Video Editing

The video editing was a cool project; however I am glad I had several people in my group who knew what they were doing!  Thanks guys. 

Using the video would be a fantastic way to differentiate learning especially for special ed students.  Unfortuntately just thinking about all the obstacles that would have to be overcome is mind boggling.  The state has put such a rigid pace on teachers it is almost impossible to deviate from the pacing guide and teach all the standards.  If students came to class already knowing how to use the video and how to edit that would be a whole new story.  During regualr classtime there is no time to teach the storyboarding, camera angles and other little tricks to help them make their video or to even teach how to use movie maker.  There is no time built into the educational world to teach students how to use technololgy.  Which of course leads me back to the the keyboarding class.  Why can't they teach some of those skills in there so students are ready to apply them in the classroom to communicate their knowledge.

Keyboarding VS Computer Skills

Why isn’t keyboarding a computer skills class??

Our school has a mandatory keyboarding class.  This is not a bad thing. Kids learn typing skills and proper fingering which make them more efficient on the keyboard.  However, my thoughts are ….. the class is 90 minutes long, do they really need to practice fingering and timed tests for that long?  Could the time be better utilized by splitting up the block and using the first 45 minutes for keyboarding skills and the last 45 minutes for computer skills?  In today’s high tech society, students need to be able to work power point programs, manipulate text boxes, copy and paste pictures and information.  If these skills were taught in keyboarding then classroom teachers would have more options to do computer related activities in the classroom.  When teachers give students computer projects to work on during class most of the time is not spent working with students on content, but on how to work the programs, help them get the look and feel they want, show them how to access different design elements and use textboxes.  If students had these skills already it would take them less time to design their project and know what they want to include.  This would free the teachers up to make sure the content information is accurate and included.

Making Brochures

Brochures

In one of my classes we had students make brochures on the computer and turn them in electronically.  After all of the brochures are turned in the computer lab techs will print them out on brochure paper.  This is a great project especially when used as a cumulative activity.  We gave students a sloppy copy to write their rough draft and plan what they would put on their final brochure.  Many students were able to find pictures at home or during their resource period to save onto their flash drive.  The template was premade and loaded on Microsoft publisher.  We used two different templates, one for honors classes and one for the academic or inclusion classes which had more structure. All the students worked hard to complete their project and some took extra time to add a little color and personalize their final product.  This is such a rewarding project to see students put together a professional looking piece of work.

Wish we had more computer time to create more pamphlets, brochures or signs.