Digital Video Lesson Plan

In an effort to incorporate digital video productions into everyday learning (as it stands to act as such an overwhelmingly motivating & effective learning tool!), I created a lesson plan that I would incorporate into a 5th or 6th grade ELA unit/lesson plan.

Off The Page Productions

[An Introductory Lesson on Incorporating Digital Video]

Grade: 5-6

Teacher: Marissa Albrecht

Materials: - Class set of novel
- Mac computers
- Digital Video Cameras (1/group)
- Copies of storyboard outline
- Graphic organizer (Story Elements)
- Writing paper/notebook
- Pens/pencils
- The BFG Teaser Trailer (As Model)
- iMovie Rubric
- Video projector

Objectives:
· Students will gain practice discerning important story and character elements/analysis by summarizing and highlighting the key elements of a story
· Students will explore the capabilities and resources available through digital video composition by creating their own video

**Please Note: This is more of a continuing unit of study rather than one isolated lesson plan. Work on this project would require at least a week including time to finish reading the book, filming, and lab time during class.

Student Activities:
· After completing a novel as a class (or in reading groups), break students into groups of 2-3.
· Provide each group with a graphic organizer to assist them in identifying the predominant characters, events, and themes in the story.
· Discuss the story elements and note which elements are most intriguing for each group.
· Explain to students that they will be asked to create their very own movie trailer/preview for the book. They should determine a clear focus (likely drawing from their most intriguing discussion points), choosing from one of the following directions:
o Take the perspective (“step into the shoes”) of one of the main characters and tell your story in an autobiographical/personal narrative video
o As the narrator of the story, focus on one of the big events and how that one event altered the outcome of the story
o Write your own mini commercial/infomercial in which you advertise an important ‘prop’ in the story, emphasizing its role in the story development and outcome
o Direct a ‘mock-newscast’ in which you interview various characters in the story to piece together a summary of the story
o Create your own music video in which your audience can clearly understand the words of your music to gain a new understanding of the story, theme, tone, etc.
o Choose your own direction & have it approved by the teacher before beginning recording
· To help students begin, show the trailer for the book The BFG as a model (as well as similar appropriate themed projects). Also share the storyboard created for The BFG.
· Model the process of how to create a storyboard to aid in organizing. Also provide a tutorial on the appropriate use of cameras and iMovie programs. (As students become more proficient with use, introduce additional programs to aid in their movie productions.)
· In groups, instruct students to select and discuss potential directions for video. Invite groups to share ideas with the class. [*Ideas must be approved by teacher prior to any filming.]
· Rotate into each group to listen in on ideas, guide planning, offer feedback and any necessary help.
· Hand out and refer to the iMovie rubric to inform students of the project goals and expectations.
· During the following week, allow students to bring in costumes and props that will help them use lab time to film in class. Also provide a sign-out for groups who elect to take cameras out and record outside of school.
· At the end of each class, put materials away, collect papers in folders to keep track of them in the room and be sure to plug cameras in so that they will be charged & ready for the next class.
· After approximately a week and a half of filming and editing, it’s Showtime! Invite administrators, faculty, staff & fellow team members to the Screening of student videos.
· Groups will present their movie on the big screen (using projector) with a 2 minute introduction explaining the processes they used to create their digital video.
· Hold an open forum for students to discuss the pros and cons of digital video production and why they feel it should/shouldn’t be a part of classroom learning.
· Post videos on online class site/blog (or link to Teacher Tube).

The Secret's In The Sauce

Our final culminating project for LAI 536 was to create a personal narrative. It could be on anything that was important to us and was assigned as a way to reflect ourselves in a video (at least that was my interpretation... :P) The process began with selecting a topic. The obvious choice for me was to highlight my family; namely, my Big Fat Italian Family! My mom's side is 100% Italian and therefore produces the most entertaining elements of life :)

I toyed with ideas of focusing on the legacy of my family, values, ways of speaking, faith, mannorisms... but as is true in all of life it seems, it kept coming back to food! So recruiting the help of my family, I asked a couple questions and 'interviewed' them and recorded the entire process as Mom made sauce. The result is just a glimpse into the beautiful blessing that I get to call family - manifesting itself most clearly through processes of cooking, passing down recipes, and eating the food prepared by the experts. As this video infers, the secret to the strength found in such a family is... well... in the sauce :)


Teacher Tube link: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=d873e346f0ea9371892b

Newsflash!

On a very ambitious day a couple weeks ago, we put an entire newscast together in one day! This time, instead of working individually or in partners, our whole class worked together. Once we branched into newscast teams (anchors, interviewers, camera teams, editing, and of course Stephen was the Executive Producer ;), we set to work to research, interview, & broadcast a hot topic in Buffalo: whether recent heightened security of Thursday in the Square is a matter of safety or age discrimination.

It was a lot of work but also fun! Even if the editing team (Alex & I) stayed an hour & a half + after class to see it to completion, in the end, I think we pulled all of our work together very nicely. Tune in to UB Digital News 536 and check it out for yourself! :)

Coming to you live from our Baldy Station at UB in Buffalo: it's UB Digital News at 11. News You Can Use!

TeacherTube: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2d062bea48a0172f8025

i-Speak Introductions

On the first day of class, we were given the opportunity to jump right in and create an introduction video. We were all a little nervous seeing as it was to be completed (filmed, edited, and posted) in not only one day - but one class! Designed as an ice-breaker, we each created a mini biography of another student as a way for the class to meet each other. Our job was to locate an object on campus that best represented the person we were going to introduce to the rest of the class.

After Erin & I quickly interviewed each other, we grabbed a camera and began roaming UB's campus to embark on our first project. The result of my learning from the first day of LAI 536 can be seen by clicking on either the video or link below which will transfer you directly to TeacherTube. How fun! :)


TeacherTube link: www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=57a7645534e99f20928b

Drawing by Billy Collins

This is an i-Speak video which was assigned with the goal of expressing an interpretation of an existing piece of writing digitally. I chose to reflect on a pretty straight-forward interpretation of Billy Collins' poem Drawing.

Many thanks to Lauren for her excellent performance and artistry! :)

TeacherTube: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4ce2c0fdef2dea3a2279

Movie Trailer

In class most recently, we were assigned with a project intended to play off a common advertising venue (like infomercials or movie trailers) to spotlight an education-related topic. Being on the elementary end of education, I struggled at first to think of a way to make a project like this accessible and purposeful for students that I work with. Initially, it struck me as a project more suitable to high school students. After discussing some ideas in class though, it occurred to me that I could create a project that would help students make their own themed video within curricular content by exploring a book they have read. In order to model this idea, I created my own example which you can find below!

Recruiting the assistance of a couple of my favorite kids (who also happen to have enormous talent in singing and acting!), I assembled a movie trailer for an interpretation of Roald Dahl's book The BFG (Big Friendly Giant). As we recorded clips for the trailer, we began to take on a bit of a different perspective of the story... particularly as it relates to the soundtrack... :) The end result is an action-packed, highly entertaining teaser trailer for the up-and-coming production of The BFG.

Check it out!

Hello!

Welcome to Miss Albrecht (Marissa)'s blogspot!

Thanks to the most recent grad class I am taking this summer at UB (LAI 536), which emphasizes the enormously valuable potential digital video composition can be in the classroom, I am progressively learning how to make videos for a wide spectrum of purposes. Of course, those that know me know that I have NO problem exploring new ways to incorporate digital photos or videos into everyday life :P It's a blast! So much so, that I thought it incredibly inconsiderate to keep all the fun to myself (plus, Stephen asked us to create blogs to showcase the work we've done).

SO, with these two powerful motivators acting on me, I have created my first-ever blog with the intention of showcasing the SHINING STARS of and through my endless literacy learning through digital video composition. I hope you enjoy viewing these videos as much as I have enjoyed putting them together! Have fun exploring!

:) Miss Albrecht