Is Masher Trash?

I wanted to find a new free online tool that would be helpful to the media specialists in my district. Masher seemed the answer to my ill-fated hopes. Masher seemed like a great little find. The idea is that folks could use Masher to upload photos, video, music, or use the already present video clips and music. Really neat video effects and skins were available for use. The video clips even came from the BBC! How cool does that sound, right?

I set out to make a video with Masher to try it out. It was not easy at all. The creation process was not very difficult, but there are a few bugs. First, when I logged out and then tried to log back in, my password would no longer work. That was annoying. I would have to request a new password. Once I got the new password and logged in, there was not a way to change my password to something I could remember. That was really a very minor problem, but it was one of many I would encounter.

Next, after adding video clips into the timeline, I wanted to add text. The text feature was a little tricky. Once adding text and previewing it, there was not a way to edit it. I would have to delete it and start again. Sometimes I could not even re-add the text. I tried adding a video effect to my short film, but I was not able to drag it into the effects line.

The final disappointment came when I saved my video and tried to use the embed code. Once adding the complete code to my blog, it placed a viewer, but my video would never play. I could not even find my video anymore on the site!

I know this is a beta version, and I will revisit to see if it improves. There is a place to report bugs, and I left a pretty detailed description. Needless to say, I do not think Masher is ready for general use. So, I ask... is Masher trash? If you get it to work, please tell me your secret!

I added the link out to my video. I will be delightfully surprised if it works....

I just checked the link... it did link! One point for Masher!

Liberty County Wins at the International Student Media Festival

Last year fifty-six student projects advanced from the Georgia State Media Festival to the International Student Media Festival from Liberty County. The results for the ISMF are still rolling in, but one thing is certain... Several of the students in Liberty County are winners!

Although some of the projects from Button Gwinnett are still being judged, the following projects are winners!
Dear Connor...
Our Dad, Our Hero
Super Dog!

All of the projects from Frank Long have been judged, and the following are winners:
Egypt Explorers- Judges' Favorite
Horsin' Around with Karoline
Living with Aspergers Syndrome
One, Two, Three...Let at Count FLE!
The Benjamin Project- Judges' Favorite
The Talking Pencil- Judges' Favorite

Jordye Bacon's entry is a winner!
My Fish

Joseph Martin still has a couple of projects that need to be scored. The winners so far include:
The Black Skeleton
Electricity
Galaxy Gal's Beginning

Liberty Elementary's winners consisted of:
Class Council and the Gossip Book- Judges' Favorite
Crabbing with Grandma
Honey
My Cat
Study On

one of the projects from Taylors Creek was named Best of Festival, a high honor! Taylors Creek's winners consisted of:
A Day on the Farm
Holly the Christmas Cow
Nicholas's Adventure
Our Childhood
Our Class Pets- Judges' Favorite
Second Grade Scientist- Judges' Favorite
The Animal Tracks Mystery- Best of Festival
The Baseball Glove
The Great Math Safari-Judges' Favorite

The winners for Waldo Pafford include:
Amazing Dinosaurs
We Go

Congratulations to all the students on their outstanding accomplishment!

Students at WPE are Buzzing In!

How do you get fourth and fifth graders excited about reading? Waldo Pafford Elementary has students buzzing about reading! Recently, media specialists, Roxanne Lee, invited fourth and fifth grade students in to preview the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl books for this year.

Students listened to brief book talks about each of the 17 selected titles and then checked out their favorite. The books flew off the shelve in no time. In addition to getting familiar with the books, students learned the rules for the reading bowl. The visit concluded with students participating in a mock bowl. The questions for the bowl came from the most popular books in circulation- Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants were both represented!

LCHS Helen Ruffin Readers are Rocking the Green Screen!

Students at Liberty County High School are getting ready for the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl! Media specialists, Kay Williams and Jeff Staggs, host two weekly after school meetings for students to review and discuss the selected reading bowl books. Along with the weekly meetings, students meet with Bradwell Institute HRRB team members and scrimmage frequently to prepare for the reading bowl.

Last week, LCHS readers stepped in front of the green screen to learn how to use Adobe Visual Communicator 3 to create book trailers for the books they have been reading and studying. The book trailers will also be entered into the school media festival!

Technology use and a love for reading are hand-in-hand in the LCHS media center

Families at LHE Break for Breakfast and Reading!

Each year students and families look forward to the book fair coming to Lyman Hall Elementary. It is always exciting to see the new books, fun kits available, and the pancakes are out of this world! With the help of special area teachers and the front office staff, media specialist, Diana Anderson, welcomed 721 guests to a sit-down family pancake breakfast in the media center recently.

The pancake breakfast is a school tradition. Each child is given an invitation and requested to RSVP for his/her family. The media center is transformed into a fine dining establishment, with table clothes and flowers on every table. Each grade level is hosted on a different morning during the book fair. This enables families to browse for new books and enjoy a peaceful breakfast.

The benefits are two-fold! Since beginning the family pancake events, the book fairs at LHE have seen their profits double. When families feel welcome and enjoy their time at school everyone profits!

LCSS Media & Technology Showcase

I attended the annual LCSS Media & Technology Showcase yesterday and had a blast!  I was able to attend 3 sessions (well, I cheated and went to half of two, but shhhhh don’t tell) – podcasting, media festival and STAR Early Literacy. 

Melissa Roberts and Brittney Mobley of the LCSS Technology Office offered great ideas about podcasting.  Their hands-on workshop was a great deal of fun and I left feeling much more confident in using some of the free resources available to podcast. 

A session to promote the International Student Media Festival was offered by Deborah Hargroves.  Along with media festival tips and ideas, I learned of many free tools available for the 21st century classroom.  It will be so much fun sharing these programs with the teachers and students!  I just know we can utilize them in creating technology projects to submit to this years media festival.

STAR Early Literacy with Ellen Gadberry was the last session that I “sneaked” into and I certainly was glad I did!  I was so impressed with the program.  STAR Early Literacy is a web-based early literacy assessment tool that provides immediate feedback on the development of students' literacy skills.  I am extremely interested in this program for our kindergarten and possibly first graders who struggle with STAR testing.  Very informative session! 

Oh, but I haven’t told you the best part of that day (besides wearing jeans, of course)… I was a winner two times over!  Yes two times!  I won a NEO 2 from Renaissance Learning.  I am so excited!  I am going to put it to great use too!  It is going to travel each month to the classroom with the highest AR points AND testing accuracy at FLE.  How cool will that be for the kiddos?  I also won a book, In One Ear, Out the Other by Michael Dahl from Perma Bound Books.  (My friend Tara suggested I pick this book as my free gift… so, I haven’t actually read the book yet, but I’m sure it is GrEaT!) 

NEO 2

All in all, it was a great day!  Thanks Jaime for organizing the event!