Final Project...Finally!!!

So I was going to create a game for this final project...and then I found out that that was not the purpose of the project; the purpose isn't for us to learn a new technology so that we can show it off to our students in the classroom, but to learn a new technology so we could teach it to our students, and help them learn through this technology. So I remodified...I still wanted to do something for my Spanish class, and I still wanted it to have something to do with culture (because I think that's harder to teach than grammar and vocabulary), so I ended up doing an exploration project that would be done as a class. I pretty sure that I don't have all the kinks worked out...since I don't know very much about the timing of lessons and stuff, but I'll figure it out when I'm a teacher. For now, here's my project! This example is for the country Mexico :)

Click here for the rubric

And here's the link to see the tour

What we would do is choose a country for to study for a week or two, depending on the size of the country, and then, together as a class, we would learn about the history of the country; then I would divide the students up into groups and have them research different aspects of the culture of the country, and they would present that to the class. Finally, all together, we would use GoogleEarth to create a tour of the country for ourselves to be able to remember what we have learned about this country - ie. history, national monuments, natural beauties, etc. Doing this as a class would be helpful because this way, they don't have to go and create an account for themselves, and try to figure it out, but it would give the students an opportunity to see something new, and by watching me the first time, and then having the chance to create it after that, this would be able to help them explore new cultures, and new places.

I actually enjoyed this project; GoogleEarth drove me nuts because it was so slow, so it took forever to learn how to create a tour, but once I finally got it all figured out, I think this project turned out pretty cool; a couple of my roommmates said that they wish they could have done something like this in their HS Spanish class - it would have made it more interesting :)

Final Project

So for our final project for my IP&T class (yup - it's finals time already!!!) we have to do a technology project using a piece of technology that we haven't used before. So I'm going to make a game using power point for my future Spanish class to help them review different tenses (present, future, preterit, imperfect, etc), and also to help them learn different cultural aspects that we will have learned about different Spanish-speaking countries. I'm excited to make it because I've never done something like this with power point before, but I've seen it done, and I think it's really amazing! I'm really excited to work on this project more; right now I'm still working on deciding what information I'm going to put into the game. More updates to come!!!

Internet Safely Update

This internet safely assignment, now that I'v finally had time to work on it, it actually quite interesting. My friends all tell me that I have very maternal instincts...which is true, I guess - I feel very protective of anyone and everyone around me, and I want to take care of them. So when I was reading about internet safety on several different websites, most of the stuff seemed like common sense to me; but the one thing that really stuck out to me was that parents should talk with their children. I guess it makes sense - since it's important to talk to your children about many different subjects (especially with the way our world is going lately), it is equally important to talk to your children about internet safety.
I was talking with my cousin about this, and she, having two little girls of her own, is concerned about this for them. As they grow up, she wants them to be safe in all aspects, and be able to have a good life.

I was also able to read a few talks about what the apostles have to say about this. I thought it was interesting how they talked about the importance of using the internet for good, because that it where most people are turning for answers. They encourage people to have blogs and to use them to promote the Church, and the ideals and the values that the Church stands for. One woman that they quoted told a story about how she had blogged about one April general conference that she had listened to, and her friends had read her blog, and were quite interested and had many questions about what else the apostles and prophets of time had said. The Church has really been working hard to use the internet for good; for example, they are working on the new www.mormon.org website, and they are asking members to create a profile for themselves where they can show that they are regular people, like the people who will look at these profiles, and the members will provide answers to questions that many people around the world have. Here's the link, if your interested:

http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/new-mormon-org

Copyright assignment update

So after looking at some other people's copyright assignments, and doing a little bit more research, I realized that the "Twilight/Taylor Swift" song only had ok copyright...I thought it was pretty good, but not it's just ok. They didn't have any credits at the end saying where they had gotten their clips or where the original song had come from, or anything. So now I'm on an excursion to find a good example of copyright usage...

Ok - here's what I've found.



I love this Josh Groban song!! When I was on my mission, and feeling down, this song would always pick me up. So when I found this video, I was excited! I especially love what this person had done with the part where Josh Groban says, "you...are...loved..." :) but the copyright for this video isn't that great...although it's better than the other video that I found. They did credit the song, which was awesome, but they didn't credit the many, many pictures that were included in this video. It's wasn't for educational purposes, just for entertainment, so I'm pretty sure that this is not up to code when it comes to copyright laws. Sad days...it's a good video.

Latin American Greetings video

So I had to make a movie for my IP&T class that I could use in my classroom some day; I debated for a while what type of video I wanted to do, since my major is FACS, but my minor is Spanish teaching, and I want to teach both. I ended up deciding on doing something for my Spanish classroom, since my last project was focused on my cooking classroom. In Latin American countries, people greet each other differently than they do in the US and more Americans are a little surprised when they receive a kiss on the cheek instead of a simple, ''hello, nice to meet you.'' So I decided to create a video about greetings, and the proper way to create people south of the US border. My good friends, Amanda and Emily, were kind enough to help me...although when I told them what I needed help with, I'm sure they were wishing they didn't love me so much :D



I think this video would be beneficial to students who watch it because it compares and contrasts the different greetings that most people are accostumed to from different places around the world. This would be a good demonstration, and then offer a good practice idea for the students to be able to practice their Spanish, and also what they have learned about another culture.