THE VIDEO!
Polar Bears: How they survive in the Arctic
Yes, yes. It is all very exciting. But really, I hope you enjoy it.
I certainly enjoyed editing this movie. I can't say that I enjoyed the entire process, I don't like watching myself, but everything else was great. It was good to get a feel for all the preparation that is required to make an educational video and the amount of time needed to do a good job. I've watched others as they edit movies, but I've never been the one doing it, from storyboard to finished product.
It took a lot more work than I originally thought. Perhaps if we had written specific lines and knew what we were saying, it would not have taken so long to edit. Cuting out specific parts and lining up audio was not terribly difficult, just tedious. If we were to do it again, I would make sure we had a solid storyboard not just an outline of what we wanted. That way, we could have made the video more exciting with different camera angles or locations. There were many times, while I was editing, that I wished we had said something just a little differently or included certain facts while excluding repeated lines.
I think the whole idea of video production in the classroom is great. It can help students in so many ways. Just the brainstorming and outlining covers grade-level objectives, they wouldn't even need to make a video. If they did want to actually record it, and they were old enough, I would make sure they were not very long so that editing could occur quickly. If the students are too young to handle cameras or editing, I would step in and film for them. Because I would probably not have the time to edit them, I would find some parent volunteers or relatives who could finish the video for us. By making a video, students can display their work to a wider audience. Putting the movie on a class website can provide access to parents without them having to take time off of work. I would not put the video online just anywhere, but on a specific class blog, wiki, etc. that only those connected to the school can access.
When teachers make their own videos, they can show them whenever they want. If you make it over the summer, it doesn't take away from your planning time, but increases the learning experience instead. If one of my teachers had taken the time to make their own video, I would have respected them more because they took time out of their life to make something for me. Plus, watching your teacher do things in a video that she/he doesn't normally do in class can be entertaining, meaning the students will be more engaged and more likely to remember it later.
In my practicum, the teacher has played only two videos and both were Reading Rainbow. Now, I love the show and the kids love to sing along, but only one small part of the video was actually connected to the learning goal for the day. The time spent to watch the video would have been much more productive if the teacher had found a video that was more specific to the day's goal, or, better yet, if the teacher had created her own video that educated them on the topic. She wouldn't have to be in it. In fact, videos are a great chance to listen to someone else, or see something different than the front of the classroom. Videos can take students to completely different places. Visual learners can get the needed information by seeing it differently and auditory learners are helped, as well.
And for those schools who can't afford to go on a lot of field trips, the teacher can go and film what they see there so that students still get to experience it. Otherwise, they can just use movies as show-and-tell to tell others what they accomplished or presented.
Very nicely edited, Anna.
ReplyDelete