Digital Story

Last week I created a digital story in Animoto and embedded it into my blog. Animoto is actually extremely easy to use, and the videos that it automatically creates look great. However, even though my video is only about thirty seconds, it took a long time to create it. The problem was that the pictures I tried to upload were too large. I finally figured out that I had to resize the images in order to speed up the uploading process. I downloaded a program that allowed me to do this. So, even though my video looks simple, it actually represents about an hour of work. In the future, I could create videos like this in a few minutes. The key is resizing the images in advance. I still don't know how to save this video into the public folder. I understand how to access this folder, but I can't figure out how to save videos in Animoto. Has anyone done this before? I created a digital story in iMovie a few years ago, and I have always loved the concept. I wanted to try Animoto because Nancy Bisbe introduced this program earlier in the year. It seemed like something that junior high students would easily understand. The problem with it is that you have to pay for videos that are over thirty seconds. I think it would be fun for students to create videos for novels with Animoto. They could select music, quotes from their books, and images that represent themes and concepts from the reading. I may use this for an outside required reading assignment fourth quarter. I know they would enjoy it.

Digital Story

I created this in Animoto:

Project #2

The students worked in Audacity this week, and it was successful! However, we encountered some problems along the way. I wanted the students to save their recorded essays in the public webcast folder, but they were not able to do this. We couldn't figure out why the students weren't able to save here, but I learned that they can save to the student folder. Most of the students were motivated to finish their essays, so they could record them in Audacity. I had a few problems with microphones and sound, but I expected that. One issue with an assignment like this is making sure students have access to microphones. I offered this during class, homeroom, lunch, and before and after school. We will play these recordings in class on Monday. I'm looking forward to listening to them.

Project

This week I introduced an assignment that requires students to use Audacity. They are writing "This I Believe" essays, recording them in Audacity, and saving them to the public folder. I plan on playing these recorded essays in class next week. Each student will be assigned one essay to respond to in the form of a letter to the student/writer. Within this response, students will identify nonfiction elements such as main idea, purpose, audience, author's viewpoint, etc. I will use each student's letter to determine if he/she has mastered the learning targets for nonfiction writing. I did something similar to this last year, but I did not use Audacity. Students were required to listen carefully to the essay as it was read aloud in class, but they did not have the recorded essay to use as they identified the various nonfiction elements. I love that the students will now have access to these essays in the public folder. This may be my final project for this class; I'll see how it goes next week.

Wikispaces

I have used Wikispaces this year to create a space for students to post their Vokis. Students created an avatar of a book character and made a recording about the book. They placed these Vokis on the Wikispace, so other students could learn about the books. I then created a link from my website to the Wikispace. It was difficult for some students to remember passwords and to follow directions for embedding their Vokis on the Wikispace. Also, I had to send an email to each student in order to invite him/her to join the Wikispace. However, it turned out to be a great way for students to learn about other books. The disadvantage to a Wikispace is that it is difficult for some students to understand how to add material to the wiki. Also, some students delete other students' work by mistake. This was not a problem with Google Docs, which is great for Word documents and Power Point presentations. However, when students need to share information (like a Voki or a Glog) a wiki seems like the best way to do this. I will continue to use Google Docs for group projects, and I will use Wikispaces for students to share individual assignments.