Teaching with Technology

There’s two ways to use the Flip Video camera with your Movie Maker software.

First Way–Install Flip Video Software

(Go through the complete process the first time you use your camera with a computer):

• Plug in your flip video.
• Choose “View your Videos in Flip Video Software.” (if this option doesn’t already pop up for you, click My Computer > Flip Video Drive > Setup_FlipShhare)
• Go through the steps to install the Flip Video Software.
• Now you can export your videos off the flip camera, save them to your computer, or close of out the software altogether. You should also now be able to import videos into Movie Maker.

Second Way–Install the ffdshow Codec

(for lab computers, if you don’t want the flip video software installed, or if the above steps don’t work):

• Download these directions on installing the flip video codec (called ffdshow)
• Download this file (ffdshow codec)
• Follow the directions to install ffdshow. Now your flip videos will work on your computer!
• A big thanks to Meg Swecker for these directions!

Need to know how to use Movie Maker?  Here’s a Movie Maker Handout.

Now you, and your students, will be able to use your flip video movies in movie maker and create all sorts of great digital stories!  :)

I’m getting ready to attend a Teacher Training Institute where teachers will received their own pocket Flip Video Camera. I thought it might be nice to share some of the great ways they can use it. Tom Barrett’s collection of ideas might be a great start! If you have any other ideas, please comment below or send the to Tom….or better yet…do both! :)

Fourth Graders at Clearbrook Elementary are participating in a cross-state Virginia Regions project on the Regions of VA Wiki.   While Mrs. Schlosser’s Social Studies classes are participating in some of the projects on the wiki as a group, a few students decided to participate in the podcast project on their own.  During their free time, they created a song about the Regions of Virginia.  After practicing it, it’s been recorded and posted on the wiki.  I’m so impressed that these kids worked on this song on their own, and think they did a great job!  It’s a familiar tune…but after I listen to it, I walk around with their song in my head for hours.  In case you’d like to listen, here it is:

Regions of VA from Tina Coffey on Vimeo.

You can also find it on the Regions of VA Wiki under podcasts.  Nice job, ladies!

If you live in Virginia, there’s still time for your class to jump in an participate in SOME or ALL of the projects on the wiki. Please join us!!

Yes!  It CAN be done!!  Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Stancil’s classes geocached for the four seasons, and had a blast!  Here are a few really adorable pictures of the event:

The best way to learn about a different place is to visit it, but often field trips aren’t possible.   The second best way to learn about a place is to talk to an expert–someone who lives there.   Fourth  graders in Mrs. Barger’s Class at Glenvar Elementary had the opportunity to do just that as they read the book, Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlin.

To learn more about the setting of the book (a prairie), they talked with other students in Kansas who live near the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve  in the United States.   They used a program called Skype, a free video conferencing tool, and were able to see and talk with students at Turning Point Learning Center in Emporia, Kansas.  Students prepared questions to ask the students ahead of time, and were able to ask those questions virtually.  They were able to see the class in Kansas, and showed pictures and artifacts from our mountainous area.  Students from Kansas  shared pictures of the prairie they took for the class on a recent field trip.  Students had a blast, and learned all sorts of facts about Kansas.

If this kind of project sparks your interest, let me know.  We can skype about all sorts of topics!

The Virginia Western Classes for the spring are now posted online.  I’ve had a lot of requests for a list of what’s being offered, so here it is:

VWCC Technology Classes for Spring 2010

There are tons of choices!!  Hope you find something interesting. :)

Our 2nd grade students ihave been reading the book, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison. It’s a story about a wooden man, Oliver K. Woodman, that is sent from an Uncle in Rock Hill, SC to his niece in Redcrest, CA. Oliver moves from place to place in the book through the kindness of strangers who pick him and and help him travel all the way across the United States.

After reading the book, following his travels on google earth, and learning about communities we decided it would be fun for the students to send their own Oliver on a journey. Since students have also been learning about geocaching, we decided to tie the two things together and create a traveling Oliver K. Woodman geobug. We planted him at a local tourist spot, and hope to map him as he makes his way across the United States to Redcrest, CA. Just like in the book, we are counting on the kindness of strangers to move him from one geocache to another. If you run across him, please help us by moving him along. The students would also love to see pictures of his travels!

As he moves, the classes will use their mapping skills to follow him, and hopefully learn a little of geography. We’ll also be interested in what types of communities he move through (urban, suburban, or rural).

You can learn more about this project on our wiki: http://oliverkwoodman.wikispaces.com.

Mrs. Vest’s class create a Voicethread on Batty Facts to go with their lesson on facts and opinions.  Creating voicethreads on a specific topic gives students a chance to write, practicing reading, and listen back to information, which helps them learn and remember it better. They are also a great way to practice fluency and oral speaking skills.  Students are always amazed the first time they hear themselves read, and I always give them the option to redo their reading if they don’t like it.  It’s neat to see how quickly their reading changes when they can hear themselves! Take a look at their project (and feel free to leave them some comments).

Mrs.  Hudson’s and Mrs. Graves 5th grade classes at Clearbrook Elementary are blogging!  I’m so proud of the hard work both the teachers and the students are putting into this project!  The kids are very excited, especially about comments they’ve received from some college students in Alabama.   They worked really hard on writing posts about instruments to go with the sound unit they are studied in Science, and they are working on entries about their visit to Apple Ridge Farms.  If you have a few minutes to leave them some comments, they would love it!  It’s so motivating for them to know that their writing is read by a “real” audience!

Here are their blogs:

Mrs. Hudson

Mrs. Graves

I’ll keep them linked to this blog (on the right) in case you want to check back on them later in the year!

The History on Tap blog is a great place to find resources that match Virginia’s SOLs for Social Studies and History, including games, foldables, presentations, study sheets, and more. It has resources for K-12, including tons of great things for VA Studies. It is updated and maintained by a Lisa Pennington, a Social Studies Specialist in Portsmouth, VA.  If you teach social studies content, check it out!