Rabu, 09 Juli 2014

New Summer Toy: GoPro Hero 3

My husband surprised me for my birthday with a very COOL present: the GoPro Hero 3 Black edition camera.  I'm very excited to play with it this summer and later throughout the school year and swim season. Keep checking back for new posts on using the GoPro Camera as I learn more tips/tricks.

Since I did not get the GoPro remote, I downloaded the GoPro app for my Samsung Galaxy SIII phone which serves as a remote, connecting to the camera's wifi network. This is great for simple remote-controlling  of the camera: turning it on, starting.stopping record, and previewing what is being captured.  I haven't tested how far the phone and camera can be separated, and it can still have a signal when on the surface of a pool, but the phone app immediately lost the signal when the camera was placed further underwater.  Even though the phone lost the signal, the camera continued to record, as seen in the video below. You can also spot me on the pool deck playing with the app while my daughters and nieces play with the camera in the pool.




The next video showcases my youngest daughter underwater. I am very impressed with underwater filming capabilities and I can't wait to capture my winter swimmers' strokes from an underwater vantage point.



For both videos, I compiled the footage in Windows Movie Maker, trimming the clips as needed. With my daughter's guidance, we also picked out a song to use as the soundtrack for her featured film.

I haven't yet purchased a slew of attachments and accessories for the GoPro camera itself.  I will gladly accept recommendations for mounts and tricks/tips on filming. Please share what you know and check back as I share what I have learned.





Sabtu, 05 Juli 2014

#ISTE2014 Use Twitter & Voxer when Travel Plans Go Awry

My #ISTE2014 trip with Liz and Kyle Calderwood and Michelle Wendt was supposed to begin in Atlantic City with a flight on Spirit Airlines to Atlanta, Georgia, but after a cancelled flight and an unexpected roadtrip, we eventually reached our destination, 12 hours after our expected arrival time.

There are two tech tools that were essential for transforming this ordeal into an adventure: Twitter and Voxer.  Using our smartphones, our group made a concerted effort to devise a new flight plan, all which would not have been accomplished had we not been able to use real-time communication.

Using Twitter, I shared our plight of a flight with my PLN, documenting the experiencing and encouraging Spirit Airlines to notice the issue. Even my #FlipCon14 buddy, Ken Bauer, who lives in Mexico made sure to make some noise. While many businesses use Twitter to blast out deals and connect with customers, it is evident that Twitter is a one-way street with Spirit Airlines. We received absolutely no replies from the Spirit Airlines Twitter account.

Plane Problems:






Humorous Shenanigans from the PLN:

Twitter also provided an avenue for adding humor to the situation. My buddies in elsewhere in the country provided me with comic relief with their sad-faced pictures. Knowing that I wasn't alone helped me stay objective and not react emotionally to the situation. When my frustration level would reach atomic level, my PLN made me laugh and stay focused on problem-solving the situation. Can you stay mad looking at these faces???  Thank you Jason & Steve!







Voxer:

Voxer is a walk-talkie app that allows for quick, realtime communication.  I know quite a few educators are using Voxer as a podcast tool for group chats with participants sharing philosophical ideas in a group conversation, but in this situation we were focused on practical applications. Our group relied on Voxer to keep all members in the know as we talked to Spirit ticket folks, located baggage, and made alternative travel arrangements.

Kyle was on the phone talking directly to Spirit Airlines.  Liz was in line at the Spirit ticket counter making arrangements with one of the employees-- Patty was amazing calm and professional the entire time despite facing an angry and impatient mob. Michelle and I were running from the gate to the ticket and baggage areas, all the while making sure our adopted travel partner, Amy B. was involved in our plans. Without Voxer, we would not have been able to coordinate and would have wasted valuable time and energy running back and forth through the airport. With Voxer, we stayed focused on solving the problem and making new travel arrangements with each person doing his/her part.

Serendipity is something that can be found in any situation, no matter how dire. Sitting near us at the gate as we learned about the delayed plane was Amy B., a first-time solo flyer and recent high school graduate who was visiting friends in NJ and now trying to make her way home. Not knowing what to do once the flight was cancelled, Amy followed me as we made our way from the gate to the Spirit ticket area. Our group quickly adopted her and made it our mission to get Amy home.

As a mother, I can only hope that if my daughters were in a similar situation, that they would find caring folks to help.  So often the news is filled with horror stories, but I know that there are good folks out there who do the right thing for strangers.  I wish the news would promote the positive instead of always sensationalizing the negative-- but that is a post for another day.  Amy stayed in contact texting with her mom in Georgia and her mom followed us via Twitter.  Modern communication systems and social media provided transparency to our travels, reassuring a nervous mother that her daughter was in good hands as we left Atlantic City to catch a flight out of Philly.


Roadtrip Tweets:







At the Airport AGAIN
















Amy's Angels

After arriving at Atlanta, a very grateful and relieved mother met us and transported us each to our prospective hotels.  Amy's mom dubbed us "Amy's Angels" through out the trip. While her mom may say we were heaven sent, I'd like to think we were just doing what we, as teachers and good human beings, naturally do: take care of each other.


Minggu, 25 Mei 2014

Film & the Back Channel


My classes are wrapping up the year reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet which includes viewing the 1968 Zeffirelli film version.  While the acting leaves much to be desired, there is merit in showing this version because it provides students with a view of the time period and it is used in various critical thinking activities.

We compare and contrast the cinematography of Zeffirelli's R&J (1968) with West Side Story (1961) in the opening brawl sequence--there really is no comparison, WSS is amazing-- and focus on how the filmmakers used the source material of Shakespeare's play, meeting Common Core Standard 9-10.9. Students point out similarities in camera shots and staging of the opening brawl sequence.  They notice the use of high angle shots to showcase the chaos of the fighting, as well as the use of close-up shots to highlight specific characters. They even recognized the actor who played Tybalt as the same one who played Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers series. 



After the opening sequence and the Prince's yelling at all parities about having started another civil brawl, the next scenes in the 1968 film that correspond with Act I of the play are rather boring for modern teenage audiences.  Whereas I stopped and replayed all the scenes of WSS ad nausem to point out the cinematography and framing, I refuse to stop the 1968 version--like ripping off a band-aid, the quicker we view it, the quicker we will be done. To keep them enthralled, students participate in a class back channel discussion using TodaysMeet.com. 

On our class set of Chromebooks, students join the TodaysMeet room that I created and I go over the ground rules for the period:
  1. Students must use their real names. I give students a participation score for the period, so no name equals no credit.
  2. Students must demonstrate digital citizenship and use school appropriate language.  I don't mind if they misspell or abbreviate, but no profanity or sexually explicit posting is allowed.
  3. Students are to comment on what they see AND answer the questions as they are posted to the room.
  4. Students type in all lower-case letters, while the teacher types in all caps.
I don't follow a Q1/A1 format for posting questions during this activity, instead I post using all caps.  Since the conversation is very fast paced, I keep my caps-lock on for faster typing and so students can differentiate my questions and comments from the rest of the group. There is always a bit of silliness that occurs, but I remind the students about the purpose of this activity: to have a scholarly discussion.  There is a time and place for comedic conversations and blurt-out posting, but this is not it. 

To archive each period's chat session, I make a quick screencast using Screencastomatic.  I turn off the microphone and record scrolling through the chat so that the video archive is about 5 minutes long, as opposed to a full 43 minute period.  After uploading the screencast directly to YouTube, I use YouTube's edit features and add music.  I then post each period's video to our Edmodo group where students can compare and contrast the conversations from the various periods. 

Take a look at the archives from Friday's back channel discussion of the 1968 Zeffirelli version of Act 1, scenes 1-5 of Romeo and Juliet.











Selasa, 13 Mei 2014

Adobe Voice: Easy Tool for Quick Presentations

I tried out the new Adobe Voice iPad app yesterday and made a video for my 9th grade students to view. In preparation for our Romeo and Juliet unit, we viewed and closely analyzed West Side Story. Keep in mind this is an English teacher's interpretation of film analysis.  We discuss mise-en-scene, composition, motifs, camera angles, types of shot, and the overall feel of the film.  I want my students to understand that artists make purposeful choices in the creation of their art and as an audience, if we look with an "informed eye" we can see the artists' intentions. Take a look and tell me what you think!




Adobe Voice is easy to use.  The tutorial guided me through the steps, recording my voice for each slide, selecting layouts, music, and themes.  It is limited on choices, but I can't complain because the price (FREE) more than makes up for the limited choices.  The templates that are available provide enough options to create a schnazzy final product.



 I would like the ability to add more text to the slides, but the app is called Adobe VOICE, so the obvious emphasis is on speaking rather than reading.  As a workaround, I could save PPT slides as jpgs and upload the jpgs to Adobe Voice.  The caveat is that you run the risk of resorting back to the proverbial "death by PowerPoint" phenomena.  This is designed to be short, quick talking points--- granted my example above is on the long side, but I wanted my students to see and understand the progression that I presented. Keep in mind, the longer your presentation, the longer it takes to upload to the Adobe Voice site on the web. Sharing to social media or via email is easy, and once the presentation has been uploaded, you can grab the link or embed code.

Here are some tips:


  1. Write a script about what you will say for slide.  Stick to the script! Don't ramble!
  2. Use inflection and articulation when recording your script. No one likes monotony. 
  3. Vary the layout and size of the pictures to keep your viewer intrigued.
  4. Use bigger pictures for more important moments.
  5. Search for pictures to use or create your own.
  6. Smash Adobe Voice with other tools by converting PPTs or other visuals to jpgs for easy use with Adobe Voice.


Adobe Voice can be used by experienced and novice iPad users.  For those who are looking to creating presentations for a flipped classroom experience on their iPads or want students to create their own, this is an easy and versatile tool.