This blog is to be a collection of my reflections while taking my ETC447 course at NAU. You can expect regular entries during my final semester of classes before student teaching. This will benefit me by forcing me to reflect on crucial aspects of what I'm learning. Enjoy!
Last week, I completed the lesson! Good news: It lasted exactly 30 minutes, Bad news: Quality was lacking because of background noise and one of the videos had poor audio timing. There were only two out of the expected three classmates available for me to teach. Looking back, I would have done more modeling and provided head phones to eliminate the distracting background noises. Both participants received over 90% on their projects, and from their responses on the survey, they enjoyed it too! Classmate #1:
Classmate #1's rubric: 93%
The poor audio timing would have ruined the entire project if I had not collected and required students to write down their script. Because I was able to read what this classmate intended to say, I was able to score her highly on storytelling, grammar, and her script. She also used her Ken Burns editing well, and arranged pictures well, I can understand what the story is about even though her audio cuts off awkwardly. In my part, I allowed myself to assume she understood how to edit audio well enough after watching her accurately do it with minor assistance from me. It would also have been useful to have had a preview of her work before she finalized, saved and sent the video to me, again, a place where headphones would have been a lifesaver. In a normal classroom, I would have her edit her sound before presenting it to the class. Classmate #2:
Classmate #2's rubric: 98%
This classmate seemed to have a better handle on iMovie, though she commented later that I may have given her too much space while working on her project. Most the narration was great, but she talked super fast during a couple of the slides, which may have indicated she wasn't aware of how to expand frames to align with audio. Since I showed how well my classmates did, here's how they think I did:
If I had the chance to do this lesson again with 4th graders, here's my list of things I would do differently: -HEADPHONES, HEADPHONES, HEADPHONES! -A long lesson where I model aligning audio with visuals, preferably with a projector connected to my computer. -Handouts with step -by -step instructions for building their iMovie complete with screenshots and pictures -Make an iMovie with directions for students to follow -Have students let a buddy review their project before showing it to me -Have a checklist of rubric items for them to be aware of -Explain more thoroughly how to save their work and submit it through Google docs. -Watch their projects before they send them my way -Share on our classroom blog for parents to enjoy!
Above is the rubric in which I will be grading student work on this project. Ideally, I would have this rubric printed out for each of my students to physically hand them to each one once they finish the project, however, I will instead be completing them out in PDF format and e-mailing them to my three classmates. There are five parts that I am grading: Storytelling, iMovie presentation, Grammar, Narration, and Script. The storytelling part will focus on whether students fully understand the basic format of the story, i will be able to determine this while watching students' final presentations because the story will (1) make sense (2) carry important details and (3) have rising/ falling actions, a climax and themes and go along with the pictures that accompany it. The iMovie presentation must have adequate timing, sound and clear picture. If the picture changes while in the middle of that page's narration, timing has not been adequately adjusted and student shows little understanding of how to use the technology. Proper grammar will be checked only in the final presentation, things such as correct use of tense and acknowledgement of punctuational pauses play into this. Narration will show me that not only does the student understand how to read aloud, but they can alter their voice so that it matches well with the events taking place in the iMovie. Finally, students will send me their scripts and I will be able to see if they used their script while narrating, and to be sure they not only (1) know how to type at least one page (double spaced) but also (2) know how to write a story from a narrator's voice. I will grade these presentations by viewing them not only during presentation time, but also in my free time to check for any mistakes. I will do this by having students upload their movies onto an e-mail, as well as their scripts for further evaluation.
I am in the process of building a lesson plan to practice on my fellow students on Monday, March 3rd. The concept is to have students create a storybook movie through iMovie so that they'll produce something along the lines of this:
(minus the mind -numbing first half minute and NPR -esque voiceover)
SWBAT- Write narration based off of the story’s evidence
SWBAT- Write a story with a recognizable beginning, middle, and end
SWBAT- read their story aloud with expression and fluency
SWBAT- avoid grammatical errors and use verb tense correctly
SWBAT- Use iMovie to create a visually pleasing, and understandable iMovie presentation
Assessing Prior Knowledge:
Understanding of basic storytelling format
Understanding of how to use iMovie
Understanding of concept of a storybook movie
I will start by showing a short clip of a storybook movie to the students
Then I will give them the pictures to write captions to through Google docs
Next, I will model the steps to creating an iMovie presentation
In each step, there will be adequate time to ask questions and give individual instruction as students work
The end goal is that everyone completes a movie that is between 1-3 minutes long, that everyone gets a chance to share with the group. The whole lesson in my class must take no longer than 30 minutes long. The truth is that I need to assume 4th graders may already know how to use the technology, so this lesson plan will have to be centered around storytelling and the writing standards, whereas, the lesson for my 20+ year old classmates will know storytelling, but need more instruction on how to use the technology. Therefore my 30 minutes will have to be broken down roughly like this:
-Give students the pictures for the stories, and have them write a story for it -10 minutes
-Guide students to use technology and put their story into iMovie format -15 minutes
-Students share their stories -5+ minutes
In a real 4th grade classroom, I would make iMovie projects the result of a quarter's worth of Writer's Workshop where students would create a project based on their best writing. There would be time for them to draw pictures and upload them onto iPhoto, and then 30 minutes to rehearse and create the movie. We would then have a viewing of everyone's story at the end of the quarter with popcorn and juice boxes.
