When working with children, we created a film focusing on Article 21 of children's rights: A right to live in the best place for you if you cannot live with your parents. We used Harry Potter's 'cupboard under the stairs' as a context and began by asking children about his living situation and how it could be improved. In the process of making this film we used a green screen to place 'Harry Potter' in different living environments. The children responded well to this context and had a lot of ideas. Everyone had a role to play in the creation of the film, whether it was an acting part or filming characters.
One thing that surprised me was that the film was easy to create. It required basic equipment however the editing programme is one the school would need to buy. I was also surprised with how easy the programme itself was to use. Something as simple as adding a background to the green screen area can completely transform the film.
Whilst the whole experience was really useful and exciting, having such a high teacher-pupil ratio made it easier than it possibly would be with a whole class. Additionally, because of the nature of the session, it was difficult to incorporate the children in the planning when we had very little time. If we had a longer session it would have been lovely to see the children taking complete ownership of the film.
Overall it was a very enjoyable experience and has highlighted the potential of technology in the classroom, building my confidence and commitment to use it myself.
Your film sounds brilliant, I can't wait to watch it! For animation I found the editing process rather frustrating to get my head around. How did you find it for film?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would have been nicer to have a longer session with the children to see how they take ownership of the project.
Although you didn't have that sense of ownership with the children the fact that we had children to teach in any form made it so much more rewarding that an animation session at university. I am glad you have had even this overview as you are all beginning to see the potential and also how easy it could be even with a big class perhaps staggering the children's use of animation rather than teaching the whole class at once
ReplyDeleteDo you think children would benefit from being able to edit it themselves?
ReplyDeleteThe editing for the film was relatively easy. As long as you could remember which drop down menu your effects were in it was straight forward.
I agree that this was much more rewarding than just learning how to use the equipment ourselves.
Bethany, has your attitude towards using this in the classroom changed at all since our session?
I do think that children would benefit enormously from completing the editing process themselves. It would give them a better sense of responsibilty and ownership of the whole project as they would be able to dictate what they wanted to keep or get rid of.
ReplyDeleteI definitley recognise the potential of using different media forms in the classroom and am willing to try it. However, I am still a little apprehensive about how to manage a full class.