What do you really do for a living?
Think back to your math classes...you've likely had a dozen among elementary school, middle school, high school and university. What resources did you use to learn the math? Textbooks, worksheets, workbooks, exams, videos and possibly other online tools. My business develops, edits, accuracy checks, and updates those resources. Publishers, professional development companies, and educational technology businesses hire me as the content expert and production guru to fulfill their needs in serving students across all grades K-12 and university levels. The next time you pick up a worksheet, or login to an online math site, think of me...I may have touched the math resource at some point in time through the development or editorial stages.
Explainer Videos
Since the whole world is in crisis over COVID-19, schools are adopting as many online programs and resources to help teach students through distance learning. I have been developing hundreds of explainer videos: short videos that teach specific math content. Clients give me their content in the form of a textbook or workbook, and I create short videos explaining how to solve math problems using critical thinking skills. The client pairs these videos to the content on their online platform, and students view the videos to learn the math content.
I use a handful of programs to develop the videos:
MS PowerPoint is where I prep the problems, animate equations, or visuals to model the solution process, and record the audio voiceover.
HandyGraph2.1 is a great program that allows me to create custom line graphs and coordinate planes of which I save as images and insert into the PowerPoint slides.
Doodly is a program that allows a hand to write on screen which is a fun little add-in to use from time to time.
Recording Studio
Once all of the files are prepped, then I enter my "recording studio." This is where you will laugh!
Keep in mind, I live a nomadic lifestyle so my accommodations change and I have to get creative on where I set up my recording space. I've found closets tend to be a good enclosed-enough location where I can filter out the random background noises of birds, or the pesky geckos that live with me and cackle at times. Right now, I'm living in a studio casita though, so the picture on the right shows my "closet." It's a half way that separates my bed from the living space. There's a dresser of which I placed a thick piece of foam (curtsey of a friend) on the top and wrap it around to the back. I have clothes hanging on both sides to also help absorb sound, and then there is that green fabric hanging down...that's the magic tool!
The green fabric is my microfiber beach towel. I have tied two ends to hangers, and then when I stand in front of the mic and computer, I hang both ends on either side of me, make sure the top of the towel is covering my head, and enclosing me into a nice cocoon of a recording space. My recording studio may not be high tech, but it's innovative and it works which is most important. My clients have no clue I'm living in Belize and recording audio for their videos under a towel, in a casita on an island.
Minimalist Lifestyle
Notice those clothes hanging on the left and right. Yep, that's it. That's all I own. The dresser does hold my bathing suits, underwear and bras, but everything else that I own is hanging right there. This is what shocks my close lifelong friends the most, because they have seen my master bedroom closets over the years which were stuffed to the brim with shoes, clothes, and coats...not any more!
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