Archive for May, 2008

May 27 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Questions for Teens

Filed under Second Life, theater

The Kidz Connect teachers are coming up with intriguing ways for the Tampa and Amsterdam teens to intermingle. They’ll be asking and answering questions like, in your community,
*how do people greet each other?
*how do people get from place to place?
*what do you eat/what is your favorite meal?
*what do you wear to school?
*what does your neighborhood look like?
*what does your neighborhood sound like?
Students will answer these questions in writing and also via videography, photography, creating in Teen Second Life, and will incorporate into theater, music and movement. Teens will have time at the end of class to write in their journals about their thoughts and experiences in this cultural exchange.

One response so far

May 22 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Teen Summer Jobs Down

Teen summer employment is the lowest it’s been in 60 years. Many jobs that used to be there for teens simply don’t exist anymore. Participating in Kidz Connect could be a great way for teens to spend some time in June and gain valuable experience in developing in virtual worlds. An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal recently discussed this problem of fewer teen jobs and talked about some teenagers who are earning real money by working in virtual worlds. Read it here: http://tinyurl.com/4wdtdd

No responses yet

May 21 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Cross cultural experience

Filed under Amsterdam, Summer classes

It’s so unusual to find a place or program in Tampa that allows our teens to get to know other teenagers from another country, especially in such a creative environment as the Kidz Connect workshop will be. Bonding with students from Holland should definitely be a memorable and eye-opening experience!

No responses yet

May 14 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Talented teachers

It’s exciting to see so much enthusiasm and ground-breaking work happening in preparation for the Kidz Connect project! The talent assembled to teach is some of the best in the area, from dance to music to theater to videostreaming instruction. We will be so fortunate to have the Kidz Connect program’s creator, Josephine Dorado, on site for much of the program, along with her co-director, Dan Winckler.

2 responses so far

May 12 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Longer Hours: Working Parents Benefit

Hours for the Kidz Connect project have been extended at the Patel Conservatory, making the three-week classes an ever greater deal for working parents. Hours of the class are now 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 9-28, but the price remains just $420 and registration is still open. Parents should call Sheri at 813-222-1267 for more information and to register students.

No responses yet

May 06 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Teens welcome!

Filed under Tampa, virtual worlds

Registration is now open for teens ages 13-17 for the Patel Conservatory’s Kidz Connect workshop, which will bring together teens in Tampa and Amsterdam for a collaborative effort incorporating live music, theater and dance and proficiency in the virtual world Teen Second Life. Spots have been filling quickly, but there are a few opportunities left for teens to participate in Kidz Connect, June 9-28.

No responses yet

May 04 2008

Profile Image of Kate Farrell
Kate Farrell

Last class: Shopping, pianos and animations

Today was our last class (awwww!). We have really enjoyed teaching the classes, and it’s looked like everyone has enjoyed them. As well as the four people we were teaching, I think another half dozen people dropped in to see what was happening and now have avatars!

We started today with a bit of retail therapy and a trip to GuRLywood - the biggest and best hair shop in Second Life! :-)

Unfortunately the grid started to get a bit iffy so we went to Torley Linden’s youtube site and all watched the video on creating your own SL animations. We then attempted to make our own animation, but the version of Qavimator for the Mac is buggy.

We switched to the FreeSound site instead and showed how to download short sound clips and import them into SL. We then made a giant piano with five keys each which all made strange noises. Mine had a trumpet fanfare, a meow, a laugh, a comedy toot toot horn, and an old-fashioned ringing phone.

We had a quick look at editing the land terrain, then Dan and Josephine arrived and we turned to testing streaming and setting up blogging.

Kate's adorable baby Louis dons his kilt for lunch with us

[Ed.: Kate's adorable baby Louis dons his kilt for lunch with us]

We were joined by others at lunchtime, Sheri, Ranney (songwriter and comedien), DJ (the hiphop teacher), as well as a vast quantity of food. We then spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the summer program.

Afterwards we helped tidy up, including opening up all the sealed packaging on the headsets, mice and mousemats for the program. We then headed to the Jerk Hut for some jamaican food with Dan and Josephine before they headed off to the airport.

We’ve had a fantastic time teaching this class. I’m really going to miss everyone we’ve been working with, although I’m sure we’ll still meet them online in SL! I’m looking forward to keeping an eye on the Kidz Connect island and seeing what they get up to with the kids there this summer.

No responses yet

May 04 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Brainstorming

Filed under Tampa, introductions

Kidz Connect is going to be such an excellent program! Yesterday we had a brilliant brainstorming/planning meeting with several of the teachers: Ranney who will create music with the students; DJ, a choreographer who will teach hip hop to Ranney’s music; Rachel Bishop who will teach collaborative performance; Sheri Wittington, who will teach Second Life, and Kidz Connect creators Josephine Dorado and Dan Winckler who also will be on hand to teach Second Life and generally guide the program.  The teens are going to get so much out of this!

No responses yet

May 03 2008

Profile Image of Leslie Farrell
Leslie Farrell

Last day of training

Today is the teachers’ last day of training with our fabulous Second Life experts Katie and Sean Farrell who have come from Scotland to train us. It has been an amazing experience to delve into Second Life and create and experience this new world. Kidz Connect creators Josephine Dorado and Dan Winckler are here from NYC and it’s been inspiring to hear in person how the whole project began and where we are all going with the project!

No responses yet

May 03 2008

Profile Image of Kate Farrell
Kate Farrell

7th class: Everyone doing different things!

Dan and Josephine were along this evening, but they’d had a long couple of days of meetings. Rachel wasn’t along as she was graduating, and Sheri was back having been off since the start of last week. We also had a couple of staff along who would be helping with the program. They worked through induction island.

Crystal and Leslie played with making sculpted prims using Plopp SL. Crystal then did some shopping and Leslie worked on setting up the Kidz Connect blog. Sheri tried doing some building and textures.

checking it out

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