Kick off the year with technology!

Ok - summer's ended and the school is is back underway. In the hustle and bustle of reorganizing and getting kids back into the swing of things, it can be daunting to consider taking on a new technology project. Despite that, I want to tell about a project that I've done each year at the start of school that yields some great results.

In preparation for our Open House Parent Night, I work with my class each fall to create a movie that is shown to the parents. The purpose of this movie is to have the students tell their parents about important parts of 4th grade. Depending on the time you have and the proficiency levels of your students, you can make this project as open-ended as is reasonable. In the past, I've had students develop a "news broadcast" about their classroom, take parents through a "day in the life" of a 4th grader, and identify their hopes and goals for the year ahead. There really are a lot of possibilities!

This activity sets the stage for further technology endeavors in the classroom by presenting students with a motivating and engaging project to complete. A built-in deadline (Open House) makes for some good lessons in time management and the process of developing the movie as a whole class presents opportunities for team building and cooperation. The real payoff of this work, though, comes on Open House night itself. Parents love seeing their kids on screen and are always proud of the work that has been done. By sharing this work with them, you can give them a sense of the excitement and creativity that you hope to develop throughout the year. (Plus, when the kids do the talking, it's less time that you need to stand up in front of the parents!)

To make this project a success, you will need to allow your students some time to plan and practice what they are going to say. If students are presenting in groups, you will need to support them in identifying what will be said (and by whom), where they will film, what props they might need, etc. As the teacher, your job will become that of producer and director: making sure that the important points you want covered are included and that everyone has a chance to be involved.

As far as technology goes, I have found that the Flip Video Camera from Pure Digital Technologies is a great tool to use. Its simple, point-and-shoot approach makes it easier for students to do the filming with just a brief tutorial. To edit the footage together, I have used iMovie from Apple's iLife Suite. I find it to be a reasonably user friendly tool that gives you good creative control over your finished product. While there are other movie making applications out there, I haven't explored them much, so I can't make any comparisons.

All in all, this is an excellent way to begin the year. The kids love it and the parents are usually thrilled and impressed. As they say, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression...