My Video

This is a very small example of a movie which I made at university. As I was shown this process Iwas surprised to see just how easy and quick it was. We had a basic digital camera and a small sound recorder which I believe can be bought for about $40. I then was shown how to link the visual and sound recordings together to make my movie. The whole process took about 30 minutes. Initially I had the presumption that movie making would be time consuming and complicated for primary students. Since making my own movie and conducting research on schools which provide opportunities for students to make movies, I decided I wanted to see what KLA's this technology would be effective in terms of student success and engagement.

I have found that making movies with students is a highly motivating activity and it can access all curriculum areas. I am assuming that the majority of my students would be have a interest in movies so a unit of work involving movie-making would value student’s existing knowledge of film genres and styles, and involve students in a range of literacy processes.

I then thought that it would assist in developing social skills as collaborative learning would be a strong focus due to time and resource availability. Connectedness to the real world is also a benefit as students can transfer their new knowledge and skills of movie-making to many areas of their lives. It can be a small, quick project or a longer, more complex activity and uses resources already existing in most schools.

Making short, simple movies as a cross-curricula activity can benefit from the following intended outcomes:
• Engages and motivates middle years students and supports multiliteracies
• Supports collaboration and strengthens professional links across schools
• Uses higher order thinking skills and actively involves multiple intelligences
• Develops ICT skills and film production skills for both students and teachers
• Helps students develop their understanding of curriculum units across many KLA’s, making sense of the world and students place within it
• Encourages the skills needed to analyze the media and foster appreciation of the art of movie making.

It also gives students the opportunity to see their creativity and skills develop from inspiration to performance.

I am questioning however, whether many teachers are savvy with this technology? Whether they are brave enough to embark on a totally different approach to learning opportunities? also Do teachers realise just how easy, with particular planning of course, it is to make a movie?

I would be very keen to implement a learning opportunity such a movie-making within my classroom and who knows maybe it could lead to the children participating within a short film festival! How exciting and collaborative would that be! As stated above Higher order thinking skills are a strong attribute in this sort of technology project and this has been examined below.

Critical and Creative Thinking - Bloom's Taxonomy
What are critical thinking and creative thinking?
Critical thinking involves logical thinking and reasoning including skills such as comparison, classification, sequencing, cause/effect, patterning, webbing, analogies, deductive and inductive reasoning, forecasting, planning, hyphothesizing, and critquing. Creative thinking involves creating something new or original. It involves the skills of flexibility, originality, fluency, elaboration, brainstorming, modification, imagery, associative thinking, attribute listing, metaphorical thinking, forced relationships. The aim of creative thinking is to stimulate curiosity and promote divergence.

How are the domains of learning reflected in technology-rich projects? Domain Attributes: interpersonal relations, emotions, attitudes, appreciations, and values accept attempts challenges, defends, disputes, joins, judges, contributes, praises, questions, shares, supports, volunteers

Here you will find some teaching resources, strategies, ideas and examples, as well as solving any small technical problems that arose for a school who implemented movie-making. Mark Richardson collated these resources on the Macintosh School’s Network web site, (http://wmr-msn.williamstownps.vic.edu.au/ictcurricideas/dvpd/dvpd.htm).

Resources:

Teacher Tap:Professional Development Resources for Teachers and Librarians: Retrieved 11August 2009 from: http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.htm