Final Curriculum Project

Here is my final project on Genetics and Human Disorders.  I used Picnik on three photos in the presentation: the first was on the photo of Jack White.  I added "Jack White of the White Stripes," the second was the picture of my dogs.  I labeled them "Jack the Lab/Boxer mix and Maynard the Rottie," I also added a round frame to them, and finally on the band-aid, I added a puppy dog.  Hope you enjoy the video!

Podcasts

The two Podcasts I signed up for were Science Channel and Scientific American's 60 second Science.  I found both the have some strengths and weaknesses.  Starting with the Science Channel first, I thought the videos were solid.  They were well presented and all right between two and three minutes.  The content was not always great on the videos though.  It seemed a bit random and at least for a life science class, not always relevant.

The second Podcast was the better of the two in my opinion.  60 second Science was entirely audio and gave a 60 second presentation on various science topics.  I liked it because most of the clips leaned towards the life sciences and covered many of the topics we discuss in biology.  My only concern would be the level of the presentations.  The few that I listened to seemed fairly advanced for most freshmen.  I could see this used in an honors class, but it would be a stretch in the regular class.

Mendel Tagxedo

I tried doing a picture of Gregor Mendel, the "Father of Modern Genetics."  It sort of worked.  The basic shape is there, but the words it pulled from the website don't all quite fit.

Thoughts on Animoto Project

I thought the Animoto site was easy to use and very effective.  I think it would be a great alternative to PowerPoint for certain projects.  Currently, I have a student working on a Geologic Time Scale on the computer and I showed him the Animoto movie I put together this week and he jumped at the chance to try it out.  He liked both the presentation and fact that he could easily add music to the movie.  I am excited to see his finished project!

As for Picnik, I personally didn't find it as useful.  For my project, I added some "stickers" to a couple of pictures and added a neon effect to the lab coat, along with a frame on the diet Coke bottle.  I think students could find more use for this program than I could, I just have never been into altering pictures other than cropping them.

Overall, I was glad I got the chance to work with the three different programs presented this week.  It is always nice to see what is available to us because it seems like the number of programs on the internet are so huge.  Picnik and Freemusic were okay, but not really anything I got too excited about.  Animoto is a program that I can see my students using immediately if I can get them on computers.

Week 2 - Animoto Project

Week 1 PhotoStory

Letter to Professor Feldmann

I am Michael Peterson and I teach biology at Omaha South High. This is my eighth year teaching at South and I have really enjoyed my time there. I have made great friends there and even met my wife at the school. I am from Wahpeton, ND and graduated from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Omaha Public Schools came up for a career fair to Grand Forks and they set up interviews for me at both Central and South High. South seemed very warm and friendly, so I took that position when it was offered and it has worked out well for me.

I am fairly proficient with technology. I would not say I am a guru by any means, but I am pretty good at navigating a computer and any program that I am working with. I use a PC, both at home and in the classroom. We use Microsoft XP at South High as our operating system. Some of the pieces of technology that I have used to enhance my teaching are: PowerPoint, Smart Board, eSheets, digital microscopes (which is still a work in progress), and Infinite Campus (our grading/attendance program).

I am perusing my Master's for two reasons, the first is because it just financially makes sense to teach and have your Master's. At this point, I plan on being a career teacher and it would be silly to pass up on a pay raise by not getting a Master's. The second reason is because I love school. I graduated from UND with 222 undergraduate credits and they basically had to force me to graduate. I took classes there, not because I needed them, but because they were interesting. To me learning is fun and I was ready to get back into that mindset.