Picasa Slide Show

The PICASA assignment was a great idea. I enjoyed doing this project very much. I found Picasa to be a little better at editing than iPhoto; I can straighten and fine tune my photos a little more carefully. I also like the Black & White with a color spotlight option, it is unusual, but interesting.
I can see where, just as with iMovie, how this application could be very fun for students in the upper grades, 4-6, to use. It gives them the power to use their own, fine-tuned media to teach a story or concept, while having fun with technology.

My slide show is about a trip I took to Alaskaland. ( WE refuse to call it Pioneer Park)
My daughter works as a Park Aide there during the summer. This is her first year away from home, at college in Ft. Worth, Texas. She called one day, very homesick, and asked if I would take some pictures of PPland. (what we call it as a joke.) She then asked if I would post them to my Facebook photo album - so she could look and not feel so homesick. She says she looks at them pretty often........

Comic Life Poster

Comic Life is a little used application that has been on my computer, unused, since I turned it on for the first time in 2005. I actually opened the application to see what it was all about, oh about a year later, and closed it again without exploring it very much.

I like the application, Comic Life. It was really easy to use, once the steps were explained to us. This particular application could easily be used by even 2nd and 3rd graders, it was that simple to figure out. Basically it is just drag and drop, then decide if you want shadows, dialogue boxes, & borders around the pictures inside the panes.
I used some family photos to make a colorful poster. I tried many of the styles for the picture, and decided to use both the colored pencil and comic styles, as well as the drawing style to give my photos a unique look. My finished product is a poster that I plan to use as a backdrop for a 12 month calendar.
I think that Comic Life would be a practical program for classroom use. This is an alternative to the traditional written book report format and the colorful presentation will make any resulting pages interesting, with a natural flow, if the artist decided to insert page or pane numbers. Best of all, a student could tell a story using Comic Life in a short period of time, allowing more time so that others could also present. This could also be used for student based lessons; the student could use Comic Life as a teaching tool.

Awesome Digital Video!!!!

This was a great assignment. I loved making my digital video. It was really easy to open and use iMovie 7, and I believe that any student would feel the same.
Using iMovie to complete assignments, such as reports on Modern Literature and instructional videos, is a great way to illustrate understanding of material, as well as teach concepts. It makes the material fresh, and makes it relevant to students living in today's world; students who are very tech savvy and who use the internet and computers for all types of things-including learning.

A short introduction for the video I made. My kids are almost all grown and have left home-either for college or to start their own lives. The year before my oldest daughter graduated from high school, in May of 2006, I started documenting my kids. I photographed our lives together, each child as themselves, the kids together, their friends with them etc. I discovered that it was just as hard to watch their friends leave home too. I also discovered something I already knew, that you can't stop them, you have to give your blessing for your children to go.

Thanks for watching my video.