Reflection on Video

As I have fallen deeply behind on most things in my life, so have I fallen behind on my blogging for this class. I will therefore seek to catch up on what I might have missed out on telling you.

I enjoyed learning the video tools. While I have used imovie quite a bit, and I've even had my kids make videos in class, it was nice to actually learn how to use the different buttons/functions from an actual human being. I dislike tutorials, so I have never taken the time to actually go through the entire imovie or moviemaker one because I find it boring, confusing, and usually unhelpful. I would love to teach a film class where students were able to make their own films and analyze others. I took one in college, and it was a blast. Also, it goes a long way towards teaching those analytical skills we are always trying so hard to achieve in literacy education. Based upon this desire, my goal is to create a unit for the end of the year that focuses on critique, and thereby have the kids analyze, critique, and create their own films and other alternative texts. We'll see how that goes.

In all, I intend to continue to use imovie and moviemaker in my classroom. I think that it is an excellent way for kids to understand the procedural nature of academic creativity; that kids actually learn how to be more organized writers by making films.