Digital Video Project in the Classroom

A video project that I would incorporate into my science classroom would be "Ways to Stay Healthy." The fourth grade students, who are eight and nine years old, would work together in groups of 3 to 4 people to create a 3 minute long video about things that they do to keep themselves healthy.

BEFORE THE LESSON
1.) Even before telling the students about the assignment, I would first speak to the Principle into order to make sure that I have approval from a professional standpoint, to allow the children to video tape one another.

2.) I would then make sure that every child's parents have been notified about the assignment. In the permission slip sent home, I would ask for a parent's signature before any sort of filming would begin. Also sent home with the children, would be a rubric that lays out the specific guidelines of the assignment for parents to read over.

3.) I would also create an alternative assignment for any students who do not have permission from their parents to be filmed. The alternate assignment would be completing the same "Ways to Be Healthy" project, but instead of filming it, the student(s) would act it out in front of the class, live for 5 minutes.

4.) I would then acquire the technology materials that the groups will use for filming (cameras, microphones, tripod stands) and teach a mini lesson on the proper handling and use of the materials.

DURING THE LESSON
INTO: In the beginning of the project, students will brainstorm using the program, "Inspiration." The groups of students will create a story web to brainstorm ideas of the things that they do to stay healthy. After each group has conferenced with me, as the teacher, and their storyweb has been approved, they will be given a storyboard paper to fill out. Students will use the storyboard to map out what video clips they will need to get and what order the clips will go in. After all of the students have completed their storyboards, I, as the teacher, will meet with the groups once more, to make sure that the places they have chosen to film and the content is appropriate.

THROUGH:
During the taping of their videos, the children will be given a set of boundaries of the places they can and cannot go to film. 1.) Students will not be allowed to enter any other classroom 2.) They must stay inside of the school building 3.) Each group will have half an hour to get the clips that they need for editing. One student from each group will put their name on a sheet, list the materials they have taken with them, and the time that their group is leaving the classroom. Once students have finished filming or a half hour has passed, they will return to the classroom promptly. As the materials are brought back to the classroom, one student from each group will sign on the sheet provided, their name, and the time that the group returned, to prove that the materials were returned in mint condition.

The children will edit their videos for about 2-3 class periods, depending on how much time the teacher feels that the children will need. They will edit, piece together their movie clips and finish the video in Windows Movie Maker.

* After all of the groups have finished their movies, the teacher will watch all of the videos individually to make sure that the students have followed the appropriate content procedures *

BEYOND:
The following day, the class will watch all of the videos and live acting, if there are any students who could not be filmed! The students will evaluate the group performances using the guidelines of the simple-form of the rubric.

AFTER THE LESSON:
The borrowed technology materials will be returned to the correct place!

Software Skills

I have to admit that when I first started putting together the elements of the software assignment, I was a little bit weary. I've never been a computer wiz and I was afraid that simply learning the program skills once, might cause me alot of grief. However, when I actually returned to the programs to begin my project, it seemed to flow pretty naturally. It was like I had the computer skills all along, I just needed to read the manual.
I definitely believe that it was beneficial to learn how to manipulate the programs that were explored, i.e, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, and Inspiration. While I may have gotten slightly frustrated throughout the design process, it is more convienient to be frustrated as a college student than as a teacher with thirty impatient children waiting for you. The program that I will definitely use the most will be Microsoft Word. It is a simple tool that can help to create a variety of quick documents. Now that I know how to utilize all of the program tools, I will be able to save alot of time in the classroom. For this assignment, we were asked to design a quiz by using the program. After I learned how to safeguard my documents, to prevent deletion and format shifting, I felt a huge sign of relief. T-I-M-E- S-A-V-E-R!!!!
As an educator, I will use "Inspiration" to teach my students the idea of seperating concepts. I can use it to create a phone chain for parents, create print outs for story webs or even seperate the steps to challenging math problems. I will definitely allow my students to use the program whenever they deem it neccessary because it will help to keep them organized.
I actually never knew that programs like Microsoft Publisher existed. However, now that I am aware, I will use it to create newsletters, flyers, banners and the plethora of other things that it offered. No more frustration or tears about formatting.
It goes without saying that I absolutely love Microsoft Word. It will definitely be used in my classroom because for me as well as my students it will be easy to understand and navigate. Whenever my students write literary stories, they will be typed using the program. We will learn how to safeguard documents as well, because it is a safe and handy tip that should never ever be overlooked.