Final Project Idea (a rough sketch)

For my final project I am envisioning stories. Stories written by, illustrated by, and told by students. The process by which students will create and present their stories to a wider audience is where the tech piece comes in. I see a lot of possibilities with having kids create stories using the Common Craft style. I've asked my 5th graders if they would be interested in creating stories using this method and they all shouted "¡Sí!". That was encouraging.

I found an educator out of Hong Kong who is creating Common Craft style videos in the classroom with her students. Donna Ellery who teaches at Discovery College in Hong Kong. Here is an example of one of her students who created a Common Craft video on "How to Make a Microphone".

After reading over the Utech tips for creating these videos in the classroom, I'm a bit intimidated to say the least. The method that Donna and her students used to create these videos was using iMovie for post production/editing and then importing the videos into Garage Band in order to do add the audio track (the kids used microphones they created in science class to do this which REALLY sounds intimidating). I know I've been taking this course for almost a year now, but the truth is I'm still not all that tech savvy. I've only used iMovie once and I've never used Garage Band. And that's just the technology piece, I still need to consider how the project will be organized, time lines, grading, etc. I have a lot to think about. The project seems gigantic and complicated and may give me a tech headache... but what I'm most grateful for is that I have the opportunity to work with students who are excited to create and tell stories in new and interesting ways. This may be challenging and my learning curve may be the size of Everest, but I expect it will be a fun, interesting, and learning centered journey getting to the final product.

To be continued.... stay tuned!