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.