Hello from New Zealand: A Video for Ms. Kallas's Class

Melissa's on the right with fellow SEEers Laura & Samee.

I've had the privilege of working with lots of amazing students, and one of them, former SEE President Melissa Kallas, is doing Teach for America in Houston.  She's has almost completed her first year, and from what I've seen on Facebook and in her blog, she's doing a great job.

One of her recent classroom initiatives has been to give her students the chance to video chat with different people.  Melissa's been using her network of friends (who are stationed around the world) to expose her students to a variety ideas and experiences.  She has done two blog posts about it.  In Technology in the Classroom, she talks about how much technology is integrated into her teaching and her classroom and how the first video chat went.  In Technology in the Classroom UPDATE, she updates us on how it's going and that the most popular questions are:

1. What kind of shoes do you wear? or Do you wear Jordans?
2. Do you have a McDonalds near you?
3. How do you know Ms. K?
4. What soccer team do you follow? or Who do you root for?

Sadly, the time difference between New Zealand and Houston made the live chatting impossible, so Melissa asked me if I would be willing to make a video for her class.  While I am not a filming or editing expert, with filming assistance from Todd and Vanessa and the relative simplicity of iMovie, I created the video (filmed in multiple locations) below for Ms. Kallas's class, complete with McDonald's and a trip to Stewart Island.

I hope you enjoyed it!  I'm hugely grateful to Melissa for giving me this opportunity.  There now may be more Barrantes Tour & Travel movies in the future.