Working with iMovie to make Shakespeare interesting!

I absolutely loved working with this application.  I can't wait to make more fun intros and movies for my class.  After completing the project, I also realized that this would be a great example to show a class as an introduction to a potential project assignment.  The uses for iMovie can be as broad as I or my students can imagine.  I look forward to seeing what students can create with their interests and imagination, as well.  The great thing about working on a Mac was how user-friendly this program was.  I had only worked with iMovie once before on a very limited basis and this project took time and effort but the functions were fairly easy to figure out and utilize.  

Excel. Spreadsheets.

I've never been a huge fan of excel, what with the numbers and formulas and such. This week we created two spreadsheets to demonstrate excel's usability in our classrooms. I appreciate this option, but am not sure if I will make use of it in my classroom or not. My recent experience in some economically disadvantaged high schools has shown me that many students may not have a grasp on how to use many of the programs and features in Microsoft Office, not to mention no access to a computer from home. Of course, I would like to help them develop these skills, but with everything else to cover in my English curriculum, I'm not sure if I would have a great deal of class time to do so. I guess my decision on whether to use this particular assignment/quiz option would depend on the class or the school I was teaching in at that time.

The assignment below is a grammar practice worksheet that reviews the 8 parts of speech and some other grammatical terms.

Diagrams with Inspiration

Today, we finished our projects using the "Inspiration" program. I had a lot of fun with this project and am especially excited about the ways it allows visual learners to connect information and research from a text into a graphically organized setting. The possibilities for Inspiration diagrams is virtually endless. I chose to do a kind of character map that allows students to find creative adjectives to describe a main character from a play and then site examples from the text that support those traits. I could use this format for parts of speech, learning the elements of a sonnet, comparing genres or various literature, and creating a personal narrative just to name a few! I look forward to using this program in the future to help enhance and expand my students' opportunities to learn and use technology