Blog 15

Even though I am not planning a career in teaching, I found this class to be extremely valuable. Before this class I was proficient on the basic functions of a computer (email, internet, word, a little PowerPoint and Excel), but there is so much new technology to learn! I found the lessons on PowerPoint, Excel, InspireData, 4Nets, and the Business Letter to be the most valuable for me personally. Outside of the classroom, I think I will use the above lessons with the most frequency.

As a teacher I would use InspireData, Inspiration, Filamentality, Excel and the Newsletter in the classroom. I think Inspiration is great tool to use in the classroom, especially for younger students. Inspiration allows students to organize their ideas in a visual and creative way. InspireData is a program that I would use over Access any time! I loved InspireData. InspireData is visual, easy to use and easy to teach which makes it a great program for both students and teachers. The Filamentality Hotlist is another fantastic tool that I would definitely use in the classroom. I had the most fun creating my Filamentality project! I think students would enjoy this type of interactive assignment much more than a simple worksheet that is to be filled out with the facts from a book. The websites you add onto Filamentality are fun and interactive and keep students engaged and interested in learning. I would also use a weekly Newsletter to keep parents and students informed of what is going on inside and outside of the class. Using Microsoft Word to create a newsletter with colorful graphics and WordArt is a great communication tool. I would use Excel as a teacher to keep track of the grades of my students so that I could keep them apprise of their progress as well as to keep myself organized. I felt the Blogs, the Rubric and the Software Evaluations did not have very much value for me personally. I think the largest reason for this is because I do not plan on becoming a teacher. The Blogs I found to be time consuming but not the most valuable use of time. I think the idea of a Blog is great, but having to write one every week and respond to two Blogs I felt to be excessive considering the level of value they bring. I think the creation of the Rubric was very fun, but not valuable to me personally. I also found the Software Evaluations to be of less value to me for the same reason. I think if I was planning on becoming a teacher I would definitely find the Rubric and Evaluations valuable, but not necessarily the Blogs….
I think the video project was very fun to do! However, I feel there could be improvement on the amount of time we are given to do the video project. I feel that the video project holds a lot of value and possibility for learning but we were not given enough time to fully capitalize on it. I enjoyed the video and learning the technology and editing, but when working with a group it is difficult to get everyone together and film given only one week.

All in all, I think this class is very valuable and I learned so much!

Blog 14

The article, “Splicing Video into the Writing Process,” is a very informative article on the concept of teaching students through the creation of a video. The aspect I like most about this concept is the required collaboration of the entire class. The class is divided up into groups based on their strengths. There will be a director, a talent crew, a writing crew, etc. This brings the whole class together which I think is a great skill to master for the real world. The project not only teaches students how to work together, but it also teaches them the facts of the topic they are working on as well as technology, writing and creativity. The example the article describes is the Civil War documentary created by one class. Students are compelled to learn about the Civil War in depth so that their video is accurate. Another aspect I enjoyed about this type of project is that the students help each other when filming. For example, they work together to come up with ideas on how to prompt the actors to remember their lines. They also all come together to edit when the class views the rough draft of the video. Everyone has an idea on what to do when it comes to editing. This is where the creative process can be explored. One student wants to add sound or cut a clip or add in a picture from the web. Learning through this type of exploration is one of the best ways to remember something. As everyone vies for their ideas to be heard, students have to learn to work together. When working together, students have to accept that some ideas will be used and some will not. In this way, students learn when to be leaders and when to accept the ideas of others. When the video is finished, the students invite their parents to watch the video they worked so hard on. I think this part of the project is important. Knowing the video is going to be presented to parents and peers, students will work extra hard to make sure it is done right.
I found the filming process of movie making to be very fun. I was not sure how I would feel about it at first as I am not experienced in acting or film. However, as a group, we had a lot of fun with the project. It is interesting to watch other people act and give as well as get feedback. I was concerned with how the lighting and sound was going to come out because we filmed outside. For the most part, everything turned out great. There are a couple of parts in our film when the camera was too far away from the actor and the result is poor sound quality. This is the first project I have ever had to film and then edit. The editing process was also very fun. To cut out bloopers and add in sound effects and transitions is great. The best part, of course, is watching the final project and seeing how all your hard work has come together. If I were a classroom teacher considering movie making for a class project, I would definitely talk to other teachers first for tips. It is important to give students enough time to complete the project correctly. I felt my group was very pressed for time as we only had 1 week from the time the project was assigned to the time the filming had to be done. Granted, the film was not required to be very long, but given mishaps and multiple people’s schedules, enough time is essential. I also think it is important to make sure students understand how to use the filming equipment. It is very easy to record over scenes you wanted to save or even film with the cap on! When assigning this type of a project to younger students, there may need to be a bit more direction. You can’t just tell younger students where to get a video camera and tell them to start like you can with college students. We were required to make and submit a storyboard before we were allowed to begin filming. I think this step is especially important for younger students. Storyboarding allows the teacher to monitor the students’ progress and topic choice before they begin the filming process. All in all, I think film making is a great way to teach group collaboration, creativity, technology and content.