Website

I just made my website.  It's geared toward future employers, because I wanted a more interactive way to communicate than just a paper resume.  My favorite page is the one on my travels, because I inserted some Google Maps that really enhance my message.  I might also add a slide show of some pictures from them later through Picasa.

The process of making a Google Site was very straightforward and easy, and I am very satisfied with my product.  I feel very comfortable making a classroom website for my future students, especially after this project.  I could definitely see myself continuing to use this website in the future, because it is so easy to update and change it to fit my needs.

Green Solutions

I get a daily dose of Discovery news delivered to my inbox.  This past week two stories have particularly caught my eye.  The first is a piece on transforming parking lots into more environmentally friendly environments.   The image on the right is an idea of putting solar panel/shade rooftops over large parking lots, keeping the lots cooler while generating energy.

Imagine if huge shopping centers such as Walmart or malls employed these parking lot energy savers.  What an awesome way to use this (ugly and hot) space in a beneficial way!

The second article was about interstate noise barriers.  My family moved when I was five years old because the interstate was to be constructed closer to our house.  My parents were concerned about increased traffic in the area, and along with that, interstate noise.  

According to this article, researchers in Ohio are working on a Chia-pet like wall that would work like a traditional concrete noise barrier, but would look waaay better, like the image to my left.  

I am a huge fan of green space, such as trees and parks, etc. (in case you couldn't tell by my blog background).  Whenever I am in cities I am usually very uncomfortable with the amount of people and buildings breaking up the green space.  If we can incorporate natural walls into our interstate systems, at least we can take back some of the green.

Camfield Productions presents... Journey to Australia

Here is my iMovie product, Journey to Australia.  I traveled to Australia in the summer of 2008 to "find myself" and ended up running out of money, almost falling off a cliff, and exploring croc invested waters (probably not the best idea...).  To put it simply, it was the coolest summer of my life.  I haven't tried to tell my story from that summer before, so this project was very fun for me.  Since I went to Australia two years ago (as a younger and rasher version of my present self) it was great to relive the memories of that time.   I hope you enjoy my journey to Australia.

This is not the first time I've edited a movie on a computer.  In middle school I went through a movie-making phase that culminated in two separate, massive, and unfinished movie products.  The first, Yellowship of the Ring, was inspired by The Lord of the Rings.  I spent the summer after seventh grade writing a gargantuan screenplay and ordering all my friends around as we stumbled through the forests of Knoxville wearing Middle Earth costumes.  The summer was too short to finish filming the entire script, but the product was loosely wrapped up.

The second project was an original movie, titled Casserole.  Roughly based on the movie Cocoon, the story followed Pinocchio and a lunch lady involved in an intergalactic drama.  Needless to say, the scope of the story prevented us from finishing the movie.  Tragically, the film was lost in the sands of time.

So I am not a stranger to the trials and tribulations of movie-making.  It is a frustrating and infatuating process, if you have the time to spend.  I am a detail-oriented person, so making even small movies like this one can take me several hours in order to get everything perfect.  But once you get a product that lives up to the storyboard, the feeling is one of pride and satisfaction.

Inspired

Hey, look what I made!  This is a graphic organizer for Leonardo da Vinci, but what I like most about it is that it can be easily modified for another historical character.  I think graphic organizers are great ways for students to organize their notes in class, and they look cool too.

Graphic organizers can be useful, but sometimes they become overwhelming.  My finished product is fairly simplistic now, but the working model was a monster.  I had poor Leo looking like a spider with how many legs sprouted out of him, I was scrolling back and forth to input information, and the font was teeny tiny.  No good.  Simple is better, unless the idea is to convey the complexity of an idea.  That could be a fun activity to show mass amounts of connections by letting students connect ideas as a group, and at the end have a overflowing web that can't be picked apart.  But when it comes to organizing thoughts to be used later, let's not get crazy.

Overall, I really enjoyed using the Inspiration software.  The only problem I had was not listening to directions on how to convert my image to jpg (always listen to instructions!) and using Inspiration 9, which is not compatible with any computer on UT's campus.   However, my blunders aside, I love Inspiration and I might even purchase it once I get a real paycheck!

Visuwords and Used Books

I just heard about this dictionary called Visuwords.  As a visual learner, I find this website very accommodating and fun!  I like how the definitions swirl around and are color coded.  As I've moved through my teacher education, I've begun to realize how many different contents I like to dip my feet into (which is a good thing, since as a licensed middle grades teacher, I could be teaching anything).  I don't know if it is normal to get this excited about an internet dictionary.

I also recently took a trip to the local used bookstore (gotta love McKays in Knoxville) and began stocking up for my intern year this fall.  Since I'll be co-teaching ancient history, I was on the lookout for ancient Egyptian mummy books, Middle Ages history, and maps.  I love maps.  That is why I was suuuper excited to find a relatively new (2007) and pristine world atlas for only $10.  I also found a few books on ancient Egypt geared toward young adults (great pictures), and a very sassy book on Uppity Women of Ancient Times (empower those young women).  I just can't wait to have my own little classroom library full of fun and informative books for my students to explore.

Breaking into Science

Yesterday my partner and I went on a digital scavenger hunt.  It was a lot of fun, because we ended up exploring parts of campus that I had never seen before.  Our theme was "Science" so we sort of let ourselves into a few laboratories that may or may not have been open to the public.  We found a green house, a collection of rocks, microscopes, centrifuges, and other lab equipment.  Here is the photo album we made:

If we were to do this again, I would want to condense the theme somewhat.  We would probably been better off with the theme of "Plants" or "Labs" and not just "Science."  That being said, I really enjoyed the experience.  I feel like this would be a great activity to do with students.  It would be a concrete way for them to connect the real world with their content in a super fun way.  The only issue might be finding enough digital cameras for the groups to work.

Albummers

 This assignment was kind of a bummer...because of the photo size and pixel limitations.  So, I found all my awesome pictures, they met the requirements (5 different sources, see if you can guess where each came from!), and I was ready to post them to Picasa.  UNfortunately, I then spent the next half hour re-sizing them to the appropriate dimensions.  Not super fun.  On the flip side, however, I can now re-size like a pro.

Anyway, here is my album I created around the theme of "Culture".  It's cool to think about the different aspects of our lives that our culture influences.  

Bellow!

In the middle school class I'm observing we're working on writing, and with that, of course...vocab.  Does anyone like learning vocab?  Does anyone think it's fun?  When I think of learning vocab I get post traumatic flashbacks to SAT cramming and fill-in-the-blank sentences.  Bleh.

How does memorizing help you LEARN words?  It doesn't.  Today in my Middle Grades Literacy class we talked about different ways to retain new vocabulary.  There were so many great ideas involving drawing pictures, grouping new words with ones you know, and using words in a context that you are familiar with, etc.  

Let me talk about Linear Arrays for a sec.  Linear Arrays list related words on a spectrum.  For example, in class we listed the following words from softest to loudest: gossip, state, declare, utter, holler, screech, cry, murmur, and bellow.  The activity filtered down into a class debate on which was loudest--screech, holler, or bellow?  Imagine!  An impromptu debate on the meaning of words.  I'm not a logophile by any means, but I was pretty surprised to find myself arguing passionately that bellow was the loudest sound word of all.

My biggest pet peeve is lists of unrelated words.  Why would you group Agile, Vigor, Valedictorian, Sheepish, etc, together with no united theme?  There are so many words to learn, you might as well teach them in groups that make sense.  I'm guessing that someone would more easily remember a previously unknown word from the Linear Array I mentioned than by writing it ten times and putting it in a generic sentence.

WikiWikiWhat?

Working in Wikis can be a little bit frustrating.  Our social studies group shares a wiki page with the other class, so we never get to interact personally with the other Wiki members.  This leads to a few questions on my part:  What is proper Wiki etiquette?  Am I supposed to comment when I change someone else's stuff or should I send them a "Maybe you should change this" comment?  

Also, who are these people??  Are they real?  Are they internet ghosts?  Am I communicating with deceased social studies teachers?  I still get a little skepitcal when interactions are occuring without direct human contact.  I think it stems from when people's moms would be IMing me under the disguise of their child's screen name in middle school.  Creepy.

Don't Feed the Bears

On Friday, I went to the Great Smoky Mountains for the annual synchronous firefly mating season. There are only two places in the world where fireflies sync up like this, and I have always wanted to see it for myself. We showed up a little too late to go the main viewing site, so we were directed instead to a nearby picnic area.

I hadn't been to the mountains in a long time, so I enjoyed myself. I scrambled over huge rocks in the creek, saw a salamander (by the way, the Smokies are the "Salamander Capital of the World"), and saw a curious black bear sniff around the picnic tables as the sun went down.

The fireflies soon came out, which was fantastic. The synchronous flashing made the forest look like a Christmas light display. But every once in a while I could hear lumbering and scraping sounds nearby, and since I could not see in the darkness, I assumed legions of black bears were surrounding us. It was not surprising to me when I heard a mother's voice squeal nearby, "Bear! Bear!" and I dragged my friend as far away from the bushes as possible (making sure to back away slowly so as not to illicit some primal chasing instinct from the bear). Even though black bears are relatively gentle and peaceful creatures, I didn't like being in a picnic area in pitch darkness with food scraps scattered around me. Just another reminder NOT TO FEED THE BEARS!

Although this particular firefly event does not occur at a convenient time for school field trips, any trip to the Smokies is likely to become a learning experience. The national park has several ideas for teachers interested in exploring the Smoky Mountains with their students, whether in person or online.

Deception

The last thing we want when using the Internet in the classroom is confusing, unreliable, or unorganized information. If the first thing we see on a page about Elizabethan England is an ad reading "Help Cure Cancer by Donating Umbilical Blood" we probably don't want to be projecting that page loud and proud on the SMART Board. I don't want to explain umbilical blood to 12 year olds, thank you. So check out Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators and look at the different articles, web pages, and surveys that can inform both teachers and students on how to identify reputable web sources.

On a Break

Hmmm….technology. Right now technology and I are "on a break." 10 minutes ago, as I was drifting through Discovery Online articles and drooling at the pretty pictures, technology and I were doing GREAT. However, as we speak, technology has prevented me from blogging directly into this thing because, as Google told me, “Sorry, there seems to be a problem. The service you're looking for is temporarily unavailable. We're working hard to restore your access as soon as possible. Please try again in a few hours. Thanks for your patience.” Unfortunately, in a few hours I will no longer be using class time, but rather my own time…which is sadly limited these days.

…Wait a second, you say. How are you typing in present tense about this blog if you are unable to log into you account?

Well, as all good teachers know (and hopefully I will be joining their ranks soon) you must always have a backup plan. This is my backup plan: write the blog on Word, then copy and paste it to the web. Let’s just hope it works! (It did if you’re reading this, of course).

Back to my relationship with technology. I think of technology as a handy dandy toolkit. Right now I have a Swiss Army Knife range of materials rather than a Home Depot at my disposal. I’ve got Google taken care of—Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Google Google. I am Googled out. I’ve got Pandora, Facebook, Grooveshark, Cornify (try it), the list goes on and on. But what I am lacking is technology that can be incorporated into the classroom: stuff to get kids going “Woooaaahhhh, cool!” So if you know any good websites, apps, what have you, share the love!