Finally... a blog about a Podcast

It's the environment, stupid!

The podcast that I listened to was one I found on David Suzuki's website.

This Podcast was done February 26, 2007 - And it asks the question.. "Can Canada afford to reduce green house gas emissions? David Suzuki and economist Sir Nicholas Stern explain why we can't afford not to."

So basically this podcast discussed the Economic Cost of Global Warming. If we were to reduce our emissions to where they have to go, we would have to pay 1% of our GDP - says David Suzuki. This amount translates to Billions of dollars - which scares many politicians and corporations because it's "Too Much Money.. bla bla bla".. Well we have to ask, what is the cost if we do nothing at all???

David Suzuki says that if "We follow Mr.Harper, who says that we have to keep raising our emissions because if we do anything about it our economy will fall" it will end up costing us More than WW1 and WW2 combined to try and deal with the world that has changed in the result of Global Warming. It will ruin 20% of the economy and we will be forced into a global depression the likes of which we have never had before. Our global economy will collapse . Basically We can not afford to do nothing!

I'm amazed at how many podcasts are available out there. It's cool because it's like having a speaker come to your class. And you can have someone as cool as David Suzuki "come to your class" to discuss critical issues about the environment. Plus, kids can make their own podcasts about topics.

I wish my cat could talk

Crossword Fun!

Today in class I learned how to create an online interactive crossword game using a program Hot Potatoes. A free program where you can created quizzes, matching, fill in the blanks and as mentioned earlier crossword puzzles.

Here it is.

Make sure if you are trying to embed a link into your blog you get the whole link. Otherwise you will have troubles, like I was having. But it's been solved and everything is all good now.

I have been Converted!!

If I have learned anything from my experience creating a video with Mac is that my next computer will definitely be a Mac computer. Trust me I have learned a ton about video making too and song making but I have also fallen in love with Mac computers! Their so user friendly, with so many cool programs and their quite attractive as well. What makes me mad is that last year I just bought a brand new PC, which is nice, but it doesn't compare to the Mac.

I love using the iMovie program. At first when Heather and I started we were frustrated often, learning the new system and learning how to make a movie. But once we got over our learning curve we have been able to do so much. We have become pros at video editing and transitions... We have also become music producers. Seriously, if you have never spent some time with Garage band I suggest you get up, go over to the Mac Lab and do it right now! It's so much fun. I could probably play with that program all day making songs. If we show our video in class you'll hear our songs that we created.

Plus, I really like the new Mac commercials. Their so funny. If you haven't seen one yet watch this one.. beware though if might convert you to a Mac person too!

We need Alec No More! :)

So Heather and I have been creating a video for our major project using the new Mac computers. I'm sure Alec has been getting sick of us because I think we have a new question for him (sometimes the same one) every day. Well Heather and I made some big strides this weekend and learned somethings on our own!! We figured out how to convert a garage band song to an Mp3 on our own (well Alec showed us once but we couldn't remember how to do it again). We also figured out how to put pictures over top of our video - so that we still have the audio from our clip but you'll look at a different picture instead. Plus, Heather and I have been making some awesome music using Garage Band. Our movie is coming along quite nicely and excited for it to be done!!

Monster Mash

The Monster Exchange that Alec shared with us I thought was great. Classrooms from around the world are paired together and students are separated into groups. Then in their groups they create a picture of an original monster and provide a descriptive paragraph about it. Then the classrooms exchange their descriptions and they have to try and draw a picture of the monster based on the descriptions. After they created the picture from the description they compared what the monster was actually suppose to look like.

This provides students with a great opportunity to practice descriptive writing and receive feedback on it in a fun and interesting way. They will be using their reading skills to try and decipher what this monster is suppose to look like. Students want to draw the monster as close as possible to the original. This also allows students to use their imaginations and creativity because the monster could look like whatever they want! Plus it's integrating technology in the classroom! I think this would be a fun activity for any elementary grade.