Movie Making in the Elementary Classroom

Greetings:
I am a Tech Resource Teacher in our district and am the main trainer for Movie Maker/Vista for the city's teachers (around 900 total). We recently ran a city-wide assessment survey and the two top training requests were for Photo Story and for Movie Maker (way too cool!). Does anyone have some really good suggestions/ideas/stories about what you've done in the classroom?
I usually have a waiting list for my workshops and they fill up fast--the interest is there. My next one is for Photo Story for Art teachers in the city.
Many thanks!

Tags: Maker, Movie, Photo, Story

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Permalink Reply by Beth on December 10, 2007 at 4:30pm

Brian--
I live in Botetourt County...which is close is about 20 minutes from Hotel Roanoke...so I have to drive in every day. I am glad that you guys can stay at the hotel this year...it is such a nice place....and very convenient. It will be nice to put face with our conversations.

I checked out your blog/workshop. That was exactly what I was talking about. You have great ideas. I have mainly secondary experience so it was nice to see elementary ideas....that is an area where I am weak. Thanks for sharing.
I'll be anxious to hear how your upcoming workshop goes....it sounds like you are doing great things in the Portsmouth area. :)

Permalink Reply by Studica Skills on December 11, 2007 at 7:39am

I just want to invite any of you whose students are making videos (using the software of your choice) to submit them for the Studica Skills competitions. I am repeating myself here, because I've posted similar things in other discussions, but we have a group of middle school students who put together some VERY simple and basic videos, and have entered for the last three years. So far they've won more than $5000 in prizes (software, cash) for their classroom, and it's a great way to keep your students excited. Just seeing their submissions on the web, for people to see and vote (and show all their friends!) is rewarding. Even better to walk away with prizes and well-deserved recognition!

Let me know if you're interested!
And here's a link to the full list of submissions from the Amherst Middle School students:
Take a look!

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Permalink Reply by Judy Murray on December 11, 2007 at 8:08am

Last year the middle school students used photo story to create a virtual tour of their school. The thought was that incoming students could view this to get an idea of what the school was like.
The same group of students used moviemaker to create a one minute PSA (public service announcement) to be aired on the elementary news show about cyberbullying.

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Permalink Reply by Studica Skills on December 11, 2007 at 8:21am

Excellent ideas - both the PSA and the virtual tour! When my son was in middle school, the class made a video every day that aired on the following morning's announcements. They included a short weathercast, a sports update (sometimes including footage from a game), happy birthdays and whatever else might be pertinent that day. It was nice to see them growing throughout the year, and incorporating new, creative ideas into their recordings. They really took to the structured environment as well - as the video was a part of their daily routine and they simply switched tasks.

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Permalink Reply by Judy Murray on December 11, 2007 at 8:30am

The elementary and middle schools both this year do live morning shows. These include weather, word of the day, trivia question, daily news- announcements, sports events (school), lunch menu, and sometimes guest appearances to share projects etc.

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Permalink Reply by CIndyLane on December 11, 2007 at 2:17pm

Wow....I'm so happy to pass on my success with teaching my teachers about movie maker and photo story. Usually, they get overwhelmed about making a story., but you want to get them up and running (successfully) as quick as possible. So, I ask my teachers to tell me a story in 3 pictures, then they can add graphics, sound, etc in photo story and viola...done and fun!
When I taught movie maker, had about 25 teachers, gave them all "web 2.0" words, they had to find the definition in wikipedia - then they had to pair up in groups of three (this can be funny to see what words they think belong together!) then, they create a video in movie maker to demonstrate understanding of the three words, they work together in 3s and at the end, all of the videos are shown and they all understand about 24 words, from RSS to synchronous...if you want a copy of the words I used, I'd be happy to supply!
Have fun, that's what it is all about!

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Permalink Reply by Brian on December 11, 2007 at 6:02pm

This is a great concept for any subject matter--one could run far with this idea.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin H. on December 12, 2007 at 3:37am

I would love a copy of your words.
I love this idea -- simple and yet informative.
This could be a great workshop activity.
Thanks
Kevin

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Sands on December 12, 2007 at 11:20am

I am not the one who did this, however I did see a teacher create a claymation math activity using digital camera and movie maker. It was fantastic. The claymations had to teach a short activity dealing with measurement.

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Permalink Reply by Deloris Eure-Nutt on December 12, 2007 at 11:44pm

Hey Brian,
I am working with the Gifted and Talented teacher on a project that allows one group of students to video tape a public advertisement/announcement about "Why someone should come to your country?" Many of the students participated in our summer kids camp. I will keep everyone updated on the outcomes.

There are many ways that the digital camcorders/cameras can be used with the students. When we as teachers, allow the students to be more actively invloved in the lesson the outcome/product usually exceeds our expectations.

We have to meet the demands of the Digital Natives!

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Permalink Reply by Valerie Hathaway-Warner on December 28, 2009 at 2:25pm

Hi Brian:

I love using Movie Maker with my students. The possibilities are endless for integration and I find that students engage far more readily and authentifcally in media deconstruction exercises when they are participating from the director's chair!

That said - have you started running into difficulties with the new Live Movie Maker that is available as a download for Windows 7? MM is no longer included in the MS OS, and Live Movie Maker ( released as the only version for Windows 7) is awkward and stripped of basic construction/production fuctionality. The timeline is gone, you can no longer edit clips in time to music etc...

The other issue I have run into is that there is no backward copatability in the product. If a student uses MM6 or Live at home, they cannot save the file at home in such a way that we can edit the file or work on it at school. This poses a challenge, becasue the schools will never be caught up to the home user level of "currency of release", and students and parents alike find it hard to understand why I cannot find a way to open the students work.

We also could not display files from Live Movie Maker correctly on the instructional display station.

What have you done to work around these issues? I am concerned about the longevity of MM as a classroom tool with the gutting of the product in the latest release. (and just as we were getting somewhere!!!)

Val

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Permalink Reply by Keith Ferrell on December 28, 2009 at 10:51pm

Hi Brian,
I'm a tech integration teacher at Singapore American School.
Here's a few examples of a project some of my 5th graders recently did with Moviemaker:
and here's a Photo Story project I did with 4th graders:
I'm also in the middle of a common craft video project with 4th graders using their own drawings, flip cams and movie maker... We'll see how that goes, but the kids are having a blast.
Hope this helps! Your jobs sounds great, btw.
-Keith