guitar and sing along with my students. Perhaps in the summer I will find some time and try to learn how to play the guitar using this free podcast. It is worth a try!! Wish me luck, and I suggest if your like me and you need a little bit more experience in the music area or you just want to learn how to play the guitar to check this out. Students could also use this podcast to teach themselves how to play the guitar.  Below I have posted a video of a man playing an amazing classical guitar tremolo solo, take a listen he is really good!!

Today I was looking at Cathy’s blog and I came across a program called sketch cast. This program enables you to draw things and record it at the same time. I have been trying to figure out how to embed my sketch cast that I made into this blog ,but haven’t had much luck. So here is the link http://sketchcast.com/view/31Pd1PA.

I decided to explain how to draw a frog. It was fun to make and I think sketch cast could be used in an art classroom to help students figure out how to draw certain shapes and animals. You can also tell stories about an animal when you are teaching the students how to draw it. This makes it fun and interesting to listen to. Sketch cast could also help students with math because you can draw out the equations. Any way I hope you all get the chance to check out sketch cast it is a really unique tool. Your students could even use this tool to make videos to help their classmate with something. You can also email or publish sketch casts to the web and or your blogs.

Did anyone use to watch Bill Cosby or that other guy’s “Kids Say the Darnest Things” television program. I use to watch it all the time. It was so funny what some of the kids said.  I found a couple clips from these shows on youtube the quality isn’t very good, but you still get the basic idea. These clips will make you laugh, check them out!!