Category: playingwithmedia
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Podcast478: Updates and Classroom Favorites
In this podcast episode, Dr. Wesley Fryer shares a variety of updates about his current and changing teaching situation, geographic location, academic interests (media literacy!) and recent conferences / presentations. This podcast also includes audio from Wes’ recent video, “15 Things I Love About My Classroom (and teaching situation!)” Check out the podcast show notes…
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Tales by Light
I started my morning this Thursday of our spring break by watching episode one of an amazing Netflix series, “Tales by Light.” In this post I’d like to reflect on how this documentary combines my loves for digital storytelling, photography, the stewardship of our planet, and powerful media narratives that can both enthrall and inspire…
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GeoMap Job Hunting
As a geographer and teacher, I love the way maps can help us better understand information and data geo-spatially in rich, meaningful contexts. My wife, Shelly (@sfryer) and I, will be moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, this summer, to start a new adventure together as “empty nesters.” I’m looking forward to teaching and collaborating with…
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Conspiracy Theories, Apollo Moon Landings and SIFT
The last 3 days, Shelly and I have WONDERFUL learning and networking experiences attending the NASA 2022 Space Exploration Educators Conference (#SEEC2022) at Space Center Houston (@SpaceCenterHou). For the past two years, I’ve taught a media literacy unit to my 6th graders called, “Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories,” focusing on the Apollo Moon landings, YouTubers who…
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Benefits of Video Feedback
In the summer of 2019, I purchased a $100 propane smoker before our summer family camping trip to Colorado, and after multiple iterations, figured out how to smoke some pretty amazing brisket with it. After considerable research and debate with myself, 9 months ago I become the enthusiastic owner and backyard barbecue chef user of…
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Social Media Stories, Instagram Reels and Mojo Videos
I love to play with media. As my wife, Shelly, has become a health coach this fall and learned more about ways to use social media to “share our story” of weight, diet and health transformation, I’ve been learning some new things about social media along with her. One of the things I’ve learned in…
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Updating My Food Blog: Cook with Wes!
The past two nights I’ve spent several hours updating my food and family recipe website sharing site, “Cook with Wes,” and I’m happy with the results at this point! I’ll recap my updates (in WordPress) in this post. I dabble in web design and WordPress customizations rather infrequently now, so this was a significant catalyst…
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DVD Subtitles with Handbrake
For the third year I’m teaching an adult class at our church, and I’m finding it helpful to use the free / open-source software program “Handbrake” to create short clips of videos we’re using in lessons from a DVD. It’s a bit tricky to select the correct options within the program to “burn in” the…
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Rediscovering 10 Year Old Deleted Podcast Files
Have you ever discovered an old shoebox of family photos? That experience can feel like striking gold, from the perspective of preserving precious family memories. This was my experience tonight, discovering that many (maybe all) of my iPhone audio recordings from 10+ years ago on the (now defunct / offline) website cinch.fm were backed up…
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Lesson Ideas and Tips for Language Teachers using Scratch, Minecraft and more!
A few weeks ago, I had a wonderful opportunity to share a Saturday morning Zoom webinar (for me in Oklahoma) with language teachers in the United Kingdom, as part of a webinar series hosted by the Association for Language Learning’s All London Branch. The title of my webinar presentation was, “Lesson Ideas and Tips for…