The iMovie We Made

The iMovie was a challenge, but it was definitely fun. We lost a little time on our filming day while we all tried to figure out how the video camera worked. (Note to self: Next time, download the owner's manual from the product website first because the equipment doesn't come with instruction manuals when you borrow it from the COE resource center!)

Since our video was about having Fun With Shapes for kindergarten level, we decided to bake cookies in fun shapes and also use everyday things kids can find in their kitchens while the cookies baked. We sub-titled the names of shapes on some of the clips, then voiced over the sub-titled frames  in order to better reach our target audience, the larger percentage of whom wouldn't be reading yet. We also felt that the use of bright colors for the sub-titles would make the subject matter more fun and interesting for the students.

Throughout the production of the movie, we were in a constant learning process.  We learned early that's it's important to save shamelessly and frequently.  We also learned that timing voice clips is more of an art than a science, and most of us don't like the sound of our own voices on audio. Working the video portion of the film didn't represent as much of a challenege as the audio portion did.  We lost a little time in the video editing, because we were having fun playing around with the effects.

The project overall for us was a LoTi level 5+, since we spent most of our time on our own, and relied heavily on group collaboration and experimentation. A teacher using our iMovie for kindergarten would be a LoTi level 1, or maybe 2 at best if the students were able to run the movie on their own during computer time. However, teaching the use of the program itself with older students for group or independent projects like it could  bring them to a LoTi level 4 or higher, because they would be using the program themselves to expand their subject matter and/or their technical skills.

More Classroom Applications 

While searching for videos and lesson plans that would work for middle schol science, I found that Apple Learning Interchange  had a lot of good videos for my own middle school level, most of which had been made by students. By clicking on the "Education" tab, then on "Teaching and Learning", I was able to find not only loads of lesson plans, but a huge student gallery. The student gallery in particular would be an awesome way to show my students what other students have done, and that it's not impossible to achieve a great project using iMovie and other digital tools. One lesson plan I found particularly interesting was The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly , by students at Carillon Elementary.  It wasn't just the science of the lesson that impressed me but the long term involvment in the project.  using a project like this shows students that real-world field studies are often lengthly and sometimes need to be done more than once in order to gain the most accurate information. (It's important before starting a project like this to check your state and the national protected species lists. We don't want the sixth grade going to federal prison.)

Another good spot to go for digital and video resources is Pics4leaning . The site is easy to navigate, and there is a wide variety of lesson plans. Owl Pellet Investigation caught my eye right away.  The plan has students using clay animation to show how an owl pellet is formed, then using digital pictures, slide shows, and MediaBlender, they create their own documentary.  The plan didn't have students actually dissecting owl pellets themselves, but had them using online sources to find out how the pellets were formed. However, I think that hands-on experience would be an important first step in this particular learning process. I feel that using digital and web sources is an important tool for enhancing the student's knowledge base and helping them connect to the world they live in, but it can also have the latent dysfunction of becoming a way to remove them from the world outside. If  I were doing this project in my classroom, I would expect students  to incorporate actual shots of a real dissection they had done.

I found this lesson plan on Volcano World. It's perfect for an iMovie! Students research and create a news broadcast about a currently active volcano, present the broadcast on the school's daily news, then digitize and install it on the school website. Appropriately titled VOLC TV News Team, it's a great team project with a LoTi level of 5+. Additional still clips and information can be found on Volcano World, and also U.S. Geological Survey website. The USGS also has great educational links for teachers and students.  While you're cruising around on the site, there is a specific Science Topics pages, and an Educational Resources page which are easy to navigate for teachers and students in a hurry.Among the ones I think are the best is the USGS Photo Glossary of Volcano Terms. It's simple to use and very inclusive, and also shows relationships among key terms in the glossary. In adition to that, students can stay right on top of what's happening in the world of earthquakes from a national and global standpoint. This particular page is updated hourly and has a two week history, which allows accurate tracking. Students can compile a slideshow of the quakes and their magnitutes. It's always surprising to see just how active the earth beneath our feet really is.

It was hard choosing betwen the NOAA and NASA due to both lack of time and fear of over-running my space, but the NOAA wins, since I'm on that site every day. It's true, I'm hooked on weather, and I plan on using the NOAA site in my classroom all the time, because weather affects everything all the time.  There is a lesson plan on the site right now called Lightning Kills - Play It Safe that can be downloaded in three different formats. It's a simple lesson plan that actually doesn't include any technology, but there is plenty of information and visual aids that can be incorporated from the site and outside sources. It's also something that could be given to students to use as a basic outline for their own iMovie or slideshow on lightning safety. Using the plan in that capacity would give it a LoTi level of 4+. I also found a  great link for Lignting Safety Awareness Week called Struck by Lighting with a downloadable slideshow on lightning safety. The page also had a nice list of other topics, including survivor stories. That's what I like about searching the net... there is a virtually inexhaustable trail of resources.

 Thinking it over...

The biggest question rolling around in my mind is whether or not I'll even find this program or the equipment I'll need in my school.  I also wonder if it will be outdated by the time I graduate, considering how quickly things become outmoded in educational technology, and education in general. Being able to use iMovie is an exciting prospect, because it's got so many possible applications.  I'd like to be able make one the first day of classes by filming every student in a 30 second interview and playing it back as an ice breaker for the kids and reinforcement tool for me to learn who everyone is. It would also serve to introduce iMovie to the students as a tool they'd be learning to use and implimenting as part of their options for regular project work. Using iMovie and other digital information and learning systems also serve visual, audio, and kinetic learners much better. 

There is a huge world of digital learning out there. It's enough that a teacher could easily say, "This is how I spent my summer vacation" just surfing and downloading subject matter appropriate to their class level. There's something for everyone out there. It occurred to me while traveling the virtual for this project, how easy it would be to internalize the classroom and lose sight of what's out there in the real world. I plan on stressing to my students that there is a real world out there and all this cool stuff is our tool for learning as much as we can about it before we go out into it... or so we can make sure the marks we leave on it are positive.