DSU: Multi-Media Production (Hawkes) MEDIA-VISUAL MAPPING

Assignment #1: Media-Visual Mapping

Inspiration: Ancient Civilization Topic Overview
-This is a idea web that I would use at the beginning of the school year to get my students introduced to the ancient world. Many of my students know nothing of the ancient world so I feel it is necessary and worth while to give them a quick overview of some of the topics we will learn about. This gets them thinking about what is to come and raises their level of concern. We would spend maybe a day or two exploring these topics and sharing what we find out. It is a "setting the table" type of activity for the school year. The tool itself (Inspiration) seems to be a promising tool with many options and capabilities such as setting up your own class. I like how you can share and collaborate on the same project. Students/teachers could also "chat" as they work and/or look at the project. Though there are other tools like this that are flashier, this tool would definitely serve a purpose in creating, reviewing and collaborating. Two limitations that I feel Inspiration has is that you can not upload your own picture from the internet (or at least I could not find that option yet) and second, there is no "embed" option to share it on your website. The only sharing option is a link. I will continue to explore this tool further. Also, the full version is not free, where as there are many tools just like this that are free.

Prezi: Understanding how Feudalism Works
-Prezi is a tool that can be used for many different things, which makes Prezi a dynamic classroom tool for both teacher and student. The "map" I created with prezi shows how Feudalism worked in the Medieval Times. I show the four levels of Feudalism in a pyramid shape, so my students and I would then discuss that the higher you go up the pyramid, the fewer people in that group. I also show how each group is related/connected. With Feudalism, each group does something for the group above and below them, making it a unique system. I have found that in the past, students have trouble "visualizing" how feudalism works so this basic visual of the feudalism pyramid and how it works would be helpful. Prezi has many capabilities. I can share the link to this prezi, embed it onto my website, and also work with others in real-time.

Bonus Tool
Coggle: Overview of "Techno.ED"
-Techno.ED is a website I started on my own to share tools and ideas to help teachers integrate technology into their classroom. TechnoED features a variety of tools and ideas and this "coggle" helps show a small sample of the types of tools and the tools themselves that are shared. The tool I used to make this is Coggle, which is a simply yet effective tool in creating mind/idea maps. The time it takes to teach the students how to use coggle is minimal, resulting in the focus of the lesson to be on the actual content. Coggle's can be shared as "read only" or with "writers" (people who can make changes in addition to you). Coggle also offers a "chat room" for students to discuss and talk about the project they are working on, or for students to ask questions as its being presented in a 1:1 setting.

Taking a look back..

Video Premier: Wax Museum 2013

Here is the 2013 Wax Museum video. Watch the video and remember the night, remember the experience, remember how you felt when the doors opened, the people flooded in, and you gave your first speech. Remember how it felt to donate the money to Make-A-Wish. Remember the ability that you have to make a difference. Remember that you are important and valued as a person. Remember that people care about you and want to help you. Remember this night and never forget it. 

The Wax Museum donation has been made

The Wax Museum has made its donation to the Make-A-Wish foundation and I couldn't be more proud. I want to thank you for all the hard work you did to make the Wax Museum of 2013 a success and an experience nobody will soon forget. Through your hard work, we are able to help Pedro, a 14 year old boy with Crones disease, fly to New Jersey this fall to watch a New York Giants football game and meet his hero Eli Manning. I think that is so cool. You should be proud of your accomplishment.  

6th Grade: A Reflection (Extra Credit)

Can you believe the school year is only 4 days away from being done?!?! Wow, time goes fast. It seems just yesterday you all arrived at the middle school as frightened, anxious 6th graders :)  Now, you are leaving 6th grade as confident, focused 6th graders. We have gone from struggling to open our lockers, to donating almost $4,000 to the Make-A-Wish. We have accomplished a lot in social studies this year. You have accomplished a lot as a person as well. You have worked hard on social studies and did a great job blogging. So, with our final week of 6th grade before us, we have one more blog post opportunity. This is a rare extra credit opportunity for you in my class. If you choose to complete this blog post, you will earn 15 points extra credit for your social studies grade in the 4th quarter. I hope you seriously consider doing this post because I would love to hear what you have to say. 
Extra Credit Task: Post a comment to this blog post reflecting on your 6th grade school year. In your reflection, you could talk about what you learned in social studies, english, math, science, reading, or any other class you had. You can talk about how you felt at the beginning of the year compared to know, talk about certain things that happened to you this school year either at school or outside of school. Basically, I want you to reflect on the school year we are just completing and share those thoughts with me. The length of your reflection does not matter, the quality of your reflection is what I'm looking for... So, Good Luck!

Johnny Fights for the Tiger

Here is a picture of the Tiger Johnny fights for in the book Ancient Quest. 

Ancient Quest Comes to an End...

Throughout the school year, we have been reading a book called "Ancient Quest." We read this book in a fairly odd way, as we only read 1 chapter per month. The reason we do this is because each chapter coincides with the units we study. Each chapter is designed to help us focus on one or two big ideas from that ancient world. Johnny, who is on this quest to conquer the ancient world and save a tiger he killed in 6th grade, has visited and succeeded in the Stone Age, Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, ancient China, ancient India, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the Medieval Times. Now, it all comes to an end as we find out if Johnny will succeed, fail, or die. The question everyone wants to know whenever they read a book is: "What happens at the end?"  Well, let's find out....
(There will be no audio option for the end of the book).

Chapter 10: I Face the End

Epilogue: Johnny fights for the Tiger

Secrets at the Copy Machine: another cheesy comic

Secrets at the Copy Machine by Dan Klumper on GoAnimate

Blueman gets a new neighbor

The Manor System