Presenting the Total PACKage
Context
The stop motion movie would be created in an 8th grade graphic design class. This class is an 8th grade elective. At the end of seventh grade students choose which classes they would like to take the following year. Therefore, most of my students selected to take the class and are excited and enthusiastic about the projects.
I have a wide variety of learning styles and abilities in my classroom. Each student brings new thoughts and ideas to the table. A majority of my students feel very confident on the computer. Many of them consider themselves “experts.” While they might have a great understanding of how a program works, they have not been taught how to use it in a more complex fashion or to achieve a intricate end project with deep meaning and cohesiveness.
The class meets everyday for fifty minutes in a computer lab. The lab contains twenty-four Dell computers all connected to the Internet. The computers are equipped with Adobe Photoshop Elements and Windows Movie Maker. These are the tools that most of the projects are created with in this class. The class also uses many Web 2.0 tools that are available to create projects with. The goal of the class is to enhance students’ graphic design, technology, art, and other skills across the curriculum.
My school is very supportive of technology and using it to enhance education. I am able to try many new ideas and technologies, as long as I have good educational reasoning behind it. My one problem is trying to get things fixed when they are not working properly. It is not that I do not have a wonderful and helpful technology department. It is that because of budget, the four of them assist all six schools in our district. They always get things done as fast as possible, but it still may effect what is happening in the classroom. With twenty-four students and twenty-four computers it is always a puzzle of what to do when one breaks.
Content
I want my students to be able to create a storyline and illustrate it in the movie using their characters and background. The storyline needs to be creative and have depth. Students need to push themselves past the simple and easy ideas to create a complex cohesive whole. I want my students to be able to accomplish this by using their lateral thinking skills.
Throughout this project, students will learn to keep working through problems seeking new and different solutions. Many students find one solution and they use it. It may not be the best, but it works. I want to encourage students to keep exploring their options. I want students to take pride in going from a familiar idea to creating a unique idea on their own. Many of my students fear questions or projects where there is not one answer. I want students to be able to embrace the freedom to make educated choices independently and to take as much pride in the process as they do in the end result.
Students struggle to use lateral thinking skills across the curriculum. It is a skill that is not often taught. De Bono says if students practice their lateral thinking skills often enough it will be cognitively implemented and students will start to use it independently in the future. I believe this project will enhance lateral thinking skills in students, by encouraging them to solve problems independently, create a flowing and meaningful storyline and put several educational skills together to form a interconnected whole. As a result, students will begin to use their lateral thinking skills across the curriculum and in daily situations.
Technology
The purpose of this grant is to attain funding for the technologies required for students to be able to create a stop motion video. These technologies are a crucial part of the learning transformation I set in place for students to create thier own unique storylines, characters, and backgrounds by using our lateral thinking skills and to put are knowledge to work by creating a stop motion video.
There are different types of technology that could be used to create stop motion videos in the classroom. One option would be a classroom package of Movie Maker Pro, eight microphones, eight webcams, eight tripods and eight digital cameras. The total cost of that package would be around two thousand dollars. Movie Maker Pro gives a 60% discount to educators and other websites sell the rest of the equipment at discounted prices to teachers. The other avenue I could take to make stop motion videos would be using and ELMO document cameras. This piece of equipment takes and SD card and can record pictures. It is wonderful because you only need two piece of equipment to make the videos, the ELMO and a movie maker software. Each of these products costs around 600 dollars. A set of eight would cost around 4800 dollars. This is over twice the cost of the first option. It would be more cost effective to go with the first choice.
By choosing the first choice the students will also be able to familiarize themselves with more pieces of technology equipment. This will allow the students to have a better understanding, and gain confidence in using each piece of technology. The program Stop Motion Pro is a standard tool used in the animation industry. This program would give the students a real experience of how professional animators make there videos. Even more importantly, these technologies would give students a deeper understanding of the curriculum being taught by being an active part of the learning process. The students will see the computers as not just tools, but an avenue of creativity, critical thinking, collaborating, and expanding their thinking skills.
Pedagogy
To begin my lesson I will be presenting information to my students in a sage on the stage form. First, I will show students examples of different storyboards, backgrounds and how to develop characters. I will give them blank storyboard forms as a way to keep their ideas flowing and organized while creating their story. Then, I will introduce students to the software, the process of making a movie and show them numerous stop motion videos to give them and idea of what they are working to achieve in their final project. The students will also be shown the tools and supplies they can use to create characters and backgrounds. After my introduction, my role as a teacher will go from sage on the stage to guide on the side. All of the information presented to the students at the beginning will be available to them on a website so they can use it as a resource for information.
I think to learn lateral thinking skills an effective teaching pedagogy to use is inquiry-based learning. Students will be provided with websites they can refer to if they want to learn more about a certain aspect of the project or they reach an obstacle. In the project students are given the opportunities for free choice and self-direction. They are using the skills they have learned to come up with multiple solutions and viewpoints instead of just believing there is only one solution to every problem.
Another teaching pedagogy used is collaborative learning. For this project students will be put into groups of four. Students will be grouped by learning styles and abilities. In groups, students will be able to actively exchange ideas and use each other as learning tools and resources. Learners are able to engage in group discussions, and take responsiblilty for their own knowledge, encouraging them to become critical thinkers.
The Total PACKage
Technology, pedagogy, and content continually work together and will change and take on a new shape when any part shifts in another direction. Content, technology, and pedagogy work together in my lesson to create a unique outcome that could not be received with a different combination. The different parts were created to make sure that the content was being addressed to students in the most effective way possible. With all parts working together it "uncovers" the material and breaks through learning barriers.
The stop motion video software will allow students to be an active learner. Students will be able to construct their own movie, by creating their own unique characters, scenery and storyline. They are be able to communicate ideas and express different thoughts and emotions in their videos. Students are challenged intellectually, to make independent decisions, think deeply, explore ideas and let their imaginations wander freely. By using stop motion video art, technology, and creative writing will be addressed in the lesson. Students are able to write, illustrate what they write, and make their work come to life with animation. This process allow numerous different learning styles to be touched upon.
Students will be able to use different resources on the Internet to research different ideas and stop motion video techniques. The Internet is full of online tutorials that the students can utilize to expand their knowledge and skill levels. This allows students to continuously be challenged. Students will have the opportunity to create their own Personal Learning Network for stop motion video.
The stop motion movie would be created in an 8th grade graphic design class. This class is an 8th grade elective. At the end of seventh grade students choose which classes they would like to take the following year. Therefore, most of my students selected to take the class and are excited and enthusiastic about the projects.
I have a wide variety of learning styles and abilities in my classroom. Each student brings new thoughts and ideas to the table. A majority of my students feel very confident on the computer. Many of them consider themselves “experts.” While they might have a great understanding of how a program works, they have not been taught how to use it in a more complex fashion or to achieve a intricate end project with deep meaning and cohesiveness.
The class meets everyday for fifty minutes in a computer lab. The lab contains twenty-four Dell computers all connected to the Internet. The computers are equipped with Adobe Photoshop Elements and Windows Movie Maker. These are the tools that most of the projects are created with in this class. The class also uses many Web 2.0 tools that are available to create projects with. The goal of the class is to enhance students’ graphic design, technology, art, and other skills across the curriculum.
My school is very supportive of technology and using it to enhance education. I am able to try many new ideas and technologies, as long as I have good educational reasoning behind it. My one problem is trying to get things fixed when they are not working properly. It is not that I do not have a wonderful and helpful technology department. It is that because of budget, the four of them assist all six schools in our district. They always get things done as fast as possible, but it still may effect what is happening in the classroom. With twenty-four students and twenty-four computers it is always a puzzle of what to do when one breaks.
Content
I want my students to be able to create a storyline and illustrate it in the movie using their characters and background. The storyline needs to be creative and have depth. Students need to push themselves past the simple and easy ideas to create a complex cohesive whole. I want my students to be able to accomplish this by using their lateral thinking skills.
Throughout this project, students will learn to keep working through problems seeking new and different solutions. Many students find one solution and they use it. It may not be the best, but it works. I want to encourage students to keep exploring their options. I want students to take pride in going from a familiar idea to creating a unique idea on their own. Many of my students fear questions or projects where there is not one answer. I want students to be able to embrace the freedom to make educated choices independently and to take as much pride in the process as they do in the end result.
Students struggle to use lateral thinking skills across the curriculum. It is a skill that is not often taught. De Bono says if students practice their lateral thinking skills often enough it will be cognitively implemented and students will start to use it independently in the future. I believe this project will enhance lateral thinking skills in students, by encouraging them to solve problems independently, create a flowing and meaningful storyline and put several educational skills together to form a interconnected whole. As a result, students will begin to use their lateral thinking skills across the curriculum and in daily situations.
Technology
The purpose of this grant is to attain funding for the technologies required for students to be able to create a stop motion video. These technologies are a crucial part of the learning transformation I set in place for students to create thier own unique storylines, characters, and backgrounds by using our lateral thinking skills and to put are knowledge to work by creating a stop motion video.
There are different types of technology that could be used to create stop motion videos in the classroom. One option would be a classroom package of Movie Maker Pro, eight microphones, eight webcams, eight tripods and eight digital cameras. The total cost of that package would be around two thousand dollars. Movie Maker Pro gives a 60% discount to educators and other websites sell the rest of the equipment at discounted prices to teachers. The other avenue I could take to make stop motion videos would be using and ELMO document cameras. This piece of equipment takes and SD card and can record pictures. It is wonderful because you only need two piece of equipment to make the videos, the ELMO and a movie maker software. Each of these products costs around 600 dollars. A set of eight would cost around 4800 dollars. This is over twice the cost of the first option. It would be more cost effective to go with the first choice.
By choosing the first choice the students will also be able to familiarize themselves with more pieces of technology equipment. This will allow the students to have a better understanding, and gain confidence in using each piece of technology. The program Stop Motion Pro is a standard tool used in the animation industry. This program would give the students a real experience of how professional animators make there videos. Even more importantly, these technologies would give students a deeper understanding of the curriculum being taught by being an active part of the learning process. The students will see the computers as not just tools, but an avenue of creativity, critical thinking, collaborating, and expanding their thinking skills.
Pedagogy
To begin my lesson I will be presenting information to my students in a sage on the stage form. First, I will show students examples of different storyboards, backgrounds and how to develop characters. I will give them blank storyboard forms as a way to keep their ideas flowing and organized while creating their story. Then, I will introduce students to the software, the process of making a movie and show them numerous stop motion videos to give them and idea of what they are working to achieve in their final project. The students will also be shown the tools and supplies they can use to create characters and backgrounds. After my introduction, my role as a teacher will go from sage on the stage to guide on the side. All of the information presented to the students at the beginning will be available to them on a website so they can use it as a resource for information.
I think to learn lateral thinking skills an effective teaching pedagogy to use is inquiry-based learning. Students will be provided with websites they can refer to if they want to learn more about a certain aspect of the project or they reach an obstacle. In the project students are given the opportunities for free choice and self-direction. They are using the skills they have learned to come up with multiple solutions and viewpoints instead of just believing there is only one solution to every problem.
Another teaching pedagogy used is collaborative learning. For this project students will be put into groups of four. Students will be grouped by learning styles and abilities. In groups, students will be able to actively exchange ideas and use each other as learning tools and resources. Learners are able to engage in group discussions, and take responsiblilty for their own knowledge, encouraging them to become critical thinkers.
The Total PACKage
Technology, pedagogy, and content continually work together and will change and take on a new shape when any part shifts in another direction. Content, technology, and pedagogy work together in my lesson to create a unique outcome that could not be received with a different combination. The different parts were created to make sure that the content was being addressed to students in the most effective way possible. With all parts working together it "uncovers" the material and breaks through learning barriers.
The stop motion video software will allow students to be an active learner. Students will be able to construct their own movie, by creating their own unique characters, scenery and storyline. They are be able to communicate ideas and express different thoughts and emotions in their videos. Students are challenged intellectually, to make independent decisions, think deeply, explore ideas and let their imaginations wander freely. By using stop motion video art, technology, and creative writing will be addressed in the lesson. Students are able to write, illustrate what they write, and make their work come to life with animation. This process allow numerous different learning styles to be touched upon.
Students will be able to use different resources on the Internet to research different ideas and stop motion video techniques. The Internet is full of online tutorials that the students can utilize to expand their knowledge and skill levels. This allows students to continuously be challenged. Students will have the opportunity to create their own Personal Learning Network for stop motion video.
