Working on Guatemala Videos

All right. So what have I been working on lately? Another batch of videos!! This time the videos are on my service learning trip to Guatemala from 2006. Even though I should know better, I underestimated how long editing would take. But I think I have the majority of them done, at least the raw footage part--meaning they're sitting on the computer as "completed projects". There might be some projects I will go back to and add some stills to and republish. There's also one specific music video that I need to finish. The videos are currently being made into movies (a step that happens after the "project" is finished and before they can be uploaded to youtube). So it feels good to have another group of videos almost done. The only problem is that the laptop keeps freezing up on me and I have to restart it (not common in macbooks I hear) so the process is taking even longer. And we're not even at the point of uploading to youtube--we're simply converting them to quicktime movies for streaming. So that's what I'm up to as we speak, or I guess I shoud say "as I type". Wish me luck!

Collage Shaper

Ok This looks really cool. Even better it appears to be free.

http://www.vincentcheung.ca/shapecollage/

Efolio Site

Another item that I've been working on is my personal efolio (electronic portfolio). Efolio is free to MnSCU students and faculty. Faculty can put together their portfolio using preset templates. This is a nice feature, however, I sometimes think having more flexibility to copy and paste from a word document would be more efficient than having to enter each item separately which uses a series of textbooks, tabs and buttons that need to be turned on in order to display. Overall, the completed work is time intensive but seems worth it. I would still like to add some photos and additional links (but was having issues with google docs changing my margins and spacing so had to give up temporarily). Here it is:

www.carolfrisch.efoliomn2.com

You can sign up for you efolio site by going to: www.efoliomn.com

Post Racial Society?

OK I lied. I keep finding resources from the RETHINKING SCHOOLS ONLINE site. Here's another one on whether or not (author implies not) we are in a post-racial society. The article is in response to comments made after Barack Obama's win as President of the United States. It has some great statistics on some underrepresented groups. Here's the link:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_02/race232.shtml

Gender Enculturation Resource

I'm still exploring the site Rethinking Schools Online. I thought I'd note one more resource there...an article on "Marketing American Girlhood":

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_02/amer232.shtml

This one would be good for a class in gender studies, intercultural communication, history, and marketing to name a few.

Other Assignment Ideas from Rethinking Schools Online

A poem that seems to have the possibility to be used in several disciplines is one that was brought up at the site Rethinking Schools Online is titled "The Prison Cell" by Marhmoud Darwish. It can be accessed at:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_02/cell232.shtml

They also have a corresponding set of questions for the classroom at:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_02/cell232.shtml

If you're an English teacher you could do a compare and contrast between "The Prison Cell" and Don Quixote or a theatre production of "The Man of Lamancha".

I plan to use it with my unit on oppression.

Middle East Map Game

A friend sent me this link:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

At this site you are asked to match country names with their proper location on the map. This particular map is focused around the middle east. You drag a name and drop it over the outlined spot on the map. It will let you know immediately if you are incorrect. Then you can choose another name and drop it over its correct location. However, it does not give you a score at the end nor does it have a time limit.

Personally, I found the exercise quite humbling and repeated the game over and over until I felt I understood the geography by both name and by location. It was a good resource and will be using it in some of my classes.