Friday, March 20, 2009

Day 6: Lessons with Movies

How will you be using the skills we learned in your own classroom, life, etc.? Be specific, clarify, and explain your statements.

10 comments:

  1. J Niezwaag
    Classroom:
    I am using many of the skills I have learned in this class already, and I will continue to do so in the future. I have introduced my students to photostory-They are coming up with some wonerful project. We just finished up with "mood." I am teaching my students about the 7 elements so they can be critics of different types of work. They have seen examples of different stories and movies. I am quite proud of how they can intelligently and thoughtfully critique the samples shown.

    I did find it amazing how they picked up on all the steps in making a digitalstory.
    1. Making a Storyboard
    2. Creating pictures in ppt
    3. Saving ppt as a jpg
    4. Import pictures into photostory
    5. Use the tools in photostory to create

    My students now are in the process of making a storyboard for moviemaker. Again, this is my first time having them do something like this so I feel a little out of my comfort-zone, but I think they will surprise me on how creative they can be.

    Home:
    As for home I am also waking up in the middle of the night thinking about digitalstories. I think that I am going to be doing a lot with my own children with digital story telling. I think this is a great alternative to my old scrapbooks. I also have checked out the shutterfly site - I am going to use that tool to tell a story through the book designs offered. The books that were passed around in class were beautiful.

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  2. I am writing the curriculum for an 8th grade class next year that has been loosely titled Graphics. This year I did teach them Picasa, beginner Photoshop Elements, and a little beginner Moviemaker, but I want to go beyond just the basics and give them something they can focus on. Now I have some tools that I can use with regards to the steps involved, and how important a script and storyboard can be. Next quarter (in two weeks!) I start a 6th grade computer basics class and want to have them at least do some digital photography, and maybe some photo manipulation. We have 2007 here so we can't use Photostory, but maybe I can do some things with Powerpoint that will seem fresh to them.

    Personally, I am realizing that storytelling is something that can be so personal, so powerful. I was talking to my principal this morning about our families, and he was telling me that his grandma was at Dachau during WWII. He said she never talked about her experiences there with anyone but him for some reason, and she told him all sorts of stories. She was a Jewish doctor, and was forced to treat the other victims at Dachau, besides being forced to do other horrible atrocities, and she survived the concentration camp while some of her family did not. I asked him if he had ever written any of his amazing story down, and he didn't! He is really the only link to her story, as she has passed away. I urged him to write it down, or get it on film, because he does have some lullabies and birthday songs that she sang to him on tape when he was a child! It sounds like he has the PERFECT outline for an incredible movie! Just imagine, him telling that story with family photos in black and white, and her own voice singing a lullaby, WOW, that is a powerful image! When he is gone, that story will be gone too. I offered to help him make it in a digital format and he said he would think about it. I really want to do that for him. What a legacy to leave to your family. Spoken stories disappear, but the written word will be around forever. I am touched just writing this.

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  3. How will you be using the skills we learned in your own classroom, life, etc.? Be specific, clarify, and explain your statements.
    Wordle..Who won’t home and school already used in both places. At home I used it for my daughter’s thank you cards for her birthday as the cover of the card. I also used it at school and had my art honors students do a wordle with all the words they could think of for Youth Art Month in March. I also registered for Picnik and can see myself using that alot at home for Photo projects. I would also use it at school if kids could use the site to manipulate photos.

    I think I am going to try a lesson with my student this tri on the ten tips from Kodak. First have them look through magazines then Stock Exchange and put it in a power point using a theme. Maybe that will help in other classes when they put together other powerpoints have the artistic eye. The ten tip site is a new favorite of mine. Baby steps to Photostory….. kel

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  4. Classroom – we have actually started working on a project already. I always take pictures and throw them into a powerpoint for each holiday or special activity that we do but with what I’ve learned I’ll be able to take it much farther and get the kids more involved. The project that we’re working on is like a “day in the life…”. We brainstormed different parts of the day and then the kids came up with important things to include in each part. They picked partners and got to pick an activity or time of day. They did a mini storyboard with me and then got the camera and went to work taking pictures. Using the smartboard they dragged the pictures into movie maker. I then gave them the microphone and they recorded narrative to go along with the pictures. We’ve got 2 parts of the day done already. The kids love it! I can’t wait to see the finished project.

    Home – I loved the examples of the books from shutterfly and think I may need to try that. My daughter’s birthday is this weekend so I’m planning to take lots of pictures and see what sort of digital story I can come up with about that.

    I liked learning the 7 elements and I think they really guide you into story, so that’s something that will always be in the back of my mind. I also liked the ten tips from Kodak because I don’t think I have a real good eye for taking pictures so this may help me.
    Sue

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  5. Being that I am teaching computers this year, I am thinking about doing photo story with my 8th graders using photos from their years at their school. Most of them started K5 together and did all 9 grades together. It will be a nice remeberance for them. ( This school puts all photos in a common folder.)

    When I get back into science as a teacher the possibilities are endless. I want to come up with a lesson where students tell a story from three different POVs, as an experimentor, what the "audience" saw or learned, and as a reactant in the experiment. They would work in groups and go through all the steps we discussed in this class....Julie

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  6. WI Virtual School has a set curriculum, but I would love to combine what I just learned from my two classes and offer an extra credit project for my English courses. Using Elluminate Live I can guide students through Photo Story and Movie Maker. I will then have them create a Digital Story based on either one of their essays for class or a new story.

    In my personal life, I have several stories I would love to present digitally for my family and friends. I also plan on using Picnik for my photos. Overall, the class has given me confidence to try new things. I actually feel current now!

    ~ Eden

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  7. How can you not use what you have learned in this class in your classroom/work place and personal life? I have already had people come up to me and ask me to help them make mini movies. I am planning on creating training videos to be used at job fairs. I think this is a great way to focus on what a day in the life is like at USBank. I am also starting to put together a presentation for our Top Performers. This will be a mix of video and pictures. The managers are going to be interviewed and while they are talking pictures of their Top Performer will be shown.

    I am also planning on using several of the websites to edit pictures. Although I consider myeslf a faithful to the "true art of photography" that doesn't include touchups, I have to admit I had a lot of fun playing around with these websites and can think of ways to use them in the future.

    I have always been one to pay attention to angles when taking pictures of home videos but I think that after finishing this class I will once again truly focus on this.

    Most importantly what I can take away from this class is the reminder that I am creative and that there are so many ideas I can share using technology and art. I may not be the best at storyboarding BUT I am addicted to creating movies to share in various venues. Thank you for reviving my creative imagination.

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  8. Although I am not in a classroom anymore, I will have many uses for the skills that I have learned during this class. Please look at the following:
    1) Awards Programs for Students- All throughout the school year, I go around and take pictures of the students and what they are doing. Although for some it may seem stupid and they may ask, "Why is the Assistant Principal taking pictures all of the time?" The answer is, "It makes for a great program". The next time I present a "slide show", it will actually be a "movie" I will now know how to add the student voices and sound. I will be able to add more sophisticated pictures and video of the children. The next time a take a picture or video, I will be congnicent of how I take the picture or video. I will ask myself, "What is it that I am trying to capture in this picture?"
    2) As a school leader I often have to present or give information. This course will allow me to more effectively present the information.
    3)I have to observe teachers and work with student teachers on the regular basis. This course will allow me to help teachers in certain (most) subject areas incorporate technology in the classroom (MPS Standard). The important part and difficult part will be making sure the teachers understand that this style of teaching or project has to planned for just like any other project. It's not just free time.
    Note: The two most powerful things I will take out of this class is the power of voice and the angle/rule of three when taking a pictue.

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  9. I'm intrigued by Peg's idea of using the storytelling with the reading of a book. That is always the first project I do with my acting class, to read a story. It might be fun to incorporate technology and have them do a movie. Last year when I had an advanced acting class, I had them do voice overs to an animated film. It was REALLY low tech. They chose 10 minutes of a film they wanted to do and listened to get the words written down. Then they practiced with the voices and sound effects. The presentation was done live with a microphone and playing the movie on mute. I could definitely see them doing this in movie maker, even bringing in their own music and sound effects as well as their own voices as voice overs. I wonder what the restrictions are as far as using an animated movie for this. In advanced acting we also did comercials but again it was really low tech. We just video-taped them live. Seeing as voice overs and commercials are a major part of an actor's livelyhood, this is something that I find very important to do with the advanced acting students. They are the ones who are seriously thinking of going on into theater. I do have an advanced acting class next year for the spring semester. Perhaps it could even be done as a cross-curricular project with the mass-media class to do the filming and the editing and the actors would be like the hired "talent" as they are referred to in the business. I would also like to expose the advanced acting students to the atmosphere of a film studio because they may have asperations of a career in film rather than live theater. I could also incorporate this to some degree into my stagecraft class with the costuming project although a powerpoint might be better suited to that project. In Pre-Algebra we do a survey project for the percent unit. It might be kind of fun for them to have a flip camera and film themselves interviewing the people for their survey project. It might not enhance the quality of their project but they may find it fun and learn something about technology.

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  10. Oops. Forgot to add my name. March 25th at 5:25 was done by Nancy.

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