What I did in school today: May 8, 2013

This year, as a member of the YCSD Discovery Education (DE) cohort, I received my very own iPad.  Teachers who are part of this cohort were required to complete student projects, creating videos that contained both original video and  and content from the DE website.  Even though I am not a teacher, per se, I had an idea for a project, but of course I did not have a class of my own (as opposed to having no class).

In a classic win-win situation, I struck a deal with a teacher who was planning to go on maternity leave.  She needed to produce a video with her class for our annual film festival and I had an idea but needed a class.  We decided that after she left -- which she has -- I would work with her class to help them make their video.  Their project would essentially be my DE project.

Each group (3-4 students) is writing, recording, and editing a short newscast as if it took place during an event in Virginia history.  For example, one group is reporting on the high death rate at colonial Jamestown while another is reporting on the effect of Martin Luther King's march on Washington on civil rights in America.  The groups are formed, the topics are chosen, and the DE video content has been downloaded.  Today was all about editing the video segments so that just the content we want was retained and the length is between 45-90 seconds.  Done!  Next . . . work on the storyboards and scripts.