5th Session Reflection

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Today we talked about digital storytelling. I have used animoto a lot in my classroom. In social studies class, the students get to decide what format they want their projects to be. Many of them choose to do an animoto. I have heard the kids say how easy it is to use. The only draw back I think is that it limits the text that can be added to a picture. Today Amy said that she didn't see that as a draw back but as a reason that kids need to really think about what pictures they are putting on their animoto. I never really saw it that way. We also talked about and played around with VoiceThread. I have played around with it before but not really in depth. I thought that I could use VoiceThread with my history class by uploading a picture from the Civil War and have the kids record a historical fiction story that they create.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 05, 2010

    Since you have been using Animoto already how do you assess (grade) Animoto projects? Are they graded on content, quality of images, explanations? I think they all look really cool, but if they're so easy to create and are limited in content what are they being graded on? How do you decide what a good Animoto is vs a bad Animoto? Maybe the skill part isn't the point, not sure. In art the craftsmanship of the presentation itself if part of the assessment along with the concept.

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  2. Julie GieseMay 11, 2010

    I grade the students on their explanation that goes along with the animoto. They might do a presentation and use an animoto as the backdrop for their project. I think a good animoto has relevent pictures and has key words that go along with it.

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