Blog

I learned how to adjust the voice and the sound for my i movie today. I feel pretty good about that. I learned from Peggy. Since I don't know much about the computer I always ask questions. I even ask some basic things like how to copy the link. Jamie and Jason helped me for that. I made the power point presentation about the Japanese school and used if for my class. I thought it worked well. Showing the real pictures of Japanese school, uniforms, students, classrooms, lunchtime and some school events really help for students to understand the culture. I have learned the following things after making several power point presentations. 1. The slide show should not be too long (20 pictures maximum). Dark room and long slide show are not good things for the sleepy students. 2. Always give students some worksheets and students have to find the answers from the show. 3. Ask questions, wait and after students answer give them the correct answer. 4.Find the interesting pictures.
5. Give students enough time to take notes during the slide show. I am still learning but I am getting better.

Thing 26. Digital Image Collections

I went to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit on Saturday. There was a long line to buy a ticket and to enter, but I did not mind it so much. I rented the audiovisual help for $6.00. It is always nice to have some audio explanations about the paintings and the artist. Frida Kahlo's life was short but was amazing. I enjoyed going to the Walker Art Center and seeing the Frida Kahlo's paintings. I found the site, which show some of her famous paintings.I also checked the Minneapolis Institute of Arts collections and Metropolitan of arts collections on line. I like going to the museums and seeing arts. It is nice to be able to see some of the arts on line (although you do not get the real excitement of seeing the real thing). Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a teacher's day for the Japanese exhibit on March. Is anyone interested?
(Thank you Jamie.)

http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=3156

Blog with an animated gif

I just wanted to try this. This is my new pet, " kingyo". I learned this from Marcia. My next project is to edit my students' Fashion Show video using Imovie. I don't know how yet.

（cartoon taken from http:www.artie.com)
http://www.artie.com/

Thing 14 Reliable Online Resources

In November, we evaluated the databases such as ABC CLIO, Grolier Online, Sirs Research, Gale, Ethnic Newswatch and some other ones. These are the reliable online resources. Public Library and ELM have the lists of reliable online resources. Most of the students are not used to use these reliable online resources and they are depending on too much on Googling. I have to know more about Reliable Online Resources in Japanese. This is my next assignment.

Thing 17 One New Thing

I am not sure about this one” new" thing because it may be an "old " thing for other people. I discovered that making an iMovie using the regular photographs is better than making a slide show. First I used the pictures in iPhoto and put all the pictures in the clips (in the iMovie). I arranged the pictures and made fun transitions and created the titles. I chose the music and recorded my own voice. (You can choose a topic and teach a lesson. We cannot find substitute teachers who speak Japanese so this movie thing is great.) Editing takes time but it is fun. Then I exported the project to iDVD. I chose the theme and burned on DVD.

1/9/08 Blog

We talked about wiki (type of website that allows users to add, remove,or otherwise edit and change most content very quickly)and Copyright. Lindsay’s presentation was amazing. I thought I wish I could do that. I am just getting a little better with computer but I have not improved my computer skills that much. Discussion about copyright was interesting.
Especially now, everybody is using Internet and so much information is there. It is hard to know what is "legal" and what is "illegal". The bottom line is." Taking and using someone's property without permission is wrong." We have to teach that to students.

Thing 7 Get to Know the Research Project Calculator

I was reading Marcia's blog that reminded me to write about Thing 7. My first trimester group did some research on Japan and we taught them about the Research Project Calculator. It is a good tool for them to teach organization skill. They are gone now and I am teaching different classes. I have also finished the survey and the papers are sitting on my desk. Although it was just a trimester, I could see students learned more about research and responsible use of information. I should have chosen Japanese Level 3 class, which is a whole year class, but I chose this class, because most of the students are 10th grades.

あけましておめでとうございます。

謹賀新年　平成２０年　ことしもよろしくおねがいします。A Happy New Year!
I am working on my iMovie now. I used the pictures that I took in Japan and created a movie. I have the background music and I even recorded my own voice but one problem is that I don't know how to burn it on DVD. Does anyone know how to do it?

P.S. I think I know how to do that now, you have to go to iDVD and choose a theme and burn on the DVD. My daughter helped me and she said, " It is not that hard." It was hard for me.