Putting it all together

Final project

Descriptive Narrative

Personal perspective:

Since I began my career in teaching, I have been fortunate enough to observe many different teaching styles.  While some methods coincided with my personal views, those that did not, provided me with the opportunity to question my practice and review my teaching strategies.   In working with Dr. Martine Pellerin in her research involving technology and literacy practices, I was able to dive deeper into my epistemological views on literacy acquisition and my approaches to teaching in a French Immersion environment.  Creating this video allowed me to pull together some of the evidence of learning I have been collecting in order to have a visual argument for balanced literacy and collaboration in the French Immersion classroom.  The main project I am presenting in the video allowed students to interact in French not only with their classmates, but also with staff members in the school.  The picture above is of our Child Development Advisors helping a student represent the number 12.  This picture, created and captured by the student was the basis for not only a classroom discussion in French, it also open up the use of doubles in addition.  If we as educators are moving away from stand and deliver pedagogy, we must also move away from teaching literacy and subject matter in isolation.    The world is coming together as a global community like never before with the help of technology, and I strongly believe that we are doing a disservice to our students if we do not show them how to collaborate and integrate their personal knowledge and the knowledge of others.  In my opinion some of the approaches of literacy acquisition in a “Oral first” French Immersion classroom does not allow students the richness of bringing their knowledge of the different literacy strands together in a collaborative environment.   It is my hope that this video will provide visual evidence of the capabilities of young language learners when teachers provide the tools they need to bring together all of the literacy strands.
The theory behind my thinking:
  Too often in early French immersion, reading and writing are viewed as separate literacy that should not be approached until the other literacy strands are strengthened.   It is my hope to provide evidence that solely focusing on vocabulary development in isolation limits a child’s ability to form their own meaning and links with literacy as a whole. The work of Genesee (1994) seems to agree with this viewpoint when it states that "Children as they become literate, are creative constructors of their language or languages.  Children engage in hypothesis creation and testing as they figure out how the written language works.  They are in control of the processes as they use information from the environment (including the people around them) in their construction of meaning” (p.137) ( I have also included another reference for Genesee's work that elaborates further on the topic of literacy acquisition and compliments his earlier work well)
Students exposed to a balanced literacy approach to teaching will demonstrate an ability to write complete sentences independently and will be able to collaborate more independently with their colleagues.  Often when we hear "21 century" learner we have visions of technology.  While I argue that this plays a crucial role in a second language classroom, I must also state that the balanced collaborative approach is just as crucial in the development of a well rounded complete learner. 

While many researchers have addressed the benefits of collaborative inquiry for literacy and social development, George Jacob and Christopher Ward (2003) detailed it well in their article for the Electronic Journal of Science. “Positive Interdependence: the feeling of support among group members such that they feel the group sinks or swims together.  Collaborative skills: e.g. disagreeing politely, encouraging all to participate, explaining by using examples and asking for examples.”  (p.1) In essence, collaborative inquiry is an essential skill needed in life, that develops students abilities to communicate, listen and interact with their peers using all of the literacy skills taught to them in their safe classroom environment.   This combined with the use of different technological mediums provides students with the opportunity to be 21st century learners.

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I hope to be presenting a modified version of this video with Dr. Martine Pellerin at the ACPI conference in November of this year. 

Experience of the video: 
Students are capable of great things when we provide them with the tools they need to be successful.  These tools are not uniquely technological, but are also many of the tools we have been trying to help students with for years, such as problem solving and collaboration.  In French immersion when students are able to work together and record themselves, they have a sense of pride in their work and they strive to use as much French as possible.  As seen in the video, students are engaged and are putting in their best effort to use their known French vocabulary.  They are motivated because of technology and because they know that another student is depending on them.  I hope that this video begins to wet the appetite for teachers who do not feel comfortable or are not yet using technology in a collaborative manner in their classroom.
Connection to theory from class:
As our class reading showed us, narrative can play a vital role in learning and assessment.  The use of technology can allow children to share their narrative freely without feeling judged  by speaking in front of classmates. As we saw in in the work of Barrett and Stauffer ( 2009) "we construct our understandings of the world mainly in the form of narrative, stories, excuses, myths, reasons for doing and not doing and so on." (p.9)  We must remember that this is the same for students of any age.  Our students are taking in their understanding of the world from their environment.  We must give them different outlets for expressing their understandings, and technology and collaboration with peers is an essential tool for deep learning.   Teachers can no longer feel as if they are the only source for understanding.  Teachers also need to take stalk of their own epistemological beliefs and how they effect their teaching and their students understanding.  As seen in the work of Ackermann (2004) " The beliefs we held about children's learning are deeply grounded in our own convictions on what it means to be knowledgeable, intelligent, experiences and what it takes to become so." (p.15)  As I address in my video, students will rise to your expectations.  If you do not feel as student is capable of achieving they will not succeed, mostly because the teacher will not provide them with the tools they need to be successful.
What I want viewers to do with this information:
In combination of this video and the presentation that I will help give at the ACPI conference in November, it is my hope that teachers will begin to see that even young children are capable of utilizing and learning from and with technology.  They are capable of balancing literacy strands if these strands are taught in collaboration and are presented in an authentic manner.  I have provided some references for future reading about the balanced literacy approach in French Immersion, so that as the debate about literacy acquisition continues, teachers can reflect upon their views, the information provided during the video and the presentation and the readings in order to form a whole view of the capabilities of their students. The links provided at the side of this blog are offered as practical tools for French Immersion teachers to use.  Some are easy to use French websites teachers can use with their early immersion students to get them using laptops and technology and some websites are practical ideas for French Immersion to use for their own unit and theme development.  It is my hope that this will at the very least get teachers thinking about their current practice and personal views on teaching.

Connections:

I wanted to take this course in order to make connections between the domain of digital content and my classroom pedagogy. In creating this movie I was able to revisit the TPACK model we touched on in class to question and revisit my methods ans reasoning for using various technological mediums. I have begun to integrate the use of IPods, IPads and Smart boards into my daily classroom practice, but during this class I have begun to question the reasoning behind not only technology, but also why I have chosen to use those particular tools. A lot of my choices come down to what is available in the school and what I am most comfortable with.  While I do not fear using technology, I do fall victim to the “everything right now” mentally of this new Google search generation and I can get frustrated when things do not work the way I think they should. From this point on I plan on really taking the time to think about the curriculum and my pedagogy instead of starting with the technology.

  During the creation of this video I appreciated the opportunity to have discussions with colleagues about what was working for them and what was proving to be difficult.  One reason I chose this class was because it was offered on campus, and that is important to me because I value face-to-face collaboration.  The richness of discussions and the brainstorming completed in small and large groups in this class allowed me to reflect on the design of my video, the reasoning and the content of my video.    Although it was very meaningful for me to complete this project by allowing me to reflect on how far I have come, it also showed me how much further I have to go in my personal and professional growth and I look forward to continuing the journey of growth with my students, learning with and from one another, much like we did together in this class.

References and interesting links:
Achermann E. K., (2004) Constructing knowledge and transforming the world. Presented in: A   
                    learning zone of one's own: Sharing representations and flow in collaborative learning  
                     environments. pp. 15-37
Barrett, M. S., & Stauffer, S. L. (2009). Narrative inquiry: From story to method. Narrative inquiry    
                   in music education (pp. 7-17). Springer Science and Business Media.

Gestny, E, Straw, S. (2001). Literacy instruction in Two French Immersion Classrooms in Western Canada. Language, Culture and Curriculum. Vol. 14, No.2p.187-199. 

 Genesee, F. (1994). Educating second language children:  the whole child, the whole curriculum, the whole community. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Genesee, F., Jared, D. (2008).  Literacy Development in Early French Immersion Programs. Canadian Psycology. Vol.49 p.140-148.

Jacobs, G. M., Ward, C. (2000). Analyzing Student-Student Interaction from Cooperative Learning and Systemic Functional Perspectives. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 4, Article 3

While I have not cited this directly in my text, I feel as if these authors could help enrich an interested
party on the possibilities out there for language acquisition and balanced literacy in second language
classrooms:

Lyster, R. (2007). Learning, and-Teaching Languages Through Content A counterbalanced approach. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Miller, J. (1999) Becoming audible: Socia identity and second language use. Journal of Inercultural Studes, 20 (2), 149-165

Wesche, M, Paribakht, S. (1996) Enhancing Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading; A hierarchy of Text-related excercice Types. Canadian Modern Language Review v52 p.155-78

Multiple Intelligences. http://www.edwebproject.org/edref.mi.th6.html
References for Images:
http://scphoto.com/blog.php
http://www.semiconductorstore.com/pages/asp/Item.asp?ItemNumber=SII9287BCNU
office.microsoft.com/en-ca/images/ 

 Final video:

Final reflections

The methods, politics and ethics of representation in online ethnography

Do we need to have a response to our online footprint or interactions in order to be a participant in the online community?  Can a person whose blog has 0 comments argue that they are actively participating in the community?  Does that interaction need to occur to boost anther's knowledge? I found the “I am perceived, therefore I am” discussion in the article intriguing.    It might be “old school” to still value the “ I think therefore I am” mentally, but I believe that if you don’t need to be perceived, acknowledged or responded to in order for you to be participating in a community. If you take our class for example, there are some who have spoken very little in some of our discussions but I would not say that they are not active participants in our classroom communities.   Much as we address different learning styles and approaches with our students we must also realize that people have these same differences in an online setting.

Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now

Have we really found a new species?  While I acknowledge that technology is changing our lives, cultures and identities, I found the proclamation of discovering a new species a little over dramatic.  I agree with the existence of a second self, an online self and I think it relates to what we have discussed in class about helping our students learn and navigate their online persona.  I like how at the end she mentioned that the most successful technology is one that gets out of our way and lets us live our lives.   It reminded me of the phone commercial we watched in class about needing to be saved from our phones as we never turn off or connect with what is currently going on around us.

Learning about network learning communities

“The creation of new knowledge by teachers and principals/head teachers leads to deep conceptual changes and new ways of working in schools and classrooms.” (p.28)  While this statement in theory sounds terrific and I certainly agree it can be true, I question how we can get everyone on board and working on the same page.  That “ buy in “ factor can be very difficult to achieve for every teacher.  It seems as if anyone involved in a Network Learning Community (NLC) is already actively engaged in their practice and willing to change.  What about those who do not wish to participate in such communities?  The NLC seems similar in nature to Communities of Practice as they are focused on the learning of pupils and the learning of the teacher, but I have witnessed first hand many teacher opposed to these groups and have even heard them referred to as a waste of time.   Perhaps the educators felt this way because the community of learning they were involved in lacked many of the 6 qualities listed for a NLC to be successful: purpose and focus, relationships, collaboration, enquiry, leadership, and capacity building and support.

Personal Learning Networks:

I think this video reiterated what we have been discussing in class about education lagging behind the digital capabilities of our students.  I think we all agree that students need to explicitly be taught how to navigate their digital environment safely and ethically. 

Reflections

Life on the Screen: Visual Literacy in Education

I have to start off by saying that I am often very skeptical with articles related to the viewpoints of “celebrities” and Education, politics or social issues.  This article related well to the previous article “Advancing the Field” in regards to certain methods of research being harder to “fit” into the acceptable molds. When the interview discussed communication in it’s different forms, I realized that over time we have attributed knowing the influences colour and music can have and that sort of knowledge as intuitive or merely common sense.   However I do agree that communication needs to be looked at as a whole.  Since I am a French Immersion teacher the role of communication and oral language is integral and used daily so it is difficult for me to agree that communication is not used enough in the classroom.

Mr. Lucas’s concern that we are not advancing emotionally as quickly as we are intellectually really struck a nerve with me.  I have always questions, who is ultimately responsible for the emotionally development of a child?  School programs need to support the development and need to help children interact with each other, but is it not ultimately the responsibility of the parents to ensure the emotional growth of their child?

Class/video reflection:

I found the video Desiderata very moving.  It all seems like common sense information, but for children/students it is essential that we are explicit with this important information.    The message in the video could have gone with any topic in life as it is based on the foundation of respect that we need to teach our students. 

Knowledge itself is the same to me; it is the skills set to obtain that knowledge that is changing.   We still have a desire for knowledge and innovation, but the as we saw in the video it is no longer text or written word that guides us toward the knowledge.  We have a larger outlet to seek out information and enrich our knowledge base like never before.

The Principals of Good Design

Good design being user friendly is allowing everyone to access a medium and begin to navigate the digital culture with these mediums.  Our society is constantly looking for the newest of best product and companies are trying to be innovative and create the “latest” thing.  The problem with this mentally is that we loose the idea of a good design and the utility of the product.   I enjoy the easy read of this website, and although the ideas addressed seem like they should be well known it is always nice to have reminders.

Class reflection July 14^th:

I enjoyed our discussions about the role of educators when it comes to events occurring outside of school time.  I agree with Ken that we wear many hats as educators and that we are never able to truly take them off.  We are responsible for the education of the whole child, and I think this needs to be in partnership with parents and the community.  I agree with Amanda that we have more on our plate than we should, and I think parents could deal with a lot of issues that fall to the school.  I don’t know why the school has become the default for all.

Technography = Technology +Ethnography: an Introduction

About 4 pages in and still wondering what the point of this article is.  I understand the goal of trying to get socio-techno researchers to see the merit of qualitative study,  however this seems like a very long-winded way of saying only that.  Perhaps I am missing something that the class can help bring to light.  It is also possible that I am missing out on the true meaning of the article when I read sentences like “ Our special issue opens with three pieces explicating performativity in the context of spaces essentially demarcated by technological machinery” (p.1105) and have absolute no idea what was just said.

Video: Technograph Presents: Just Another Love Game

Unfortunately I found this video about as appealing as the article.  I can infer that the message is how attached we have become to technology but I did not like the way the message was transmitted.  After the discussion in class about how music can set the mood and convey a message I have to say that I strongly disliked the music played in the video and I found it very hard for me to listen to the video.  I actually really just wanted to turn it off, so for me it was not a very effective choice in music. 

Class reflection July 8^th:

My discussion group came to an agreement of the academia “elitism” or articles, not meant for a global audience.  This article made me think of my Language and Power class in which we discussed why authors choose certain working in their articles.

While I understand there is a place for harder articles and that I am certain there are more difficult articles to read, I still take issue with articles that in making it more challenging to read detract the message.  I know the argument is that Masters level students are suppose to be reading article like this, but if it detracts from the readers experience is the message really getting across?  I guess maybe I just need to suck it up.

I agree with the comments made about the video being to long and that it looses the power of the message.  The article follows the same fate, being to long and loosing the focus of the audience.

I really enjoyed watching everyone’s video.  I was very impressed with everyone and how hard everyone worked.  I liked all the different interpretations and personal experiences conveyed in the videos.

Using dital tools

I often wondered how a qualitative researcher can manage all the data they take it and decide what is relevant and what is not.  I find the LiveScribe Pen really interesting for the gathering of information.  I could see myself using it with students and being able to have an organic conversation because the students might not necessarily realize they are being recorded in the same manor as using an MP3 player.   

Something discussed in my afternoon class is inline with selecting digital tools.  We discussed how we need to know the purpose of using the technology and choosing the technological tool that is appropriate for the project.

Advancing the Field: Considering Acceptable Evidence in Educational Technology Research

Right from the beginning of this article I am disappointed to find that so much of what can be considered “valid” in continuously linked to solely quantitative measures.  Can anything in education be 100% replicable?  Most variables and setting can be replicated but the learner and the group dynamic is never the same year to year.  I agree that we should look at the definition of evidence seen by teachers, policy makers and researchers, but can this happen when the “higher ups” are still on stuck on quantitative data being the only measure of validity? The “gold standard” addressed in the article is not only difficult to achieve in a school setting, I would argue that it is unethical.  If a teacher wants to test out the performance of a certain program because they feel it is helping students achieve, how can they ethically deny a control group of this program?

The article nicely addressed what is holding back educational research. First off even in the domain of research there is the need to fit a mold in order to secure publication, which therefore drives the choice of subject. Since education involves many facets it can be difficult for school setting research to fit that mold.  Secondly there is the matter of time.  School settings can require a large time commitment in order to have an authentic research experience.   These two factors lead researchers who are interested in educational research to look elsewhere.  I like how the article does not suggest lowering the standards for educational research, but rather suggest compromise and understanding in order for the field to progress.

For the last 3 years I have been participating in a research project with Dr. Martine Pellerin at the University of Alberta.  Her research is very much inline with the recommendations offered by the authors.  She has been documenting, observing and discussing with us about our beliefs about technology, our practices with technology and how we are meeting the learning outcomes using technology.  It has been very interesting to have conversations with colleagues and see everyone’s varying approaches and comfort levels with technology.  It has helped me to reflect on my practice and how and why I use technology in my class.

Reflections from class July 11^th:

I found the video in class about a participatory culture really interesting.  I do not necessarily agree with the level of value he placed on gaming, but I do see the global community coming together for varying causes people hold to be important.  I value the opportunities to discuss with my colleagues and I found it unfortunate that we did not have the time to discuss the video with either our small groups or the entire class.  I wanted to know other people’s views on what he said on gaming.  Am I missing something in regards to it’s importance since I am a non online gamer? 

References:

Schrum, L., Thompson, A., Sprague, D., Maddux, C., McAnear, A., Bell, L., & Bull, G. (2005). Advancing the field: Considering acceptable evidence in educational technology research. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 5(3/4), 202 -209.

Attached: Crichton, S. (2011). Using Digital Tools in Qualitative Research– Supporting integrity, simplicity, deep insight and social change. In Online research methods. Carlos Nunes Silva (Ed.). Hershey, PA: IGI Global

Cultural citizenship online: the Internet and digital culture

“ Internet is no longer the exclusive preserve of affluent or culturally dominant communities s and networks” (p.528) This is an incredibly bold statement, and I do not believe it is true.  Although Internet access may be more wide spread, governments still block and censor materials, low economic individuals and families may have access to Internet in some aspects of their life, but they do not have the same access as the affluent or culturally dominant.

“In using the Internet, individuals, groups and cultures are also being shaped and potentially transformed by and through it” (p.529)  In  my opinion there can be no doubt that people are being transformed through the Internet.  If you take the Vancouver riot for example, rioters can be identified more easily as the pictures and videos have gone viral and are out there for everyone to see.  The gentlemen who tired to light the police car on fire will now have lasting consequences because his actions are forever captured and circulated on the Internet.   As the article points out, the Internet can also give a voice to those who have struggled with their image in the main stream media, such as the Indigenous people.  The Internet can provide a platform that did not exist before.  This does require individuals to be technologically savvy, which requires proper education and exposure to the resource.  Some could argue that not all populations including the indigenous have the same accessibility as others to these resources and therefore at even further disadvantage. 

Class and video reflection July 12:

My group had a great discussion about how gaming is changing and adapting with the Internet.  The quick and easy online game is taking flight over the big gaming systems.

I agree with Heather’s point in regards to the video “Visitors and Residence”.  If you look at it in terms of visitor or resident with room in between you can find where you belong.  Where are if there is only native or immigrant, it is more difficult to feel like you really belong to either of the groups completely or entirely.

Reading reference: just because you can say the words does not mean you understand.  Just because you can be on the Internet does not mean you understand how to use it.

I do not think we can have a fixed definition for digital literacy, as it is continuously evolving and changing.  I do agree that students need to be critical thinkers and problem solving and that the skills they need to develop need to be incorporated with the new technologies, but the basic skills are those we have always wanted students to develop regardless of technology.

 

Reflection # 2

Digital Ethnography: An Examination of the use of new technologies for Social Research

My very first questions when reading the beginning of this text was why on earth would researchers purposefully omit using tools that could enrich and further validate their findings? Why is everything new almost instantly distrusted?  Why is there such an “old school” mentally in a field that is potentially meant to influence and impact our actions in the future?  In reading about the anonymity of online sources, I felt as if there was a catch 22.    If you are merely a quiet observer can you truly understand and accurately represent the findings?  However if you are an active member of the interactions can you unbiased when representing the findings?   With online material are you allowed to not ask permission to use quotes from postings like Denzin (1999)?  

 Using online sources definitely seems to have issues, but it also has many positive qualities for research.  Online methods can allow people to be more honest and truthful in their responses, providing richness to the research.  The use of online questionnaires allows researchers to reach more participants, and again may allow for more honest answers.  However I agree with the text when it point out that not everyone has access to digital technologies to be able to participate in studies and that we can’t assume that just because it is the 21^st century that everyone has access to technology.  Digital video requires more technological tools in order to participate and widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.   However it does allow for participants to be further away from the researcher and to be more comfortable in their personal surroundings.  It allows for more spontaneous data collecting as the participant can video themselves when they feel they have something to share, rather than waiting to a set interview time.   The use of blogs still seems to be controversial because in my opinion it does not fit with the “elitism” and “academia” of research.  The view is that anyone can have a blog and share an opinion therefore the sources cannot be as valid as scholarly articles.  I agree with Murthy (2008) when he addresses Blogs as being an excellent source of accountability.  This can be seen in recently in Edmonton when the Dean of Medicine was found to have plagiarized his commencement speech.  It seems as if everything is online now a days and can be traced back.

Reflection from July 5^th:

I really valued the opportunity to have a group discussion with everyone about the article and the class.  I found the graffiti video really interesting.  They seemed very passionate about their work.  It did remind me of how we categorize people into sections and then have difficulty shifting our thinking.  Graffiti is generally thought of as disgraceful, but the men in the video see it as art to be treasured.   Everyone has a story and the men really wanted to get their message out about graffiti.  A video allowed us to really go deeper into their story.  As a colleague said to me, it would not have had the same impact if we had read their story.

Constructing knowledge and transforming the world

I felt very discourage reading the first paragraph of this paper.  It brought up for me all the feelings of never knowing if you are doing the right things for your students and it seems like if you choose one path you leave behind some and if you go on the other path you leave behind others.   Differentiation allows for more children to be reached, but how does one differentiate all the time for every student? 

I agree with Piaget’s view that children must experience a change or live an event to truly feel the impact and it is the responsibility of educator to assist children to live the change and experience.  Technology can be a wonderful resource to help children vividly experience a concept or theory rather than simply reading about it in a textbook.

Papert’s view of education and development seems to be inline with the new Math curriculum that was developed.  It encourages children to learn through action and to verbalize their thought process, rather than simply seeking “the answer”.  Papert’s seems to focus on the evolution of thoughts, which correspondence with the education trend to get children to self reflect and self evaluate.

I have always been interested in the way Vygotsky views learning.  In my opinion the influence of culture and media cannot be dismissed.  Children with different societal norms can have different ways of doing things, including learning.  However is this influence more powerful than an individual’s natural learning tendencies?  The influence of others in the learning process can enrich a child’s development or hinder the development.

Reflection of videos:

Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering

He definitely demonstrates a strong passion for what he does.  He conveys a nice reminder to believe in the capabilities of children and to help guide them to all their potential.  His approach reminded me of that of Reggio Emilia in that it asks children to explore, discover and inquire by allowing them time and the availability of various resources.  I particularly enjoyed when he said “Failures are celebrated and analyzed.”  I think we have gotten better at accepting mistakes from students but I don’t know if we really take the time to analyze and learn from them.

Class reflection July 6^th:

I really liked the idea of hands on as opposed to hands up.  I find we still have not quite made the shift away from that in all classrooms.

Class reflection July 7^th:

I found the morning conversation very interesting.  The debate about the balance needed between open assignments and rigid guidelines was very intriguing.    I feel that today’s conversation clearly demonstrated the continued divide between elementary/junior high approach and priorities and the High school approach and philosophy.  I agree that the whole system needs to be on the same page or you will run in to accountability and evaluation difficulties. 

References:

Murthy D. (2008). Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research. Sociology 42 (5) (pp. 837-855). SAGE Publications http://soc.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/content/42/5.toc 

Achermann E. K., Constructing knowledge and transforming the world http://learning.media.mit.edu/publications/Constructing_Knowledge_Ackermann2004.pdf

Chapter published in: A learning zone of one's own: Sharing representations and flow in collaborative learning environments [M. Tokoro and L. Steels (Eds.). Amsterdam, Berlin, Oxford, Tokyo, Washington, DC. IOS Press, 2004. Part 1. Ch 2. pp. 15-37.

Video: “Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering”

 http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng//id/588

 

Statement and Pitch: The best place for a warm drink is....

The idea came from a recent sunburn I had experienced.  When people think of a warm drink they usually think of it being cold outside.  I wanted to use that but also argue that even when it is sunny, some of us are better off inside with a warm drink, then outside with the warm sun.  I thought I would use the program “Prezi” to make my “video” as I had never made one before and they seemed like a really interesting tool.  The program was pretty straight forward and user friendly.  I liked how you could upload clips from YouTube to add to your message.  The downfall I found was that it is very difficult, if not impossible for the average user to add music or sound.  I suppose you could make something in YouTube and then upload into the Prezi, but then the video would only play in one segment and not have music through out.  I decided that instead of using the Prezi as the final product, I could think of it as a modified storyboard from my original Comic Life storyboard.  I took the essential idea from my Prezi and make an IDVD, which I had done a few times before.  This program allowed me to add my photos and add voice and music.  I could not figure out how to add any clip from the Internet, so my YouTube clips needed to be replaced by my voice.  Unfortunately I had never tried to export an IDVD to a blog before and it proved to be too difficult for me, so I decided to convert the IDVD to an IMovie, which I knew could be uploaded.  Looking back on all three methods used I found each one brought out a unique aspect.   Although the Prezi could not easily provide me with the option of music and voice, I found the sound in YouTube clips more powerful in contrast to the silence of the written words.   The Prezi project seemed more artistic, as if it could almost be poetry.  The IMovie seemed more personal because my voice was attached explaining what I intended for every image.  It was more direct and did not allow for as much interpretation as the Prezi.   I found this experience challenging and rewarding.  I learned a lot about a new program, and something new about a program I have used before.  From here I will try and add more digital content for the final product and try to combine the artistic feel with the personal feel.
Naturally after I first posted this pitch I was introduced to a program called Jing.  It allows you to capture screen shots and video of your computer.  The ironic part of this program is that I am having difficulty uploading the swf format into Imovie, but it uploads easily in Prezi with sound!  There really is so many neat tools out there!
References for images in video:

Winter image: http://www.georgianc.on.ca/

Sun image: http://www.how-to-draw-cartoons-online.com/cartoon-sun.html

Drink image: http://www.siftdusttoss.com/2009/12/cold-hands-warm-heart.html

Mosquito image: http://freevectorfinder.com/mosquito.html           

Music: http://www.freeplaymusic.com/