I think I got it!

Do I really need to say more?
Well, I will add that I would have prefered to have a better final product, yet, I think I got my project done!

...the saga continues

I recorded and saved my project, I even sent it to my email account. However, now that I open it, I realized that it does not show the pictures I opened while recording the video. Oh, well...
I also think I might re-record it. The video has a few problems. On the other hand, I really would not like to spend another 3 to 4 hours tomorrow doing this again.
The video right now is not top-quality, but I hope that it works for the class. Still...being a perfectionist, I would really like to master google earth and produce something of much better quality, especially since I have been investing over 12 hours in this project.

google earth continuation

Ok. so it seems like I cannot embed this video.
I think though that I was able to save it on the internet (which does not give me a lot of confidence in having it ready and available on Wed.) but I was also able to send myself a copy of it.
I hope this really works!
As a note, I realized that the video is longer than what I anticipated.
We´ll see how it will work for the lesson plan.
Perhaps in the future I would consider asking students to use this program, given the amount of time it has taken me to do a video on it. Unless they already know or they really want to invest time on a project, I would assign or allow them to use this technology.

Google earth

I keep working on it.
It is becoming frustrating though.
I was finally able to record my voice on the program, but I can't seem to find how to save the project or how to embed it on my blog or website.

Patience...it takes time

This project is taking time...or perhaps, I am spending too much time in it. However it is interesting and important to learn.
This morning I have been working on my script, and the uses I could give to it for a lesson plan. I am not 100% sure that I need to write one, but I am thinking about it just in case. Regardless of... I think that since I am taking so much time on this project, I might as well use it for more than one thing.
So, I think that with this video, which I hope to be able to record and make it work, I will be able to go over more than the beauty of Pete, Guatemala, but also to use if to learn and review vocabulary, and also, to learn/review some grammar points, such as the use of the "se impersonal" in Spanish.
I also think that, judging by the amount of information in my script, the video will be over 3 minutes perhaps even over 5 minutes.

This is part of the script that I have been working on today:
Tikal:
Tikal es el sitio mas famoso de los mayas. Fue la ciudad mas grande de las Americas en el periodo clasico (250-900 A.C.). Tikal es hoy en dia un parque nacional y ha sido proclamado por la UNESCO como Patrimonio de la Humanidad.
Las piramides de Tikal estan una frente a la otra. Se caracterizan por su belleza, altura y tambien por amplificar el sonido de la voz. Por consecuente, la voz normal de una persona puede ser facilmente escuchada por otras personas en piramides a distancia de estas.
En Tikal se han encontrado jeroglificos de 80 cm de alto y un metro de ancho, con las dinastias de sus reyes.
La piramide del Gran Jaguar mide 44 metros de altura y tiene senas de que en algun momento habia sido pintada. Tambien hay relieves en la parte superior de la piramide. Algunos arqueologos suponen que las pinturas representaban los 13 reinos del cielo maya.
No te pierdas la oportunidad de visitar Tikal, y de sorprenderte con las ruinas y el paisaje que Tikal te ofrece!
El Lago Peten Itza:
En este lago se puede remar o navegar y obsevar el paisaje y a los pescadores. En el lago se encuentra la Isla Flores, la cual esta completamente urbanizada. Hay lugares en donde hospedarte si asi se desea.
Tambien se puede ir a las cuevas de Actun, en donde se pueden observar formaciones de estalagmitas y estalactitas.
En el Parque Zoologico se encuentran animals pertenecientes a la region, algunos de ellos, en peligro de extincion. Las vistas desde el lago son una verdadera belleza y una oportunidad de dejarse asombrar por la naturaleza!

and here are most of the links that have so far helped me with my script:
http://www.toursguatemala.com/lagopeten1.htm
http://www.toursguatemala.com/GuatemalaTravel_guide/Uaxactun.htm
http://img.youtube.com/vi/q3G__QGw9Ag/0.jpg
http://www.authenticmaya.com/san_bartolo1.htm
http://www.viajeaguatemala.com/Peten/2003917155035.htm
http://www.xplorandoguatemala.com/viajando/lago-peten-itza.htm
http://www.toursguatemala.com/lagopeten1.htm

Print screen a neat trick!

I am glad I learned this at the beginning of class. It has proven more useful than what I thought...

There are several mistakes on my story board, it is evident. But since I have been more concern with actually recording my voice, the story board is likely to change, and I will fix the grammatical errors on it.
For now, I think the most important is to show that I have been working on this project, and thus, I will post a screen shot of a version of my story board.
Also, I will like to point out, that an error occurred with the previous version of the story board I created...it had the script and pictures to the side, however, due to technological problems, it did not save to my USB, and thus, I lost the information I worked on...ugh..oh, well...
Here it is:

On my final project

Well, I am still working on the google earth project. I guess I can´t let a program win me!
For the last week I tried for another two hours to make it, and though I am closer than in the previous weeks to achieve my goal, I was still unable to finish it.
I recorded several times, and with different mics, but the program did not record my voice. I am planning now to go to campus and do it in a computer over there, see if that works.
That, and how to make paths on the program are my main concerns for now. We'll see if I am able to achieve them even before the due date.

I am trying to post one of the story boards I created, but so far I can´t seem to do it. I will play a bit more with the computer, see if I am able to do so.

I think I got it!

I accidentally deleted the second video I created, so I created a new version of it.
This version though I think is better. It has more questions for students to think about when watching the video, and it also includes credits at the begining of it.
I included the credits at the begining of the video because I could not edit the video I did not create (the Argentinian add video). Ideally, credits would go at the end, but since I was not able to put the two videos together, and thought that in between would be too disctracting, I put the credits at the begning of the video I could edit.
There it goes, my first published video on the internet, and an educational one, one that I think of using in future classes!

Videos sobre el fútbol en Argentina

I edited a bit more the video. However, I am struggling to connect the two videos and make a full presentation like that. It seems like I will have to post them separately, and also separately write questions for students to answer by watching the videos.

Not the best week

I was sure I had saved the video I edited, however, I cannot find it anywhere. Since time is short, I will post some video, not one that I have created, but which I hope will help teaching about a cultural aspect of a Spanish-speaking country. I actually found the video. It is about football in Argentina. I am thinking about combining it with a video found in youtube, an add that came for the world cup in 1998.

Changing my multimedia project

The google earth proved to be too much for me.
I decided to edit a video, which I will be posting soon-probably tomorrow-on my site.

Victory!!!

It seems like I was finally able to make my poll work!
It would have like it be different, but if it works, it works.

Multimedia project

I am still trying to clean up my website. For now though, I want to focus on my multimedia project.
A couple of years ago, for a pedagogy class I ineterviewed several people from different Spanish-speaking countries. The interviews were on cultural aspects of those countries, and peculiarities of each of each country. The videos have not really worked, mostly because of the poor quality of the camera I recorded them in. I would have liked to record them again, since I would give them much use. However, since the assignment is on using technology that I have not used yet, I am planning to use google earth and show my students a project they could do for the class. The project will consist of a 3 minutes video showing and describing a place in a Spanish-speaking country, and talk about the kind of activities people can do in that place.
I will post the script later on.
Here is are the first two images that I want to show (hopefully I will figure out pretty soon how to do it!)

Busy with my site

My site is keeping me busy. It has been a bit harder than expected to be able to edit what came with google and what I want to appear in my site.
I have not been able to figure out how to take posts for announcements or homework. The links "edit post" are still showing. My calendar is not for a full month, but I think I got the idea on how to make one and update it. My poll....my poll, I tried, but it is clearly not very good. I will keep working on it tomorrow, so that it actually looks and acts like a poll. Any suggestions on how to make a poll?
Well, something that I have learned is that even though Google provides much material to create a website, it still takes a lot of time to create one, at least until you get use to do it. Also, in the future, I would take more time to invest on this assignment.
At least I can say that due to this class and its requirements, I am learning about technology and how it can be used for pedagogical purposes. In addition, I am loosing my fear towards technology and feel more confident in exploring how to do gadgets and change settings for both blogs and websites! :)

Working on my site

It looks like I am able to do more today than before on my site.
I have been able to change a few things, particularly delete things that I did not want on my site and add information to it.
I am working on truly personalizing this website, accommodating it to what could be useful for a Spanish class.

Creating a site

Here I am again, experimenting with the internet. This time is to create a site. I looked at the tutorial on the class website and found it helpful. But I still find the task confusing. Hopefully though, it will be like the task of creating a blog...meaning that I hope it gets easier.

It is taking a while to do this assignment, more than I thought it would, but I am hopeful that I will be able to learn. You can see it by clicking in here.

Sharing information over the internet

I shared the information on how to be safe on the internet with someone dear to me. She mostly knew all that I shared. She was not surprised, but she emphasized the importance of being careful with the information one posts on the internet.
It is tricky, and hard not to get scared when talking about it, and decide to avoid all of it. However, I think technology can be used for good things, but we still need to be careful with the information we give, the things we search for, the things we watch, the things we do. Like everything we need to be prudent, moderated and wise. As king Benjamin exhorted his people: "And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them. But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not awatch yourselves, and your bthoughts, and your cwords, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and dcontinue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not" (The Book of Mormon: Mosiah 4:29-30).

Internet safety continuation

I saw videos on the the ikeepsafe site. It taught me more about the internet (for instace what is web 2.2)than being safe on it.
However, it has some good points. The sentence that stayed with me was "internet is forever". The information put in the internet cannot be completely erased. There is another good point "anonymity is a myth". The point in here is that everything can be tracked and identified by government, marketers and others. The third point is that "internet is not reality". It is important to know and recgonize that the internet has scammers, bullies, innapropriate content, and people who can do identity theft.
It is important to get a reminder of these things in order to be more careful with what we see, write, and do on the internet.

Internet Safety assignment

I have watched the PBS documentary on the subject. I think that it is interesting that PBS would do a documentary about this. After all, the internet and electronic communication has grown exponentially.
The documentary addresses concerns about internet safety: concerns that parents have, and things that can go wrong. I have heard of them before, which is partly why I have not used technology that much. The video is short, yet it makes people want to watch the full documentary, and think about internet safety.
The PBS site has also several articles that help parents in regards to their fears of their children using the internet. It educates people on how to be safe on the internet.
I read the article by the FBI agent Peter Brust (it is more like a question and answer recorded session). Even though the FBI has about 200 agents on ciber crimes, I think that more people are needed. But more than that, it is important to talk with family members about being safe on the internet, and to have an open communication with them. This will more likely diminish chances of children or teens being abducted or persuaded to go with a predator.

This page also talks about other concerns with the web (such as cyberbullying), but also provides some hope when stating that most teenagers who are asked for a sexual favor blow off that person and some of them also talks to their parents about it.

Th PBS website growing up online also has pages advising parents on how to deal with their children in this technological world.

Templos mayas de Guatemala - El descubrimiento del Popul Vuh - Evidencia...

Continuing with the copyright assignment, I have found this video. I think it is fairly easy to find videos that violate copyright purposes, so I wanted to find another video that does not violate copyrights. I think that this video does not violate copyright use. It is a clip of news (already available to general public). The original source shows at all times, and it is listed as an educational source (if that helps or not, it is listed under the education category). Perhaps just to improve and make sure that there is no violation of copyright law, there should be a disclaimer and an indication on how to use the video. I have seen other videos with a disclaimer stating that the person who uploaded the video does not own it and does not intent to harm its author.

Leerestademoda.com - BOOK - Versión completa

I was browsing to find more blogs that deal with the use of technology to improve students' learning, and found this video. It is in Spanish, and it's really funny.

Book video

I was browsing to find more blogs that deal with the use of technology to improve students' learning, and found this video. It is in Spanish, and it's really funny.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I just wanted to congratulate women on this very special day, particularly those who have influenced the most in my life, my Mom, my grandmothers, friends, aunts and sisters-in-law.
CONGRATULATIONS ON MOTHER's DAY!

Another learning site

Since I am picky about lesson plans, but always looking for options, I have added another site to my blog list.
Here is its screen shot,
and you can go to the site by going to my blog list, or clicking here.

Screenshot

I have subscribed to a teaching blog.
This is a screenshot of it.
I subscribed to this blog because it seems to be active and because it related to language teaching and language acquisition, which is something I am very interested about.

2nd Semester of Spanish, Spanish Love Song

It looks like I was successful in uploading the video. Like I said, it is a fun video to show to students and there are a few things to work on, for instance, commands, or vocabulary.
Enjoy!

Also, I do not think this video violates copyright laws, since it was posted by the creator. Also from what I understand, when I show the video in class, I am not violating copyright laws, since it is used as an educational tool (even though it is a fun educational tool) to go over commands, a few vocabulary words, and talk about cultural aspects of the Hispanic culture.

Posting a video

I just wanted to try to post a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dyVKPrDL1M

I have used this video in class to go over some vocabulary, conjugation and culture. More than that, it is funny and gives a boost to the class.

Playing around

So I have started to play with the blog settings, and I am actually getting excited about this. I have been able to put a picture on the blog, edit my previous post, and even create links on my posts! This is fabulous! I hope that I am doing what I need to for my assignments.There is only one thing that I can't seem to figure out, it is about the RSS or how to subscribe to someone else's blog, and do the screenshots.
As far as for describing my gadgets goes, I put the picture of Nice because it is from France and I really like it. I also wanted to put gadgets other than the fish one, which seems to be popular for the class, but I wanted to try something different, and something that is related to my area of studies. I also changed my theme because I needed to explore it for the assignment, but also because I did not like the theme I first picked. I liked this one much better, and know that in the future if I change my mind, there are other themes to look at, and more importantly, I know how to make the change.

Interesting sites

I have found a few interesting websites in regards to Spanish teaching.
These sites have, for the most part, exercises that help the students practice grammatical concepts. I like to give them to the students as a homework, so that they can come better prepare to class, and that they can reaffirm the concepts saw in class.
The first one is a site created by Barbara Kuczun Nelson. It has different exercises for basic to intermediate Spanish learners. It does have though important basic grammar structures, most of which are hard to learn and acquire, particularly to native English speaker. You can find the site by clicking here.
This site does not have much movement, but the exercises it already provides are of very good quality, and like I said, of important concepts. These concepts include "por o para", "ser y estar", conjugate verbs like "gustar", and when to use "el pretérito perfecto simple" and "el pretérito imperfecto".

Another site that I like a lot and often refer my students to is this one. It has very short videos of different Spanish native speakers performing a variety of tasks, which tasks are classified according to level of difficulty. I have found this site to be good for listening comprehension, as well as to give input to my students and help them with pronunciation. Students also learn about culture.

Last, but not least, I have also used this site; it is a great site from the University of Iowa. The site explains and gives examples on how to do pronunciation in Spanish. There are sounds that are particularly hard for me to explain how to do them in Spanish, and this website, along with a few slides that I have created, are useful to help students improve their Spanish pronunciation.

Struggling to lose fear

Since I have never had a blog before, I have to say, that I am pretty scared of it. I think I have been postponing this assignment because of it. Well, the good news is that doing the assignment will help me overcome that.

In regards to my background with technology, I can't say that I have a lot. I know the basic things, for instance, I have written papers for school and know how to surf on the internet. I have also used PPT a lot in order to create visual aids for my students. I have also used songs, and videos (mostly from Youtube) to help students learn concepts in a different language and culture. Since, I have never used a blog before, or done much with technology, aside from what I just described above, you could understand why I feel very out of my comfort zone. But, again, hopefully knowledge and practice will help overcoming my fear of technology that I have not used before. After all, I am here to learn.

Hi

I have no experience with blogs. This is the very first one that I have created.
About me, I have a background in Political Science, French, and I will be starting a graduate program in Instructional Psychology and Technology.