My last foray as a travelling technology integrator was yesterday. It was delightful. I'm heading back to the classroom in the fall.I was asked to introduce stop motion animation to a group of grade 3 and 4 students. The teacher had prepped the students by having them plan a beginning, middle and end to their animated stories and had talked with them about what type of materials could be used.
Just as you see in this photo: Credit to Tim Clarke the students scattered on the floor of the classroom. You want to talk about total engagement. Students were in groups of 4 and had the opportunity to talk about their projects along the way. For the entire day yesterday, there were no discipline concerns, there was a high level of student engagement and the kids were having just plain fun!
Time and time again I saw students working together, problem solving, laughing, being excited. Groups would divide the jobs. There would be camera operators, animators, software and laptop experts. But what I noticed most was that all the group members were contributing to how the story was being told. Now that is huge. Each member with a voice on how the story will be told.
So if you haven't tried stop motion animation in the classroom, you may want to give it a try. All you need is an inexpensive web cam, some software a few found materials to create a story, and you'll be in business.
Update: Watch for my article on Stop Motion Animation Storytelling and Boys Engagement in an upcoming issue of Creative Educator magazine in the fall. The article will also appear in a special #iste11 hard copy next week.
2 comments:
Sounds like a great day, Kent! Thanks for sharing.
Looking forward to your article... I'm always searching for engaging projects to do with my Core French students, though I wonder if stop motion animation would be too time consuming for classes that are only 40 minutes per day... Hmm. Hopefully not!
Keep sharing, please,
Joelle :)
Thanks for your thoughts, Joelle. I think you could make it work by breaking the task into chunks. Storyboards one lesson, followed by recording the stories in little bits at a time. As well, one laptop or desktop could be used in your French room ( or on a cart ) and this could be used as an animation station.
As for the article it has been published in the Fall 2011 Creative Educator Magazine. However the magazines have only been released (so far) here in Philly as a part of #iste11
Again, thanks for your comment and discussion.
Kent
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