Introductory Image

Well...this is me! Now, let me explain.

Although I am very comfortable using Publisher and Photoshop, I waded through my first real experience using Adobe Fireworks CS6. Just like getting knocked down by waves, there were times when I had to fight my way through the process.

In the original photo the waves represent water in my life. The ocean is my favorite place to be. My kids swim and play waterpolo year round while my husband coaches. The columns of the pier stand strong in the water as I have become a stronger person through each struggle in life. The glow cast by the sun in the photo captures my warmth.

The additions to the photo represent my attention to details and battle with perfectionism. I had to limit my self to a few key details or I would never finish.

The hand-print- Inside the hand-print is a picture of my family, as they touch my life the most.

The graffiti- This combines my creativity with my love of baseball.  I am a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan.

Edtech 2016- I will complete my MET in the spring of 2016. The Edtech program has had a great impact on my teaching and my life. Starting school again after 23 years was a huge life change for me and my family.  Graduating will be quite a milestone.  Also represented here is my love of fonts!

Pacman- This year I am applying much of what I have learned in the Edtech program into my classroom. I am gaming my class both in theory and theme. This also represents my addiction to video games!

Project #5 Worked Example Screencast

I created a worked example screencast to introduce my students to Front Row a math website which the district has subscribed to this year. Students will need to log in for the first time and begin a diagnostic test. I am teaching a fifth/sixth grade combo this year, so I have tailored the video to address the standards for both grade levels. Having a tutorial for logging in to the program will give the students a step by step lesson which they can refer to if they need help.

Digital Storytelling

My digital story was created to accompany a math performance task. The task comes from the sixth grade math curriculum, California Math, covering the number system.  The personalization principle suggests using a conversational style of narration to help engage learners priming them for learning. 

The math performance task expects learners to find the number of calories needed each day for Luis to have a healthy diet. Next, they are expected to create menus based on a given lists of foods available in the cafeteria which will fit Luis' calorie goal. Once the menus are created, they must choose those which fit in Luis' budget. Finally, learners calculate the total calories consumed by the entire basketball team at the team dinner.  

The task itself, was interesting, but not personalized to engage learners. To increase interest, I created an introductory video written with a conversational style to introduce Luis to the learners. I'm hoping by offering a story about his life, the learners will be further engaged and primed for learning with the math problems to follow.

Creating the digital story was a challenging assignment. Deciding on a topic was the first obstacle I had to overcome. However, once I made my choice, writing the story was one of the easier steps. The biggest challenge was finding pictures to illustrate the story while complying with copyright guidelines. I used pixabay.com to find photos shared freely. I intentionally tried to chose pictures which would guide the story, but allow students to use their background and imagination to fill in the gaps. In the future, I would plan ahead, using personal photos or taking photos to illustrate my story.