Mackenzie Clark - Video Production

I am excited to use iMovie with my students and see what kinds of videos they can create. I use lots of technology personally but I am somewhat averse to letting my students use it because I either don't have enough for everyone, or don't think they can do it since they are elementary, or I just don't feel like doing a new lesson! I know, that is terrible. I think working in groups my older students will be able to create videos in iMovie or do more stop motion projects. I have had them make commercials on their own and they did great, so I could even make that into a lesson with iMovie to make them more professional (our media specialist helped them previously). One thing I am considering is having each grade level make a commercial for their fine arts nights (which happens once a year for each grade level). This could be played on the morning show and played on the TV in the office as well. They could also make promos for the school musical. I think I would like mo...

Positive things that happened during working working in a group for our stop motion project: It was nice to use each person's skills to achieve our goal. Daniel is the illustrator so he was good at making our sea monster. I can do origami so I made the paper crane. We were also able to bounce ideas off of each other to expand our idea or not do an idea that wouldn't have worked very well. When working in a group, it is very different from producing your own work because there is usually some compromise on what the final product is and how it turns out. When working on your own, you have complete control and the outcome depends on you. I'm not always the best working in a group, since I usually want to do it my own way, but sometimes it is necessary. Take the last two days- I did end up doing most of the work, but it's not like I asked not to either or stepped aside from my computer to have someone else work on the project. That is one problem with doing technolo...

Being a photographer and iMac user myself, I went into this like what new am I going to learn? But still photography and Adobe suite are a lot different than video and iMovie, so I was pleased to learn shots and angles for video and improve my skills with iMovie and learn about GarageBand, which I haven't used before. There is so much untapped potential in a powerful machine like the iMac, and it is nice to learn how to use more features. I would love to use iMovie more with my students, and I had an idea for them to use it to create a digital portfolio of their work. I already use Artsonia, so I do have a digital copy of all of my students' art work, and it would be somewhat easy to give them those images and have them create a reflection on the year and their progression as an artist by making a film in iMovie. We will have so much technology from our DAP grants and institutes and it is sometimes hard to utilize these in the art class with elementary students. I am a...

The Anatomy of a Scene activity could be easily adapted to use in the art class. Since there is no film class in elementary school, or even a theatre class at our school specifically, film lessons can be added into the visual art class. We already do a lesson on stop motion animation. The next step could be a lesson on making a short film, or recreating a scene in a movie. After learning some basic vocabulary on shots and camera movement, we could do the Anatomy of a Scene activity to translate that vocabulary into use. From there my students could create their own short film. I think doing this activity will change the way they look at films and help develop mini movie makers. To make this lesson even more applicable to visual art, the short films that the students create could be an interview, biography, or documentary about a famous artist or art genre. Film making would make the art topics more real and alive for my students, who are used to watching videos about famous artis...

Our school district is always striving to develop 21st Century skills in our students, and p21.org offers tools and concepts to create and nourish the 21st Century skills in the arts, an area that often gets forgotten. The 21st Century Skills Map gives specific examples in developing 21st century skills in the arts. These skills are: Creativity and Problem Solving, Communication, Collaboration, Media Literacy, Flexibility and Approachability, Initiative and Self-Direction, Social and Cross-Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, and Leadership and Responsibility. This Skills Map is great in giving an example from each arts discipline and how those skills can be taught in your class. Here is an example lesson prompt: EXAMPLE: Students research works of art to identify how different artists have created work relevant to their lives and the world around them. Students analyze the works to identify distinguishing characteristics that reflect each artist’s creativity. Studen...