What Kids Can Do With Movies

Here is the Simplifying Fractions movie I helped a class of 5th graders make earlier in the project. The kids wrote the song, storyboarded the video in groups, and ran the camera during filming. It took us about half a day. I edited the final product together for them. Before this project, the kids' only experience with moviemaking to this point had been a short one-hour lesson from me on storyboarding, basic shots and editing. Can you imagine what they will be able to do when they get to high school -

More updates and the future

Spring Break has arrived. Before we wrapped up I locked in another Flip Video workshop for an elementary school the week we come back from Spring Break.

Another thing I am working on is preparing schools to use the cameras if they get them in the future. The Flip Camera requires a special codec to be installed on a computer before it can read the videos. I've been working to make this a default piece of software on computers around the district.

Another idea for the future came when I was talking with my county tech director about future staff development plants. One thing we hope to implement next year is a moodle for staff development. I would love to create a moodle-based class on digital video. It would allow teachers to work at their own pace.

Word of Mouth

Another school has purchased a few Flip Video cameras and wants me to do a workshop. It seems that word is getting around. One of the things I have noticed throughout my graduate work is that new technology seems to be best integrated when teachers and principals get a chance to spread the news to each other. After a while it tends to build critical mass and then everyone is doing it. I'm hoping my work this semester is leading to that.

A funny sidenote. The class that did the Simplifying Fractions video. We had worked pretty much half a day filming it and the final video lasted about a minute. This was actually really good compared to what I've experienced in the past. Anyway, I'll let the teacher tell the story.

I went ahead and tried. It works. The kids were really excited about it. It was funny becuase they said, "All that time we worked and it only lasted a minute and a half?!" Then I said, "Imagine how long it takes to film a real movie." Then someone said, "Yeah, I'll bet it takes a week!" :)

I love kids. Anyway, they are looking over the latest draft of the movie. I should be able to post it here soon.

A successful workshop

The movie project planning workshop went over very well. I had three participants and each came up with a great idea for a project plan. One was an assistant principal who did a social studies project. He said that he obviously can't do a project since he isn't in the classroom, but that he was going to pass it along to his teachers.

I also completed a three-day moviemaking class with a group of about 10 teachers from around the county. One highlight of this was a kindergarten teacher whose students were already storyboarding their own version of humpty dumpty and planning to film their own epic version.

I have also been working on a few other projects. I went on a field trip with a group of 4th graders and filmed it. I hope to edit it together as an example to show teachers how field trip videos can be useful.

More later