1-104 The Filming Continues.....

We had another productive day. We have completed filming 4.5 out of our 6 movies. The children's scripts are really impressive. They are also getting a bit more relaxed in front of the camera. We still have those things that slow us down: loudspeaker announcements, unexpected visitors, and emergency bathroom breaks.... We should definitely have enough footage for a blooper reel when we are done. Next week we will add transitions, music, and sound effects to jazz things up a bit more.

Shooting Schedules/costumes

Today we had a run through with our props and costumes.....We also worked on filming schedules.

Gettng ready with our shooting schedules

K14

Last week, my children learned the skill of dragging pictures into their podcast. We did not continue on our project this week. I checked their work today. I was delighted because the children had achieved the skill. They had pictures in their podcast. But they had their funny pictures instead of the games pictures. So I deleted the entire funny pictures and inserted the right pictures into their work. They can continue to work on the next steps to their project tomorrow.

Working on our Movies - Spring 2010

We have been planning out our movies and getting ready for a hectic film schedule ahead of us. In the mean time, we are creating stories that are centered around math and creating math related comic books.

1-104 Begins Filming

It was an awesome, but exhausting day. Our class spent the entire day finishing their storyboards. One group was able to film their movie. They really did an amazing job! I can't get over how much they have improved, both with their understanding of the technology, and with their ability to work together in groups. That's not to say that there are no longer arguments, or should I say artistic differences, but they really are much less frequent.

To speed things up a little bit, I had each group rehearse their script in front of the rest of the class. The audience supplied comments and suggestions for each group, and I think the advice was really helpful. We will continue to film when we get free time. I think we are in good shape.

K-14

I was able to upload my video to Eduvision on my first try. I will try to upload my other videos to the website next week. As for my class work, I finished checking my children's work. I finished typing the title and how to play pages. I also finished taking most of the pictures of the children playing the games. But I did not play the Red light, Green Light, 123 with the children. Maybe, we can try it tomorrow.

4-404 in Video Limbo

One of our groups recorded a video describing the project but it's in a format that our computers can't understand. So, we'll turn this one over to the school's resident computer genius ASAP. We shot a second video with a differ rent camera and lo and behold, it loaded, but without sound. Hmmm.

Storyboards and scripts are at a point where animation should begin, so we'll tuck into it this Friday...the last day before the ELA test!

Talking with Ms. Catania I think maybe our class should also create a web page to store the videos. Three or four kids working together on one laptop to make one video might not be the most efficient use of talent & time.

Mr. Amft

2-204 and 3-304 Friday April 16th

Amy and I spent last Friday facilitating the students video taping their number stories and homework help. They all acted them out and loaded them onto their computers. We are ready to start editing the videos on Friday and continue to work on their website.

Friday April 8th and EduVision Video

Friday class 2-204 and 3-304 were crazy busy. We spent all day writing story boards. We made 2 story boards per group. They planed out their number story and homework help problem separate story boards. They came up with the materials that were needed in each group. They have started to bring in the materials this week. All materials will be in the classrooms by Friday April 16th. The students will start to video tape their number stories and homework help Friday. The geometry group will be going on a a one period trip on Friday to film their number story on the street. They need the use of a stop sign.

Ms. Newman and I made a an imovie with three of the groups. The students were explaining why they made their story boards and what was one them. The video is uploaded to EduVision.

1-104 updates to Eduvision and ps376.org

I was able to upload our museum movie to the Eduvision site. The site did not like the original file format that I had (.m4v), so I had to re-export it to Quicktime format (.mov). All of these video formats are new to me.... I also put a temporary homepage up on the ps376.org site. It was the first time that I used iWeb. It was pretty painless :-) I have to say that I can't imagine going back to a PC now that I've gotten my feet wet on the Mac. In my opinion, there is no comparison. Thanks, Susannah, for your help over the weekend!

Week 5

Today we had a workshop on uploading to Eduvision and the 376 website. Each teacher got a user name and password for both sites.

For Eduvision, all you have to do is log in, go to the Control Panel, select Video Management, and then click on Upload Video. Fill in each of the fields and upload any video file you have. This will save us room on our website, and you can embed the videos in your blogs and wikis.

For PS 376, I gave everyone an account and a sheet on how to fill out your iWeb information. Once you have this properly put in, you can publish your web pages without bothering Ms. Catania.

By my next visit, each teacher will upload to both Eduvision and the website something to make sure everyone understands the process.

• K-14: Today we finished playing games using math. We took pictures and wrote the steps. Next session we will be ready to start our podcasts.
• 1-104: Today we began to storyboard our videos. Students learned what is part of a storyboard. They separated "what you see" and "what you hear" in a video. By next session, the storyboards will be completed.
• 1-204/3-304: Students are well on their way to publishing their websites. Today we began to storyboard our number stories. We needed a refresher on storyboarding. Past movies have used images from the Internet. These number stories will be videos we act out. By next session, the storyboards will be completed.
• 4-404: Students were continuing their storyboards. Because these storyboards use animation and are based on difficult mathematical concepts, students are struggling. We used manipulitives and role playing to help students visualize their ideas and translate them into effective storyboards. By next session, the storyboards will be completed.
• 5-504: Today we held auditions for our two movies. Casting directors and directors took the lead. Auditions were filmed (hopefully to go up on Eduvision). Prop managers, costume directors, and set designers are to make formal lists of what needs to be done and assign jobs to everyone on the team. By next session actors must have rehearsed their lines, props, costumes, and sets will be collected and organized so we can begin filming.

This is the halfway mark. We need to keep track of our timeline so that presentations are ready for May 24th.