Presentations App Folder

It has been quite a technological journey this year.  I was an Apple newbie...I am not any more!
I have spent a lot of time on the background set up of the minis - from the storage unit to the Acceptable Use policy to the organization of apps into folders.  (All previously Blogged)
I recently added one more app folder (thanks for the idea Joan).  The "Presentations" folder contains a variety of apps students may choose to access to creatively demonstrate understanding of a concept.

We are starting to branch away from ExplainEverything.  It is, and will continue to be, an option but engagement was starting to wane...and then I introduced iMovie trailers.  Familiar to some...cool for all. Can't wait to see the results next week.

Just today I had my daughter in grade 4 using Inkflow...the infamous Medieval Times Castle project.  We used Inkflow to label photos of her castle taken from different angles.  A task also possible in Word but it was definitely easier to use the iPad to, well, do everything (and collaborate on the couch).

Film Making at CSS

Throughout Central Senior small teams of students are engaged in film making - interesting conversations can be overheard about acting, camera angles, editing, and communication. As each group works towards a finished product they have planned, scripted, prepared and edited (one group has 1.5 hours of video to edit down to 3 mins) using iPads.

Mr. Lowell’s class - using video to meet expectations from Writing, Media Literacy, Oral Communication, and Drama and develop Learning Skills like collaboration, initiative and responsibility. Students are using Success Criteria designed for the Film Festival and given choice of the different film categories in order to develop and express their ideas using the Enduring Understanding “We can make a difference.”

A variety of genres are being represented, stop motion, PSAs using actors, drama and documentary. Students are also advertising in order to promote their films in the class.

Clips and photos of students at work

Creating Films in Central Senior Classrooms

Central Senior has begun the film making process. We have been experimenting with using iPads and MacBooks to film and edit short videos. I have posted links to examples of Commercials, Heritage Moments, Procedure Videos, Promotional Videos and Stop Motion. Our students are very engaged in the process and are becoming more creative and daring as they experiment and learn about planning angles and transitions.

Shoe Commercial

Heritage Moment

Music Procedure (Weight Room)

Welcome To Central Senior

Stop Motion with Watch

Stop Motion with Chalk

Stop Motion with Cups

The Power of Collaboration!

Upon teaching my class how to create and share documents on Google Drive, using the i-pad minis in class, my students have been thrilled to find that they can create group assignments in real time!  My grade nine French Immersion class is currently working on creating their own movies, in any genre of their choice, in groups, in French.  First, they worked on the script in Google docs.  They were thrilled to be able to work from devices at home (or on the bus or in the car) to write one script, as a group, in real time, seeing changes being made by their peers on the spot.  They have used this form of collaboration inside AND outside the classroom setting and have actually been excited to do homework and collaborate on this project due to the technology involved.  They have furthermore used the i-pads in class to film their movies and will be using the i-movie app to edit and put together the final product.  I am excited to see the end results! :)

education + creation = EDUCREATIONS!

Hello All
Nice to read about the various uses and ideas surrounding our new tech!  :)

For the past few weeks I have had my students using the i-pads in a variety of ways.  Below is a list of activities they have been doing collaboratively or individually with the assistance of i-pads.

1) Using the Educreations app, students have made posters that are interactive.  Upon designing a poster that has traditional images and text, they have also added music, their own narration and extra drawings or images that appear throughout the recording of their poster "show".  This activity was very successful.  Students were engaged, had fun, were able to take their creativity to the next level and became quite proficient with it, very quickly.  They then shared their posters in various ways-- with a partner, in a carousel seating and in front of the whole class.

2) Using the Videolicious app, students created 1 min. films (with images, film clips, background music and voice over) of a description of a character from the novel we were reading or of an advertisement for a product (media study).

3) Currently, as a course culminating activity in French, students are creating their own short films.  They are collaborating and working on their scripts at school and from home using Google Drive and are using the i-movie app to film and edit their work.  I am still learning how to use this app in order to train them through this.  They are SO EXCITED about the real time nature of Google drive and are thrilled to create movies as a final task.

4)  Currently, another class has written children's short stories (for thier grade 1 reading buddies) and would like to create digital, interactive versions of their texts.  Using the Educreations app or the Book Creator app, they will record images of their books and of their voices reading the books, page by page.  This will provide an excellent resource for the grade 1 buddies to have digital story books that they can read, listen to, and follow along.

It's been a great start and I am excited to learn more and implement more ideas!
Cheers!
Rebeka