My 8th graders are currently working on their major video unit (I've talked about it before here and here), and we spend several class periods just shooting and editing... which gets me thinking about fun new things to do with WeVideo, and ideas that I haven't seen students try out yet.
I started messing around with green areas in videos and still photos (like putting green paper over my computer screen, inserting a green panel into a picture frame, or even just holding green construction paper in my hands) and layering and re-combining them in different ways.
We always think of green screen as removing the background and putting yourself into a different environment... but have you thought of green screen patches as "portals" into another video or object? Or using green objects to reveal what lies underneath? Or stacking green screen upon green screen, allowing you to have an entire conversation with yourself?
...and those are just the first things that came to mind. Check out my sample video here:
I know I've referenced my 8th grade culminating curricular unit before, which we lovingly call the Innovation Stations, but I thought I'd take a moment to explain how it all gets laid out and run within our classroom!
From a classroom management standpoint, I have students work in pairs during Innovation Stations. I find that groups of two allow for adequate assistance (students have a friend that they can ask for help), but also allows for students to easily take turns controlling the actual tools. No one just sits and observes, or claims to have "nothing to do."
I have three stations that I need to arrange to have all of the students move through: Makey Makey, littleBits, and Sphero. Grouping and time frames are basically dependent upon which tool I have the smallest number of, which at present, is Sphero. I have four of them (and if I'm lucky, they're all working!). That means that up to eight students can be working at the Sphero station. If I have a class of 24, it works out perfectly to have eight students at each station, with four groups each. Of course, this is an IDEAL situation, and I do often have to make adjustments accordingly.
Each tech tool station has a task list of directions for getting acquainted with the tool, and challenges for the students to complete. Last year, these task lists were printed off on paper and I had to manually "check off" tasks for students after they performed them for me, but this year I've begun making these checklists paperless (as hyperdocs!), and having students photograph and document task completion by inserting the images into the doc as proof.
Depending on how much time we have left in the quarter, I will have students spend 2-3 days at each station, and charge them with getting as far as they can on the task lists during that time. The task list is where you'll find fun challenges, like our Sphero maze.
I'm fortunate to have all sorts of tech gadgets to use in my curriculum, and it's currently structured for students to experience technology at my school like this:
It works out pretty well, because each grade level gets to experience a new tech tool each year. But the Ozobots and Dot/Dash robots are actually new to us THIS year, so my current 8th graders never got the chance to use them. Therefore, I decided to try something new for 3rd quarter and add two more stations to the rotation of tools: the Ozobots and Dot and Dash robots!
I took my longer Ozobot and Dot and Dash unit materials and shrunk them down into (what I hope are) manageable 2-3 day task lists, like the ones I created for the other three 8th grade stations, and now I had FIVE Innovation Stations for students to rotate through! I'm not gonna lie, it's a lot of device management and attention to things like charging/cables/outlets, but it's a fun type of chaos to see all of the students so engaged in the activities.
One of the things that I ended up doing in order to help make these stations run more smoothly was to create short "How-To" type videos for the most common issues that students would encounter when working with the devices. For example, I often found myself spending chunks of the class period troubleshooting our Sphero connections. The solution? Help yourself! See here:
And despite having very specific and clear instructions on how to properly connect a Makey Makey, sometimes it's just more helpful to watch someone else do it:
The other station that seemed to need a little more one-on-one assistance was the Ozobots, mostly because there's a difference between using them on paper vs using them on a Chromebook and loading them with programs. So I made these:
I found these short videos extremely helpful for running my Innovation Stations unit, as it freed me up to observe and assist in other areas, as needed. I wasn't feeling so much like a broken record, answering the same questions over and over!
This is one of those instances where teaching a class repeatedly, like in 9-week terms, has its advantages because I can run a unit for students, reflect, and make adjustments like this. It's pretty rewarding to be able to observe how things improve after tweaking a lesson or unit!
Have you used any of these tech tools before? What new tech tools or toys would you suggest adding to our offerings in the future?
Eighth grade classes are working on a project right now that is quickly becoming my all-time favorite project. I guess I say that a lot. Pretty much any time we do a new project...
We're using WeVideo to create, well, videos. The theme for this quarter is Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety. I told the students that most of the videos out there about this topic are fairly cheesy, or talk down to you, or just feel kind of fake, and I challenged them to make a video about this topic that was actually BETTER than what's out there.
So far, I am seriously impressed with what they're coming up with!
One of the most fun features of WeVideo (we have a paid account for our district) is the green screen, or color keying, option. And it's relatively simple to do! I made a quick screencast showing the steps of how to do this here:
...and yes, I know that my lime green hair gets keyed out in the final version. It amuses the students greatly.
I've been messing around and having big fun being chased by Godzilla and hanging out "in the club" via green screen. If you're interested in seeing the full project outline/introduction that I show my 8th graders, you can check out my other video here:
I went all Spike TV on this one, including REALLY bad use of middle school slang, like "epic" and "lit." The kind of adult use of slang that causes students to cringe and never use that word again. Ha ha - bonus!
I am really loving WeVideo this year for movie production. I've used iMovie, Adobe Premiere, and Windows Movie Maker in the past... what video creation software, apps, or websites do you prefer to use?
My all-time favorite project in computer lit class is one that I call "Google Doodle Yourself" using Google Draw. You can use Google Draw to create your own illustrator-esque portraits, which are awesome for having students use as avatars. The best part is that this is actually quite simple to do! It doesn't need to be perfect in order to come out realistically. It's up to you how detailed you want to go with it.
I use this YouTube video in class to show students how it's done:
I love that you can take a picture right on the spot, but you can also upload existing photos, which lends itself to creating portraits of friends and family for gifts or other surprise things!
The trick to creating these images is the line drawing tool called "curve," which smoothes out any shapes that you make. It gives your shapes a cool cutout style for that all-around freehand-ish drawn look.
The only downside of Google Draw that I've discovered so far is that there isn't an iOS app for it. But I like to use it on Chrome (via Chromebook, Macbook, or PC laptop) using a mouse to help with the fine motor skills required if you wanna get the details looking good.
The other thing to keep in mind is that shapes work on layers, so it's important to work from largest shapes to smallest shapes when tracing, so that you can select the tiny shapes without the larger ones blocking access. Then, when filling in the shapes, you work backwards, smallest to biggest. If you mess up, no biggie, because there's an "Arrange --> Order" function that will allow you to move shapes forward or back as needed.
When you're all done, you can download your drawing as .pdf, .svg, .jpg, or .png - or you can just screen grab it, too! And from there, the possibilities are endless!
This is one of my favorite new computer tricks!
Enjoy!
One of my 8th graders, Emily, has written an e-book and published it for sale on Amazon for Kindle!
Her parents e-mailed me with some background information on Emily's book:
Emily participated in a Passion Project unit (also commonly referred to as "Genius Hour," "20% Time," or "Innovation Hour") in her 8th grade language arts class. She decided that the topic of her project would be "How to Draw." Emily spent countless hours researching different drawing techniques and coming up with the plan for her book. Her How to Draw book is a compilation of what she believes are best practices for teaching a beginner how to draw and not be intimidated by art.
Emily has received rave reviews by her teachers and classmates, all encouraging her to publish the book. So, in continuing her research, she explored the legal side and process of publishing, which lead her to self-publish through Amazon.
Below is a link to Amazon where you can see her book. It is currently only available digitally either on a Kindle, or using the free Kindle app for phones, tablets, and computers. Word is that Emily is also planning on eventually publishing a paperback version!
I am so proud and impressed with Emily's work on this book that I couldn't not share it! What an awesome way to apply school learning to real-life situations and experiences.
