Thursday, March 15, 2012

This is the Prezi that we went through in class.


So, what does that mean?

Here are a few questions to consider:

  • What is so new about online cultures? 
  • How do these types of communities change how our students interact not only with each other, but with content?
  • What potential problems do we (as teachers) have with attempting to expand our classroom into the students' worlds and communities?
  • Should we be putting our content into their arena, or should we attempt to bring them into ours?
Your job is not to answer any of those questions...
Instead, think about how we can reach our students and imbue them with these 21st century skills that are going to be so important for their futures?
Are you a 21st century teacher?

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Video Comparison Paper - Motivation

The assignment which you need to address over our long break is to view two movies which involve teachers and how they motivate their students. The standard two films we advise people to compare / contrast / pull examples from are Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me.

Both movies involve teachers who get their students to perform and get involved by some pretty extreme measures, but there is some good that we can glean from their ability to get students to achieve. What do you learn?

The job is to watch two films and discuss how the teacher motivated their students. Let me know if you have other films you wish to use!

Video Editing Day Two... Tools, etc.

Today, we will finish discussing video editing by having a thorough work day in which we edit our videos so that they are web-ready. The following topics might help you:

Q: What do I do if I have a video file but need an AVI file to edit in Magix?
A: Download the Pezera Suite and use the simple interface to convert any of the available formats into AVI files.

Q: What if I don't want to use Magix Movie Maker?
A: Well, you could use any of the programs I list below. Remember, the skill of editing video is more important than what program you use.

Video Editing:

  • YouTube Editing (online and free!)
  • iMovie (for Mac or iPad (I paid $5 for my iPad version.))
  • Avidemux (for you who enjoy open source software, and free!)
  • Windows MovieMaker Live (which has a good assortment of tools, and it's free!)
That will have to do for now, because many of the ones that I liked in the past are not being offered any longer online. Of course, you could pay for a professional tool (like Magix, Adobe Premier, or Adobe After Effects)

This is a good skill to develop, especially now that so much of our lives are spent watching videos of one sort or another. It is a good way to reach students where they are (see this video from Westerville South High School in Columbus, OH).



So, can you edit video?