Flickr Slideshow- A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

So here is a slide show of my trip to Panama. Did you know that "A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama is a paladrome? This means that the saying spells the same thing forward as it does backwards. It was an amazing trip that rocked my socks!
In a classroom, I could use this tool to have kids share their own personal experiences with the rest of the class. The great thing about this idea is that I'm no longer the teacher. The kids are. They are the experts of their own experiences--just as I am the expert of this trip to Panama. I think that it's important to put the 'ball' in kid's court. They don't always want to listen to you blah blah blah. Many times, they want to teach themselves. Kids like being an expert of something.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Digital Movie:Finished (Finally)

well the digital movie is done. although i can sucessfully say that it was not easy. I'm not sure why, but when I was trying to make my movie, my computer would completely freeze up every couple of frames. I think that this may be because i was trying to cram too much into a really small window of time "urrggh computer no like thinking". I tried to do my project on another computer and it had the same problem....so i worked through it....it was not fun...
however, i think that my project came out fairly well. I am happy with the results. However, I have decided not to post it on my blog for fear of getting my pants sued off by disney.
Overall i think that the movie serves the original purpose I intended it for and I hope that the kids in my drama club will like it a lot.
I hope to have some of my summer camp kids use this program this summer (those poor kids are totally my guniea pigs for everything). I am hoping that they will create some stories in their journals, so then we can turn them into funny movies.

Other than that, life is going well. The sun is shining, spring break was nice, and I had lots of time to relax. life is pretty freaking good.

Alright, well this blog is to document my progress with my movie....or lack there of. I have an issue. I'm a huge perfectionist. Once I know what I want in my mind, I have a huge problem settling for anything less. Therefore... I am painfully trying to create this stupid movie that doesn't want to do what I need it to do.
Anyhoo, here is the idea. I work in an after school program. Once a week, I run a drama club (theater is something that I love). Well many kids get really excited about acting, but few get really interested in working backstage (a place where a lot of fun can occur). SO I am creating (or attempting) to create a movie to get the kids thinking about backstage elements of theater. I ask them to assume the role of costumer, lighting designer, set designer, and choreographer. I ask them to problem solve real issues that these people face with the theater. I chose to equate the problems to Disney's version of the Lion King. For instance, if the said child was a set designer, they would be asked to create a stampede onstage. How would they do it? How would they capture the massivity of the effect that needed to be created. Then I plan to show them how actual set designers solved the problem
I'm sure that I'm making this sound way more complicated than it needs to be. However, this is something that when I'm finished I can use in my drama teachings, both now and later this summer as a theater instructor at my job.