Video Production

I found this assignment to be very informative. I really enjoyed getting to learn all of the different types of shots and movements. I never realized how technical it really is! Now that I have completed my video I find myself trying to recognize the camera shots in TV shows and commercials.

The actual filming was interesting to say the least. In my first attempt, I used my 1 year old niece as an actor. Numerous retakes later, I decided it might be a little easier to use someone that didn't run out of shot or stick their face into the camera. Ironically that person was easily my dog. Dog treats work wonders for sitting still.

The only real problem that I ran into was uploading the video files from my camera to Windows Movie Maker. I recently bought a new digital camera at Christmas and knew it would be perfect for this because it records videos in HD with sound. For some reason, the sound did not transfer with the video. When I play it back on my camera you can hear everything. My quick fix was to add narration in Windows Movie Maker and a background music from Soundzabound.

Looking forward to the next video, I will need to investigate my camera and how to fix the sound issue before I begin. I look forward to the video because I know it will be a blast to create.

Wallwisher

Ever have one of those weeks where you keep randomly running into the same person? That has been my week with Wallwisher! I first heard about it through a tweet and thought it looked interesting. Then Dr. Smolka mentioned it in our meeting on Saturday. Now, I received a tweet with interesting ways to use wallwisher in the classroom. Anyway, I found this very helpful and wanted to share. 

Geotech 2010

One of my favorite new technologies that I learned in my day at the Geotech conference was how to geotag pictures. I was very curious how it would work since it seemed to be something that I could use in both my personal life and in teaching in the classroom. I learned about several different websites that allow geotagging. 


Flickr- This site was my favorite because it was very visual and easy to maneuver. It's motto is "Share your photos. Watch the world." As I am writing this post Flickr has reported '

4,390 uploads in the last minute, 558,832 things tagged with urban, 2.4 million things geotagged this month'. 

Panaramio- Once I began reviewing this site I found a really neat contest that they are having involving geotagging. Check it out!!!! 


Everytrail- This site also has a free iPhone app that you can download to your phone and begin geotagging by using the GPS and camera feature in your phone. I tried it out on my way home from the conference and it literally tracks your every turn and allows you to geotag pictures instantly. 


A few other random things that I learned that day:

• do not always rely on your iphone to give perfect directions or you might end up a Lew Sterrett :(
• pressing 'ctrl' and 't' opens a new tab on your browser
• I am very uneducated about the geo-world! Who knew there was SO much information available!!!!

Teacher Tube Laughs

I have scanned through Teacher Tube on several previous occasions and each time I am amazed at the wonderful and dedicated educators that exist in the world. As I watch the different videos related to my content, I always seem to come across some crazy, zany teacher who has dressed up to teach a lesson or skill that leaves me laughing hysterically. Please don't think that I am laughing at them, but more so with them. It makes me think of my crazier moments in the classroom and the true passion that teachers really have for their students and their jobs. So, crazy, zany teachers on Teacher Tube...I applaud you and your efforts to educate the world. With this being said, I have to share the videos that I enjoyed watching tonight. In honor of the big, bad 4th grade writing TAKS test tomorrow, I have found some great teachers who created videos to motivate their students to do their best on the test.







I also LOVE watching student made videos. Here is another motivational TAKS video that some middle school students create don their own. I know that my third graders would think it was very cool. (No laughs on this one)