Having students design and create their own digital videos
in the classroom is a powerful tool to get students engaged in what they are
learning. My favorite curriculum to teach is World History I. Having students
design and create a tourism commercial at the end of the year on their favorite
civilization would be an excellent way for students to synthesize the content and
skills they have learned throughout the year.
Students could
work in teams based on the civilization they chose. They would go back and look
at what they have learned about that civilization and choose places someone
would want to visit that were important to that civilization. They would then
create a treatment for their commercial complete with design, color, music,
look, feel, and special effects. They
need to design who their audience will be and make sure there are designing for
that audience. After the treatment is approved by their teacher they will then
begin to film.
There are two
ways to edit video. Students can do it in-camera which takes longer to film but
is easier or they can digitally edit the video after the filming which takes
longer but looks more professional. For this project, the students would be
editing the video after the filming occurred. Students could then add
backgrounds to make the reader see the civilization, edit in music, animation,
and even voice-overs. I like Movie-maker because it allows students to edit
easily and is free. When the videos are
complete, students would share them with their peers, reflecting on what worked
and what may have been a challenge. By creating videos in the classroom,
students are linking living to learning, they are finding meaning in what they
do, and using real world skills to do them.
Have you ever had your students use video editing in your classroom? What worked? What were some of the challenges?
