Towards the end of last year, I got together with my FANTABULOUS Media Specialist aka Super Librarian and said, I need something cool to keep these kids engaged. (They were suffering mightily from 5th-grade-end-of-year-lose-my-mind-head.) We also had a HUGE research project over the 20th/21st century coming up and I knew that this could be a dicey proposition!
Here's a little background...
In my district we use UBD, Understanding By Design to create lessons and assessments. In VERY few words it's: look at your assessment first and THEN create your lessons so that you are really teaching what you need. (ok there's LOT more to it than that, but this is good. )
5th Grade Social Studies - Unit 8 Modern America Assessment and Rubric The student will demonstrate understanding of the changes that occurred in the 20th Century / Modern America by answering the following question: How did the issues, events, and individuals of the 20th and/or 21st century shape modern America? The student will:· Choose a topic - an event, individual, or issue from the 20th and or 21st century(use attached PDF list)· Research their 20th and/or 21st topic focusing on the question :How _________________ shaped modern America?· Create a visual product, written product, or oral presentation that answers the following question: How _________________ shaped modern America?
Not bad, but still rather dry. Well, for me anyway.
So I added a couple of questions and reworded it. You can find the final copy of the assignment and assessment packet here. * I could not include the rubric since it was made by the district.
(BTW, I have found it extremely helpful to give them the rubric AHEAD of time to help ensure success. Also, it helps in grading since there will be no question that they DID know what you wanted.) Another day I'll talk about how I develop rubrics and my thinking on those ;)
First of all, I gave them their list of district approved topics they could research and the packet of info, but also said, if you think of something not on the list, let me know and we'll chat about it. They had SEVERAL new and wonderful ideas that weren't on the list. (of course they did.)
Next, I told them, as long as you address all these questions in your presentation, it doesn't matter to HOW you present or WHAT your product is. Their eyes lit up!!
Here's how it went...
Class: ANYthing?
Me: yup. ANYthing.
Class: Prezzis?
Me: yes, but I don't know how to make those so you're on your own. And your parents must sign the permission slip since you have to have an email address.
Class: Mrs. Sandefer, you can just watch the tutorial on YouTube! It's easy!
Me: (well duh. why didn't I think of that???)
(and I have no idea why my formatting is weird... sorry!)
The final thing I told them was: in order to get an A, NO MATTER WHAT, you MUST cite your sources. (I'm a stickler!)
When I began getting my packets back I was THRILLED to see the diversity in their choice of presentation and topics. I knew it was going to be GREAT.
On to Animoto!
While we were chatting, Super Librarian and myself came up with the idea of showing what life would have been like if this person or event HAD NOT happened? How would life be different? This is the level of thinking that we are encouraging and I knew by adding the Animoto component it could be greatness!
What is Animoto?
Animoto is a FREE video creation website. It has loads of copyright free music and pictures. The idea is simple. You choose a template (these are animated transitions), music, and then upload you own pictures or use theirs. Finally you publish and you have your own slideshow set to music!
It is SUPER easy!!! It also has an app that can used on the iPhone or iPad, in addition to being web based, so ANYONE can use it.
Here's the website: www.animoto.com
With the free account, you can make unlimited 30 second videos. All you need is an email address. For simplicity with the use of iPads, I went ahead and created my own 5th grade gmail address. ***I now use this address for ALL the apps and web based programs I use with kids. This way, I'm not blocking up my school account with emails from websites and I'm able to keep their projects all in one place.
BUT, there's more. :) If you're an educator, you can UPGRADE to a paid account for FREE with proof of school email address and website. (YES, it's TRUE!!!!) I didn't find this out til about half way through this process though... I'll get to that in a sec.
So, our final project idea was this:
Create an Animoto video, 30 - 40 seconds long that represents what life would be like if your person or event HAD NOT happened. Your music, traditions, and pictures must all go together to reflect the theme AND you can't have pictures that are all the same thing. Such as, 9/11. Obviously, if it hadn't of happened, the towers would more than likely be standing. Please don't have 8 photos of the towers. Think about ways life would be different in OTHER areas, security, families, etc.
At first, I got blank stares but we talked about it.
Me: Ok, let's say that Walt Disney had not created what he did?
Class: OH!!! no movies! no Pixar! no....
it went on and on. They got it.
Next I asked ok, would this be a good thing, or a bad thing?
They immediately voiced their opinion that this would be awful! I then asked then would my pictures have happy mood or not?
NOT!
ME: What about music, light and peppy or sad and dreary?
DREARY!!! MELANCHOLY. (do your kids use that word ALL THE TIME????)
Ok. I think they understood. But just in case I created a fake one that didn't make match. It had really slow quiet music and upbeat pictures. They all find non-examples hilarious.
Off we went. I gave them the super quick rubric.
Our school recently purchased 20 iPads. I also have my own and I have 6 computers in my room. So between all that, each child had their own device. Again, since Animoto is web based, no problem!
****To EASE the process: I logged in to Animoto on all computers and iPads AHEAD of time. I don't give the kids access to the password on that account. So, that is something to remember!
Day 1: Photo search. We went to Google images to find pics. *yes, you can find things that aren't appropriate here, but we have had LONG talks about skipping over it and moving on. Also, I have 5th graders so that makes it a little bit easier. They know if they are somewhere they don't need to be, off you go from the computers... for the rest of the YEAR.
They had to keep in mind what their research topic was, and think of it in the opposite. They did searches on what they thought it would look like. Once they found a picture they saved it (and made note of it's location!!) If they were on a district desktop, they saved to their own folder on the network. Our iPads are NOT networked, so they saved directly to the iPad (to be deleted when our time was over.) They needed about 7 - 11 photos to fill that time frame.
Once they were done, they went to Animoto.
When you log into Animoto it will look like this:
First, you need to choose your background. There are some that are limited to the paid accounts, but there is still a great collection available.
Next: choose music. They have thousands of copyright free songs available. AND, you can not upload a song that isn't copyright free. They already have some split into topics like family or romance, or you can search by genre. They had LOTS of fun with this part. *there were time when the iPads wouldn't play the clips. We couldn't figure out why. At that point when I did this, Animoto did not have a preview option, but now they do. They can pick a song and preview. If they like it, they can keep it. If not, they can change.
Once they had those two things complete, it was time for photos.
Day 2: finishing up!
Some had gotten finished in one day and they continued to play while the rest kept working.
They uploaded their photos to Animoto. Again, very easy. You choose upload photos and the select the ones you want.
AND YOU'RE DONE.
really!
After previewing, click on publish. Then you can watch what you've created. Also, as the videos are being published they are still in the account so they could watch their friend's videos too. This turned out to be a great thing as some realized their friends hadn't followed directions, or the rubric, and they let them know and helped them out.
We spent one day sharing our 30 second videos. They LOVED it.
I had 45 wonderful videos, but here are some of my favorites!!
Life without the Atom Bomb
Life without the Atom Bomb
Life without Dr. Suess
I'm very proud of my kiddos!
Let me know if you think you could use this in your classroom!!
