Although not complete, I'm starting to gain a web presence outside of my undergrad Facebook life and cat pictures.
I have acquired a couple of "in-progress" websites (and this blog) pertaining to my teaching career. I have shared my basketball coaching link already, but it has been updated, so I will do it again! I have certainly put more time into my basketball coaching website as it is already being used by my athletes. I have uploaded games and results and a team roster! My eportfolio needs some tidying up and a little fine-tuning, but I can certainly see how a digital version is so much more convenient than a hard copy. I have been learning and now with the course drawing to an end, I need to find away to keep practicing my newly acquired ICT knowledge!
ePortfolio: http://msderemiensclass.weebly.com/
Coaching website: http://katelynderemiens.yolasite.com
Check them out!
Sunday 24 February 2013
Tuesday 19 February 2013
Digital Storytelling: Part 2
So I have had the opportunity in two of my classes to dabble in digital storytelling. 'Back in the day,' I used to love messing around in movie maker and creating little videos for English class or working on larger projects such as our high school grad video and a wedding slide show.
My most recent project started with me brainstorming an idea for a children's story for my ELA methods class. Every idea I had seemed generic and forced. No natural flow whatsoever. Dealing with copyright and creative commons makes me nervous, so as a time saver, I turned to my own pictures. Here is where I found mountains of pictures categorized into makeshift folders/albums. I have always meant to make scrapbooks from my old pictures- or at least hard copy albums. I love nostalgia and really enjoy looking through old pictures. I stared for a while at my copious cats photos and thought about how I could turn them into a story. That's when the simplicity dawned on me. I could just tell the true story of my recent trip with Habitat for Humanity to Honduras. I was immediately engrossed in the process. At moments, the memories made me a little bit misty. I loved taking time to revisit my thought processes when making the short film. I think digital stories are a great way to consolidate old memories and store them for future trips down memory lane.
The downside to becoming so entangled in the process was that my original video was 3 minutes too long and my final copy was a minute and a half over time. I did not use the story board process as I should have, because I had already lived the story. The result of my poor time management left me with a video that I did not have the heart to trim down to meet the criteria of the assignment; however, the assignment gave me that nudge I need to finish these projects that, although meaning a lot to me, I had completely forgot about.
My most recent project started with me brainstorming an idea for a children's story for my ELA methods class. Every idea I had seemed generic and forced. No natural flow whatsoever. Dealing with copyright and creative commons makes me nervous, so as a time saver, I turned to my own pictures. Here is where I found mountains of pictures categorized into makeshift folders/albums. I have always meant to make scrapbooks from my old pictures- or at least hard copy albums. I love nostalgia and really enjoy looking through old pictures. I stared for a while at my copious cats photos and thought about how I could turn them into a story. That's when the simplicity dawned on me. I could just tell the true story of my recent trip with Habitat for Humanity to Honduras. I was immediately engrossed in the process. At moments, the memories made me a little bit misty. I loved taking time to revisit my thought processes when making the short film. I think digital stories are a great way to consolidate old memories and store them for future trips down memory lane.
The downside to becoming so entangled in the process was that my original video was 3 minutes too long and my final copy was a minute and a half over time. I did not use the story board process as I should have, because I had already lived the story. The result of my poor time management left me with a video that I did not have the heart to trim down to meet the criteria of the assignment; however, the assignment gave me that nudge I need to finish these projects that, although meaning a lot to me, I had completely forgot about.
Wednesday 13 February 2013
Digital Storytelling
I made the grad video for my class in 2005. I haven't really learned any new "movie maker" skills since then. I have been meaning for the last couple of years to turn my photos from certain trips and life events into videos instead of making photo albums. I normally just import a bunch of pictures, throw my go to transitions in there, and maybe a little music.
Animoto is a really useful tool and creates amazing videos. The effects and transitions are easy to use and look super professional! There is a little bit of overlap with my ELA methods (we have to make a digital story) and some of my classmates have found other storyboard tools on the internet such as slideshare.net. So it looks like I am going to have to put aside some time to deal with masses of photos that I've accumulated over the last seven years!
Animoto is a really useful tool and creates amazing videos. The effects and transitions are easy to use and look super professional! There is a little bit of overlap with my ELA methods (we have to make a digital story) and some of my classmates have found other storyboard tools on the internet such as slideshare.net. So it looks like I am going to have to put aside some time to deal with masses of photos that I've accumulated over the last seven years!
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Addiction
I'm officially addicted to my website. I am constantly wanting to update it and add new things! I most recently changed the youtube videos to suit my players needs... ankle sprains... I love the connection it brings between my players, their parents, and myself. As a kid, any piece of paper that I was told to take home, rarely made it home. Having our practice schedule (now that it finally works..still learning!), tournament draws, and results online makes it easier for parents to be in the 'know.' I also included a poll for player input regarding what we do in practice. It opens up the lines of communication and creates stronger team bonds.
I feel like I have so many more creative outlets to draw from when planning lessons now! So many more resources, which lead to more (engaging) ideas for the classroom. In my first student teaching placement, I had no idea how to navigate the internet other than *googling* things. Incorporating some of these tools into biology presentations (vs. power points or posters) can give kids something to play with and have fun making their presentations. I have come up with many real world applications (not relevant to school, coaching, or class) where I can use these new found tools!
I feel like I have so many more creative outlets to draw from when planning lessons now! So many more resources, which lead to more (engaging) ideas for the classroom. In my first student teaching placement, I had no idea how to navigate the internet other than *googling* things. Incorporating some of these tools into biology presentations (vs. power points or posters) can give kids something to play with and have fun making their presentations. I have come up with many real world applications (not relevant to school, coaching, or class) where I can use these new found tools!
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