WEEK 5 - Movie Making and more...

This workshop explored movie making, computer animations and other educational ICT websites.
Making movies and comic strips would be a great activities for students, obviously using a child friendly website. I imagine that all students would get involved with this type of activity, even reluctant writers, and in many cases some would really surprise you. I think it allows the students to experiment with different styles of writing and really play around with it. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is huge at the moment, get the kids to make their own short stories and comic strips they would love it! Students could even make short movies or plays and perform it to their peers. On my last placement i had students perform mini plays. The quiet student who whispered and was hardly ever heard, became the star of the show, was totally in character for all her scenes and just blew us all away. By providing them with various forms of learning it allows all students to shine!

This is my attempt at creating a short movie.

http://www.dvolver.com/live/moviemaker.html (Adult website)

www.zimmertwins.com/(Child friendly website)


Another site for children is
http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/inspire.htm this is from the ABC website which is a great resouce and is sure to provide ideas and inspiration to all.

Remember to ensure all sites are child appropriate before introducing them to students.

Build Your Wild Self
This website is fabulous: http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

I really like this activity and all students would be engaged with this. I think i could definitely use it as a fun activity whilst exploring a unit of work on world habitats. Students are able to have fun creating their wild self whilst also learning interesting animal facts...love it! You could use it for a creative story writing lesson, where students could write about the creature or imagine that they are the creature. As Greg said, there is so much that you could do with it depending on the capabilities of your students. I also love the idea of using it as an extra activity associated with reading groups. How excited would the students be to share their creations with one another. The sound effects on the website are also great. Once again the opportunities are endless.

Rebus Story Writing
I remember these type of stories from my own childhood. I think they would be great activities to encorporate into today's classroom. It also makes kids think outside the square and do things different, whilst also embracing the varied approaches to learning. Perhaps enabling those not so talented with spelling to create fabulous stories.
www.storygames.com/TeachManPF/Rebus.html

Lego and Mini-Mizer
These building activities are great and all students would really enjoy these programs. In my experience i have found that all ages became engrossed with Lego Digital Design (http://ldd.lego.com/). The level of involvement and degree of difficulty is completely up to the individual. Students had fun taking it in turns to design all sorts of lego creations. When i had early finishers during the computer timeslot i encouraged them to expore Lego Digital Design, so that they were still engaged and thinking, not fooling around and being disruptive.

The mini-mizers are lego characters students create at http://www.reasonablyclever.com/?page_id=29 The website is adult based with this child friendly component. Students are able to design their own lego characters. These character creations may complement a story writing lesson or entice students to design characters which they then have to build with real lego. My attempt at creating lego characters are below.

Ziptales
The Ziptales website (http://www.ziptales.com/) is another great resouce available, however you have to be a subscriber to view most of the information. None the less it is definitely worth a look as the Make and Do page is a great classsroom resource for lesson activities and ideas. It provides instructions for each activity. For example moveable characters like tiny teddy would provide inspiration and a starting point for students and teachers alike. Students can create their own moveable characters, write a story about their characters and even explore a variety of shapes used to create their characters.






Typing Blind Activity
This activity saw us using Microsoft (MS) Word and typing blind. Using MS Word and turning the computer monitor off, you are relying on verbal instruction and typing skills to type the sentences verbally relayed by the teacher. I found this a fun activity. I think it would be very useful in the classroom. I can see myself using it as an engaging activity at the start of a computer lab session. It would be great to build up the speed at which the students type, not to mention increasing there spelling accuracy and listening skills. As you can see from my attempt, i managed to make a mistake.