Quick and Easy Download App

Several weeks ago, I needed to be able to download movie clips and place them into a powerpoint presentation - which turned out fabulous, by the way. I'd post it here, but it's rather large, and mostly in Spanish, so I don't think there's an audience for it. But I digress...
I needed to these clips, mostly from YouTube, and so I went looking. I found a great application called Fast Video Download from Mozilla for Firefox. Most people I've talked to have complained that their downloading tools took a very long time. This one is speedy and has worked well for me. It gives several format options. (I use Quick time.) Check it out: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3590.

Ning Project

WOW! It's hard to believe that I've gone this long without posting. I recommend not getting sick in the middle of the semester. But I am well on my way to being well again, and just in time for the holidays :)
My final project has been essentially ready for several weeks now, but I only posted it today due to my illness and the fun problems I've been having with my wireless card. This afternoon, I am wired, which makes things a whole lot easier. The project is a lesson plan for a theoretical AP English class. I don't know when I will teach AP, but I would love to do it, so I may as well dream, right? I set up a Ning network for my class. Since I didn't want to deal with having all my students give me their emails, inviting them and waiting for them to sign up, I created several 'fake' emails with names of literary characters and signed them up. The students using a particular literary alias will change with each term, and the new students will have the benefit of seeing previous student work. The Ning will have sample AP essay questions as discussion threads. Students will then be assigned to respond to the essay and evaluate other responses and then edit their essays. It will be great practice for the actual AP. I'm excited about this concept. It could be adapted to any essay writing exercise. I would have used it in my current classroom except that my school district server blocks nings and other social networks. I think this ning would be safe, since it is a closed network, and all postings would be cleared through me.
This has been a fun semester learning about new ways to use technology in the classroom. I'm especially grateful to have the tools to continue integrating new technologies in new ways. I welcome your ideas.

Personal Technology Project Ideas

As I prepare to begin my Personal Technology Project, I am interested in several options. My top three are Webquests, Powerpoint games, and Digital XPress. I think the Webquests would be a useful introduction to researching and writing research papers. Powerpoint games could be a fun way to review vocabulary and grammar concepts in Spanish. But my preferred project is probably the Digital XPress. I think it would encourage writing and collaborating in my English classes. The virtual tour was pretty impressive. My concern about this is the cost. There is a 30 day free trial, but after that, I don't know what the price is, and I was unsuccessful and finding that information online. I don't want to invest all the time needed to set up if I'm not going to use it beyond the project for class. Call me Crazy (some of you already do!), but I think that anything I do for this class needs to be portable, useful for my career. So far, I've been able to use everything - my geography students are already working on their own iMovies, and they are excited about it. If the price more than I'm willing to pay long-term, I may want to delve deeper into creating a Ning Network for my students' writing. It wouldn't have the same features, but I like Free. Free is good.

SUCCESS!!!

FINALLY!  My video is successfully uploaded to YouTube.  Yay!  It took several tries, but at least each successive trial took less time to load.  The last one was only about 5 minutes.  For now, watch it here from YouTube, but I'm also trying TeacherTube again.  Who knows?  Maybe the umpteenth time is the charm...

iMovie...the Saga Continues

I finally got my video uploaded to TeacherTube, but now it won't actually play.  This is unfortunate, because I'm going to try YouTube now, and it isn't accessible from computers on the Provo School District server.  If I want to show a You Tube video at work, I have to download it at another location first and bring it into class - always hoping that the window doesn't get closed before I want to show the movie.  Since students are often on my laptop, this happens sometimes.

iMovie Frustration!!!

So, my multimedia project is due.  Silly me, I thought it would be easy to upload my movie to Teachertube when I got to work this morning.  I even came in an hour early to get it done.  My computer has other ideas.  It's still trying to convert the file.  A 5-minute movie should only take a few minutes to convert so it can be uploaded.  That is usually the case.  But not today.  I am missing class because it is still working on it.  I closed all the programs that I don't need right now (although, yes, this blog is in an extra open tab, but I'm going stir crazy!) and it still is taking FOREVER!  ...oh wait, wait! -- it's finally done!  
ACKK!  Now it's saying the file is too large!  I want to wring its little neck!  But my movie doesn't have a neck.  More to come...

google video chat

I just finished talking to an obliging fellow night owl friend in Washington using Google video chat.  Very few of my gmail contacts have video capability and he is one of them.  It took a few tries to get connected, but as it turned out, all the kinks were on his end - kept crashing his browser.  It's good to have another technology thing-y I can do.  Thanks, Steve!  I don't know how often I'll actually use this function, or how often I would use it in the classroom, especially since chat is often disabled when I'm in the classroom, but options are good things.  Next time I'll remember to put my computer on a level surface instead of on my lap so as not to make anyone seasick. (sorry about that ;))