This week, we officially begin the second half of the school year. I have fifteen new 6th and 7th grade production crews that will be creating fifteen different films over the next four months. I created this short film to demonstrate some of the possibilities of combining video and sound effects for my media literacy students and our LF10 members. I wonder how students could possibly use some of these effects in their upcoming productions.
For my Cable in the Classroom application, I am highlighting three projects that exemplify how my students and I have used new Web 2.0 tools. These represent a small fraction of the dozens of projects my students and I have created using Cable Internet.
This year, I’m teaching a new class called Lights, Camera, Literacy! Students improve their literacy skills by studying films, and creating their own movies in small production groups. One of my classes finished their first assignment this week, The Box Scene. They did a great job!
Students used sound effects in their scenes from iMovie, as well as sounds they found online at The Freesound Project. There are some amazing websites out there that offer an infinite number of sound effects licensed under Creative Commons copyright.
Parents and students signed permission slips allowing us to post their work online. It’s great to be able to give students an audience. After all, movies are made to be seen, right?
The Cursed Box of Mysterious Mysteries
The Box of Doom
Do Not Open
The Box From Nowhere
Before
After
I was able to bury our time capsules this afternoon in my backyard. I’m sure my neighbors wondered what I was up to. It looked a little strange digging a three-foot hole and putting a large metal box into the ground. It will be interesting to look at them in nine months to see what it felt like during your first week of 7th grade.
“I write to know what it is I didn’t know I knew!” Donald Murray
Last week, I gave my two 7th grade Reading classes a survey asking them about their attitudes toward reading and writing. I also asked them to tell me how they learn in the classroom.
The most popular reading genres listed by students in the survey were graphic novels, manga & anime, realistic fiction, and autobiographies about popular sports figures. On the writing survey, many students said they like to write because they get to use their imaginations and creativity. Many students also said they like to write because they get to express themselves. One student wrote, writing allows me to “explain myself.” Another student wrote they like to write because it helps them “figure out what they’re thinking.”
Many students said they learn through active, hands-on activities. Students also prefer working in groups. One student said they like group work because they get to “see how others think.” They overwhelmingly said they like to use computers and technology.
All sounds good to me! By the way, Sam, one of my students from last year, has decided to keep blogging on his own. Please stop by his blog, Read Mine First, and leave a comment.
Hard to believe, but here we are again. The new school year starts tomorrow. I’m looking forward to meeting all my new students, and starting the new year. This year, I’m teaching 7th grade reading, and a new course called Lights, Camera, Literacy! We have access to a lot of technology this year in our room. We are fortunate enough to have a Promethean Board, as well as a cart of 10 Apple lap-tops for the new LCL! course.
We also have a decent collection of books in our mini-classroom library. By the way, I will be asking for help this week for an upcoming car wash. I’m looking to raise some money for an anime’/manga book club this year. If you’re interested in helping out, let me know.
I taped the video above this summer on one of my many bike rides around DC. Reminds me how I feel right now, the day before the first day of school.
I’ve enlisted a few of my students to participate in the Horizon Project. The Horizon Project is a large-scale global collaboration project involving students from around the world. The Project was inspired by Thomas Friedman’s influential book, The World is Flat, published in 2005. It’s cool that a few of my students have the chance to participate in such a large project.
Our job is to be a Sounding Board for one of the 80 or so wiki’s being created. We’ve enlisted the help of our friends from the Youth Twitter Network to help us give feedback. The wiki is called Connecting People via the Network: Education. (Thanks for your help Nelson!)
A few months ago, I wrote this post about our global collaborative story my students and I started titled, @manyvoices, using Twitter.com. Over 100 students in six different countries contributed to our project. Students from the USA, Canada, England, Qatar, China, and Thailand helped us with this project.
The story is now available as a little book (46 pages) on lulu.com. You can buy the @manyvoices book for $5.45 (exact cost of publishing). Or, you can download the pdf file of the book for free.
Thanks to everyone who helped us with this project! Happy Spring Break!
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