Myers Final Video

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=3cce720bb30f34339ed3

Photo Shop Elements Used in Final Movie

I started with the basics, removing black borders, red eye and genera cropping. I also rotated several photos ( individual book pictures) which were positioned horizontally. Text over pictures in various fonts, styles and colors was also used. The "fun" pictures were the intro shots into the different themes. For the "survival themes" I applied an filter effect under standard elements called "add noise." On the "sports theme intro" I tried the rubberstamped effect in standard elements. This is also the effect, on teh background layer of the "war theme intro." Over the rubber stamping technique, I used the oval elliptical tool to cut out a clip from a Civil War picture, a Holocaust picture, and a Vietnam War picture and feathered each cut 20%. Then, I pasted each of these on top of the rubber stamped layer and moved them around to position them. I also used the arrange layer option to position the Holocaust clip under the Civil War clip, and to place the Vietman clip over the Cicil War clip. It was fun and better yet, the students loved the look and are excited about learning how to use photo shop elements.

The project to have them create movies was neat, but very time consuming. I have them in a two period block and it still took two weeks. I am hoping that with more practice on their part and mine, any future movies will take less time to put together. Even though it was time-consuming, it was beneficial and I will admit their final projects turned out better than mine. I am planning on positng their movies on the schools web page and my Angel account. The students however, asked to have them put on You Tube. I agreed, but then got negative comments form some parents about this. After explaining teh project to the parents with concerns however, and eliviating their concerns of non-appropriate usage of You Tube at school, they seemed to understand the project and gave me permission to post their child on You Tube. I also had to get the school's computer technician to unblock my computers from blogs and You Tube. When the project is over, he will put the filters back up on all computers in my room but mine. I think I have him convinced that just because it says "tube" on the end of the site, it isn't all inappropriate for school use.

Myers podcast Site

http://cmyerspodcast552.podbean.com/feed/

My podcast was designed to be a weekly feature on teh school's website and/or the Angel site. It's basic premise is to have students prepare and recite oral book reviews for others to hear and perhaps find a novel they would like to read. Their reports also help me hold them accountable for reading novels, and if they know they are posting to a peer audience, they will take more pride in their final projects.
I used several techniques on my pictures with PSE. Obviously basic rotations, cropping and resizing, but I did get creative on a couple. I really like the text over picture option and used it in several clips using different colors and fonts. I also experimented with backgrounds and layers. I several I select wild backgrounds( angled spectral etc.) and then played with the opacity and text over effects. The clip of all the different books was also neat, as I used the fluorescent effect on them to make them look cartoonish. My favorite clip ended-up being the Matilda slide. I first made the movie picture 3-D, then cut the Matilda tape out and pasted it on the wild background ( angled spectral) layer in 75 % opacity. Finally, I free rotated and skewed the size of the movie cut-out to give it a "fantasy-type" effect.
Personal Note:While doing this project, I had to work between PSE 3 at school on Macs and PSE4 at home on PC's. I am not sure if the type of computer made a difference or not but, I like PSE4 much better.

Favorite Assignment

My favorite assignment so far during this course has also been the most stressful. This was the imovie. The frustrating part was figuring out how to work between the world of MACS and PC's. The cameras, ipods and camcorders I used were the schools and they are all formatted for MACS. at home I have a PC. I had a hard time getting things to convert and spent an hour or more talking to technical support at dell only to find out, I couldn't switch files from quick time to a PC format - an expensive learning experience as it cost me $60.00. After finding this out, I then had to rely on a colleague to help me at school and even then ended up just borrowing a school's laptop to create my movie using a MACS movie maker instead of my imovie. However, once I got all the files onto one computer and in a compatible format the assignment was fun. I spent almost a whole day playing and testing my movie before I submitted, but it was such a great learning experience. Even though I am still very new at the process, I am going to introduce this process to my eighth graders today and together we are going to create book videos. Since I learn best by teaching something, I am looking forward to this process. IT will be stressful and I will probably have a few more wrinkles by Saturday, I am confident that my students and I can do this! I guess I'll find out by Friday. Wish me luck!

Cindy

My Podcast

I subscribed to GRAMMAR GIRLS GUIDE TO BETTER WRITING. I was so excited when I first heard this was available and free. I had heard about Grammar Girls on "Oprah" and just figured it was something I couldn't get because of cost. YEAH! I will most certainly be putting Grammar Girls on my classroom's computers.Thanks for having us do this activity. I am also going to look into the books offered through podcasts as it may be a great way for my students with IEP's in reading to be more active participants in class discussions etc.

MYERS EDUC 552 Making Video Reports 2009

Here is a 2 minute video of my eighth graders making their book report movies. It is the first movie I have ever done, and I owe a big thanks to Julie and Mary for helping me figure out how to work between the worlds of MAC and PC. The second to last clip ran too long, but I simply did not have the energy to recompress and save the movie for a third time. Eventually, the last clip comes on screen. It was certainly a very educational project. ENJOY.