Life got in the way....

...of my blogs. I think I am a few behind, because of my daughter. She decided to be married in Edinburgh, Scotland in the Castle in St. Margaret's Chapel on Jan. 13th, 2008. So my technology use came to an abrupt halt on the 10th through the 15th and really I was in a fog for quite awhile, since shortly after I came back I contracted a cold. Things about technology in Scotland-not as many people walk around with cell phones attached to their ears or ipods either. I don't know if it is a money thing and they are too expensive or what. Many people buy pay as you go cell phones instead of monthly deals from companies as we do here, so that may cut down a bit on the talking. Instead of ipods young folks were talking to their friends in the streets, at least where I was, but I wasn't amongst many teens and didn't have time to check into local high schools to see for sure. I was impressed with the lack of swearing at a soccer game-people were escorted out of the game if they swore too loudly-and the fact that everyone watched and no one got up to buy beer or use the bathroom and thus we could all have an unobstructed view of the game. New concept! But I admit to having a wee bit of something to warm up at times while I was there because it was a bit chilly and damp at night.

It's been awhile

My Spanish 3 students are busy working on projects involving Comic Life or ¡Movie. As Leslie has been showing them possibilities, I see their interest growing. Some have been changing their idea of what their project should be as well as I have. Since I had never worked with either program before in a classroom, just fooled around with them a bit on the MacBook, I had no idea what I should require of them. I now know a bit more how much they can accomplish successfully in a 2 week time frame. More kids are interested in utilizing Comic Life. I can't wait to see the results!

Kids know more and learn fast....

....but ya'll know that. My students will be working with ¡Movie and Comic Life in a couple of weeks. Today some of them used my MacBook to explore these 2 programs to see how they work. They explored editing with ¡Movie and transitions too. Comic Life was a bit more challenging but the students made more progress than I did in less time. So I will be learning from them.

The Clicker

I have been working on mastering the clicker with videos and have been somewhat successful. So far I understand how to use it with the videos I use for Spanish classes. I tell my students as soon as I will have all the technology mastered, they will be gone. I stumble through trying to make it all work. But they are truly patient with me and quite helpful. I have been feeling (and stumbling) my way through the various technology available with these wonderful devices. I'll have to check out the LCD clicker next although I think the laptop clicker does more with different programs.

¿Qué hay de nuevo?

What's new? Well I explored Comic Life a bit over break. I want my Spanish 3 students to use it or ¡Movie. I played with the controller for the computer and can do a bit with it. I figured out how ¡Photo works in conjunction with Photo Booth. This computer does all kinds of things. I wish I was more of a computer geek!