Emerging Technology #3 Smilebox

Smilebox is a great way to create memories by creating slide shows with your photos and videos. You can use their themes for the seasons, holidays, special events or create your own designs. You can add their music or add your own music. The best part is that the basic plan is free. If you want to use all the extras that Smilebox has to offer then you can pay a small fee and subsribe. There are also many options to create invitations, thank you cards, greeting cards, e-cards, scrapbooks and photo albums. It is very user friendly and does not require a lot of time. I created a short slide show in about ten minutes. Once you get the hang of it, it's very easy. Your creations can be sent via e-mail and posted to your facebook or whatever you choose. You can even record it on a DVD. I absolutely love this and plan to create a DVD as a Christmas gift to my family. It's also a great idea for the person who has everything and you want to give them something unique.

My students would love this for many reasons. What a fun way to create a presentation of a trip abroad. I love the fact that text can easily be added and they could use Spanish for their text. Watching slide shows, videos or looking at scrapbooks that the students have created during class time would be a great way to motivate the kids for conversation practice in Spanish to discuss them afterwards. I could create a scrapbook of Costa Rica, Mexico or Spain to show them as an introduction before giving them their assignment. I love the fact that I can add Spanish music from another country.

The main thing that I would be concerned about with high school students would be the choice of their pictures and their music. They would have to be approved by me first. I would definitely have to take the time to preview everything first before letting them show them in class.

I'm excited to use Smilebox for both personal and professional reasons. Kids love choice and to use their creativity. I can use it for beginning or advanced classes with basic vocabulary or culture. The students could also create a collage of their family, friends or school activities. It would be a fun way to connect with the kids, learn more about them individually, and make class more interesting. Check out my slideshow at

http: //smilebox.com/playBlog/4d5449314d4441794f44413dOdOa&blogview=true

Italy 2009

View my scrapblog at http://www.scrapblog.com/?sbid=2280438-ScrapblogBuilder-WindowsInternetExplorer

Emerging Technology #2

Scrapblog is a fun way to organize and store photos. I would love to create scrapbooks of the trips that I have taken abroad to share with family, friends, and students. I would love to create several short scrapbooks for each city that I visited. I get overwhelmed by trying to figure out what to do with the hundreds of pictures that I have taken of ancient ruins, medieval cities, architecture, rain-forrests, wildlife, and local native people. Scrapblog would help me organize my photos and separate them.

I would love to teach my high school Spanish students how to use this program to share with the class. I have students who qualify for the IU Honors Program to study abroad in either Mexico or Spain for the entire summer between their junior and senior year. They live with a family and attend classes. They are guest speakers for me the following year to share their experience and hopefully gain the interest of others to apply to the program. It is a life changing experience for them. Scrapblog would be a fun way to send updates to their families, friends, and teachers while they are there and after they return.

I also have students who go on mission trips to Spanish speaking countries. Many kids also travel to places like Mexico on family vacations. Scrapblog would be a fun way to share travel experiences with everyone.

Another feature that I like on Scrapblog is creating greeting cards or post cards. What a fun way to stay in touch while traveling. I love all of the creative ways to add your own personal touch by adding pictures, stickers, and texts. I like the fact that there are options to print, order or e-mail created items. I will begin experimenting with my students by having them create greeting cards in Spanish.

I decided to start small by creating a post card with a picture from a trip that I took to Italy last year since it is my most recent trip.

pbwiki

http://deblutz.pbworks.com/Module-3%3A-Critical-Thinking
Here is my pbwiki

Teacher Tube

Please watch the folowing videos an www.teachertube.com
Cry Me a Verb
First Semester Spanish Love Song
Que Hora Es

Emerging Technology 1 Teacher Tube

I have recently watched several videos on teacher tube that I think could make my Spanish students more enthusiastic about learning Spanish. Grammar is kind of a dry subject that the students don't always enjoy learning. There are multiple videos such as "Cry Me a Verb" that students have created to teach and review verb conjugations. I would love to show videos like this one to inspire my students to create their own videos. I would probably not have them post them but watch them in our classroom instead. This would be a fun way to liven up grammar topics. I like the fact that I can use different videos for the different levels that I teach. My advanced students can watch videos about current events while my beginning students can do simpler things like learn vocabulary. I really like to begin or end class with one of these videos as an introduction to inspire or as a fun way to review material.