Sunday June 11, 2006
Video Production in Service Learning
Video production combined with service learning projects is increasing in schools. Some school systems require high school students to participate in service learning. Students not only acquire new skills surrounding video production, they also learn about the day-to-day operation of non-profit agencies. At the end of the project, most students feel good about the video skills they have learned, but feel even better about having contributed a useful promotion tool to a worthy organization.
In the article, Filming Compassion by Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark, students at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy High School must complete 120 hours of service work in order to graduate. Jabet Bremer and Marilyn Clark worked together to include service learning in a video production class. Non-profit organizations were contacted and asked if they would like to participate in this project, knowing that the video would become the property of their organization to use as they needed. From there, students were paired and given phone numbers to contact the organization to which they were assigned. The students met with the agencies and developed a plan for the video. Ideas were used to create a storyboard before shooting the video. Once the video was partially completed, students met with the agency to show staff members the footage and to receive feedback. Videos were edited with the help of peers and volunteers. The videos were assessed using a rubric created expressly for this project
While this article is geared toward using video production in high schools, I can modify parts of it to work at the elementary level. Our school is involved in service projects such as helping the Food Bank of NC and Pennies for Heaven. Creating a video to involve more student and parent participation is one idea. Creating a video for either agency to use is another idea. Let's take a look at the first idea. Our school has 1125 students and communication can be difficult. I would like to see a group of students (not sure yet how they would be selected) visit the local Food Bank with a teacher or an adult and video volunteers that work there. The volunteers could explain why there is such a thing as a food bank, how food is donated, how it is stored and where it goes. I envision a video walk through the Food Bank as the volunteer talks. Once this is completed, the students would follow the same steps as mentioned in the article: share the video clip with peers and edit. Once that stage is complete, students would meet with the media specialist to schedule a time to show this video to the whole school. Two students could be "TV announcers" and introduce the service project and video. To involve the arts, an art class could design a flyer to be sent home with information and collection dates. During the collection times, students could video students and parents as they bring in donations and even do a few quick interviews. A way to wrap up the service project would be to show the video clip of interviews and end with a clip of all the "goods" collected and leaving the school for the Food Bank. I believe video clips shown school wide will make everyone feel a part of this and possibly increase the number of donations. Of course, this will take time and planning, but will be bring the whole school together for a good cause.
Posted at 04:54PM Jun 11, 2006 by ALLEN, LYNNE in General | Comments[0]
Smartboards
Smartboards can be considered a type of Classroom Response System. The article by Eugene Judson, Learning From Past & Present: Electronic Response Systems in College Lecture Halls, talked about use of clickers. While very intrigued with the use of clickers, I do not feel they are something I can use with first graders. However, after viewing the video clips from the Supplemental Information on Smartboards, I got very excited about how well it can be used with primary age children.
A Smartboard is an electronic display board. Computer screens can be projected onto the board. Special pens are used to tap on the screen, somewhat like the use of a mouse. Smartboards are very popular in elementary schools. The lesson is most often teacher directed with student-centered activities. Smartboards use a template or design. For example, students may be asked to fill in correct letters or numbers. Interactive websites can projected on the screen. Starfall.com is a great phonics based program. I have used this with my students for at least 2 or 3 years. A picture is shown and students click and drag a letter to help spell the word to match the picture. Students can also use their mouse to highlight each word as a story is read. This is excellent one-to-one correspondence practice. One video clip showed students spelling words on the Smartboard. Then students were called up to identify a word said by the teacher. To identify the word, the student would point to the word and drag it to the top of the screen. Another video clip showed practice with word family words. Three word families were listed on the Smartboard. Several words were at the bottom of the screen. Students touch a word and drag it to the correct word family. Although little research has been done on student achievement with Smartboards, the student-centered interactions definitely benefit learning.
Smartboards are expensive, as any technology. Another video clip showed how one school integrated Smartboards. A grant was written and a Smartboard was placed in one classroom (teacher willing, of course). As other teachers noticed the excitement and interaction going on during learning, they inquired about Smartboards. The grant allowed them to be phased in one at a time. Teachers familiar with how to use the Smartboards offered sessions after school. Teachers completed a survey to find out technology needs & skills. Trainings were held to help teachers feel more comfortable with using this new piece of hardware. One by one more Smartboards were added to the school. Parents were asked to come in for an information session. One parent was a professor at the local university and was so impressed with student involvement; he requested one for his classroom. He was very excited to get his class of 100-200 students more involved with learning. He even went as far to say that he knew lecture style was not interactive and that integrating Smartboards would be a plus.
As I watched the video clip of young children using Smartboards, I started planning all the ways I could use it. I would definitely use it for spelling, phonics, and word recognition as shown on the clips. There are numerous ways to integrate math objectives: shape identification, Venn diagrams, patterns, virtual calculator lessons, and more. My students are familiar with a list of educational websites. Projecting those on the screen would be another use. My kids are "wowed" by an overhead projector. Imagine how they would react to a Smartboard!Posted at 03:04PM Jun 11, 2006 by ALLEN, LYNNE in General | Comments[3]
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