A friend on Facebook has friended some former students, so I was privy to a severely disappointing batch of comments on a video put up by one of those former students. The video was fine, in fact it was the fifth grade graduation video of the class that is now going into tenth grade.
The comments, however, fell into one of several categories:
1) sweet and nostalgic
2) gratuitously profane and absurdly vulgar
3) rude, arrogant, and hateful
4) some combination of the above with appalling spelling and grammar errors.
Now, I don't think of myself as naive, and I am no stranger to the pottymouth, but I was really shocked by some of the things these kids were saying to each other. It made me think about my "internet safety and citizenship" curriculum.
I used to formally teach internet safety and citizenship in fourth and fifth grade, in addition to including informal lessons in the earlier grades. The safety part was actually pretty fun and engaging--I made a mask that had Miley Cyrus on one side and a scary picture of Harvey Keitel on the other and did a schtick to demonstrate that you may not know whom you're actually chatting with online; I showed PSAs; I had kids review a selection of internet safety sites for information and tips; and I had them make comics and posters to teach other kids about internet safety. But since the reports came out from the Crimes Against Children Research Center and the Internet Safety Technical Task Force indicating that the threat was much less than we thought, I reduced the emphasis on safety.
I still teach kids to keep certain information (including passwords) private and to be careful talking to strangers online or off, and I make sure they understand that anyone can put anything on the internet, and that it's their responsibility to stay on task and to close the window and let me know if they see anything that seems inappropriate, but I dropped the rest of that part of the curriculum. (This also ties into the part of the curriculum where they learn that you can't believe everything you read on the internet. (or elsewhere!))
The other part of the curriculum, the citizenship part, has basically been "be the same nice person you are in real life." (With some closing thoughts on leaving the internet a better place than you found it) And I leave it at that as if to say "of course you guys would never say anything mean or rude online, or log in to someone else's account, or vandalize a website. We don't even need to discuss it, right?" And this has seemed to be working, as we've had very few problems even though fourth and fifth graders have email and Blogger accounts. (Though, perhaps significantly, the kids now going into tenth grade did not.)
But then this Facebook experience. Should I have spent more time teaching them good internet citizenship? Or would that have been long forgotten by now, and their middle and high-schools should be teaching it? Or their parents? Or are these kids simply not nice in real life either? Or is it a passing phase, just part of the tempest that is adolescence? I'm inclined to believe all of the above. At least some of them have been smart enough not to use their full or real names, so they won't get caught when they're Googled by college admissions departments.
Showing posts with label fifth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fifth. Show all posts
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Reflections on the Fifth Grade Movie Project
I have been so impressed with the fifth grade movie work this year. We haven't had enough time together, and I've had to rush them a lot, but many have chosen to come in early or during recess, and their hard work really shows. (Wish I could show some here, but a) didn't do permission slips and b) didn't have time for them to cite their image sources)
A couple more new things I tried this year (in addition to the new planning elements):
1) Incorporating real video with the zooming and panning of still images
Most video sharing sites are blocked at school, and it can be incredibly time-consuming to find the right bit of video within a longer clip, so I told students that all they had to do was write me a note or email requesting a particular kind of video clip (eg. someone making sushi, golden retrievers fetching, Ozzy Osbourne playing Crazy Train) and I would get it for them. This turned out, not surprisingly, to be a lot of work, but so worth it. It brought a whole new element into the project--both technically and artistically. It was too bad that only about 20% of kids opted to use video, but if everyone had I don't think I would have been able to collect it all.
This brings up the question of sustainability in designing a technology curriculum. I can't count on other teachers wanting to spend 8 hours a week at home doing prep work for a particular project, which makes the project not duplicatable at that level. If I want to share this work out in a way that others can try it, it also has to work without these elements. In this case I think it does, but I also thought the movies that mixed video and still images with voice-over were much more effective.
Here's the example I made for them. Some of the still images and the music are copyrighted, but I'm claiming fair use here:
2) Having kids take control of recording their voice-overs.
We use the built-in iMac microphones, which are nondirectional and record all ambient sound, which doesn't work well in a collaborative classroom setting. In the past, I've had kids come up during recess to record voice-overs for their movies, but since they get only 20 minutes a day for recess and they understandably value this time a lot, and I have 120-150 fifth graders, this meant not very many kids got to record. This year, I started out having kids record during class and I would get the room quiet for each student before they started recording, but it didn't take long for me to realize that they were capable of doing that for themselves. It was so satisfying to hear kids independently calling out "quiet on the set!" before and "clear!" after recording, and negotiating with each other so that everyone had a chance to record. I'm considering using this strategy in combination with a good usb mic next year.
How this project will evolve next school year depends on whether I'm able to have the fifth grade for the whole year. It was such a disappointment to have to rush this project and not to get to the "I Have a Dream" GarageBand remix project. Another semester would allow us to reflect and talk more about what we're learning, to collaborate and share work in progress, and to do research, which (in addition to its inherent value) would give kids more possibilties when choosing topics.
A couple more new things I tried this year (in addition to the new planning elements):
1) Incorporating real video with the zooming and panning of still images
Most video sharing sites are blocked at school, and it can be incredibly time-consuming to find the right bit of video within a longer clip, so I told students that all they had to do was write me a note or email requesting a particular kind of video clip (eg. someone making sushi, golden retrievers fetching, Ozzy Osbourne playing Crazy Train) and I would get it for them. This turned out, not surprisingly, to be a lot of work, but so worth it. It brought a whole new element into the project--both technically and artistically. It was too bad that only about 20% of kids opted to use video, but if everyone had I don't think I would have been able to collect it all.
This brings up the question of sustainability in designing a technology curriculum. I can't count on other teachers wanting to spend 8 hours a week at home doing prep work for a particular project, which makes the project not duplicatable at that level. If I want to share this work out in a way that others can try it, it also has to work without these elements. In this case I think it does, but I also thought the movies that mixed video and still images with voice-over were much more effective.
Here's the example I made for them. Some of the still images and the music are copyrighted, but I'm claiming fair use here:
2) Having kids take control of recording their voice-overs.
We use the built-in iMac microphones, which are nondirectional and record all ambient sound, which doesn't work well in a collaborative classroom setting. In the past, I've had kids come up during recess to record voice-overs for their movies, but since they get only 20 minutes a day for recess and they understandably value this time a lot, and I have 120-150 fifth graders, this meant not very many kids got to record. This year, I started out having kids record during class and I would get the room quiet for each student before they started recording, but it didn't take long for me to realize that they were capable of doing that for themselves. It was so satisfying to hear kids independently calling out "quiet on the set!" before and "clear!" after recording, and negotiating with each other so that everyone had a chance to record. I'm considering using this strategy in combination with a good usb mic next year.
How this project will evolve next school year depends on whether I'm able to have the fifth grade for the whole year. It was such a disappointment to have to rush this project and not to get to the "I Have a Dream" GarageBand remix project. Another semester would allow us to reflect and talk more about what we're learning, to collaborate and share work in progress, and to do research, which (in addition to its inherent value) would give kids more possibilties when choosing topics.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Digital Documentaries 08: Phase One
Past years' fifth grade movies have been somewhat mediocre overall, so I decided to a) start giving them more iMovie experience before fifth grade, and b) have students put more time and energy into the movie planning process this year so that when they are making the movies they're really just assembling ingredients they've prepared beforehand.
To that end, I had students first create GoogleDocs presentations of movie proposals--one slide each for 3-5 possible topics.
I had them use GoogleDocs both so that they could work on it at home if they chose (a few did) and so that they could use GoogleDocs smoothly when they need it for their class writing pieces later in the year. (They set up accounts last year, but not everyone used them, so we spent the first 2 periods resetting their passwords.) Then I chose or helped them choose the topic that would work best from the 3-5 they had proposed, and their next task was to create a presentation of 4-6 slides that would be a specific plan for their movies: what pictures (These are KenBurns style iMovies, not video), words, and sounds they would have in each part.
For both presentations, I gave students step-by-step direction sheets, shared my example presentations with them in GoogleDocs, and taught minilessons. They had 3 class periods for each.
I realize now I should have taken this much more slowly. I should have had them read the direction sheet aloud in a distraction-free environment. I should have had them "unpack" my presentations in class and talk about what they noticed and what they could do in their own presentations. (I also should have spent more time with them at the very beginning watching actual examples of 1-2 minute documentaries like the ones they'll be making. I'm sharing these examples after the plan is done, but should do some before as well.) I didn't do this, and as a result had about half of the kids confused in a variety of ways, like doing presentations all about a particular topic instead of 3-5 proposals. After getting this sorted out, some kids only wrote 1-2 proposals, or very incomplete proposals, but I let them move on to the second presentation because I didn't want them to get further behind.
Yesterday was the last class period for the second presentation, and out of 27 kids, 6 finished and are ready to start their movies, 8 are close, 12 will probably need 2 more class periods, and for 2 of them, I'm finally accepting that I will need to set up their Google accounts to remember them because they have wasted so much type mistyping their email and password, which is written on a piece of paper in front of them.
(In fairness to some kids, we did have some browser incompatibility problems, too. It used to be that GDocs worked with Camino, but not Safari, but with presentations it seems to be the other way around. Firefox would be ideal, but that's a story for another post.)
The moral of the story seems to be this: 6 class periods is not enough time for most fifth graders to create a proposal and a plan for a 1-2 minute movie in GoogleDocs, and if I want this project to succeed in the future, I will need to either:
a) have the fifth grades twice a week (sadly, this term I don't have 3/4 of them at all.)
b) get classroom teachers on board (a likelihood with some and very doubtful with others)
c) give students an option to use paper or the program of their choice (a word processor, presentation program, or mindmap program) instead of GoogleDocs
d) make sure that strugglers have helping partners set up beforehand, and get those kids in separately in small groups for extra support. (Some teachers do digital documentaries as a group project to help support strugglers, but I really want kids to get the whole experience, which doesn't happen if you break down the project into smaller jobs.)
The good news is that I can use what I've learned here with the other 3 fifth grade classes I hope to have in the spring. The bad news, as always, is that this class ends up the unfortunate guinea pigs.
There are so many great teachers doing digital documentaries with their students and posting about it, but I haven't found any yet who are doing it with classes of 25-32 kids in a once-a-week setting. Surely they must be out there, right?
To that end, I had students first create GoogleDocs presentations of movie proposals--one slide each for 3-5 possible topics.
I had them use GoogleDocs both so that they could work on it at home if they chose (a few did) and so that they could use GoogleDocs smoothly when they need it for their class writing pieces later in the year. (They set up accounts last year, but not everyone used them, so we spent the first 2 periods resetting their passwords.) Then I chose or helped them choose the topic that would work best from the 3-5 they had proposed, and their next task was to create a presentation of 4-6 slides that would be a specific plan for their movies: what pictures (These are KenBurns style iMovies, not video), words, and sounds they would have in each part.
For both presentations, I gave students step-by-step direction sheets, shared my example presentations with them in GoogleDocs, and taught minilessons. They had 3 class periods for each.
I realize now I should have taken this much more slowly. I should have had them read the direction sheet aloud in a distraction-free environment. I should have had them "unpack" my presentations in class and talk about what they noticed and what they could do in their own presentations. (I also should have spent more time with them at the very beginning watching actual examples of 1-2 minute documentaries like the ones they'll be making. I'm sharing these examples after the plan is done, but should do some before as well.) I didn't do this, and as a result had about half of the kids confused in a variety of ways, like doing presentations all about a particular topic instead of 3-5 proposals. After getting this sorted out, some kids only wrote 1-2 proposals, or very incomplete proposals, but I let them move on to the second presentation because I didn't want them to get further behind.
Yesterday was the last class period for the second presentation, and out of 27 kids, 6 finished and are ready to start their movies, 8 are close, 12 will probably need 2 more class periods, and for 2 of them, I'm finally accepting that I will need to set up their Google accounts to remember them because they have wasted so much type mistyping their email and password, which is written on a piece of paper in front of them.
(In fairness to some kids, we did have some browser incompatibility problems, too. It used to be that GDocs worked with Camino, but not Safari, but with presentations it seems to be the other way around. Firefox would be ideal, but that's a story for another post.)
The moral of the story seems to be this: 6 class periods is not enough time for most fifth graders to create a proposal and a plan for a 1-2 minute movie in GoogleDocs, and if I want this project to succeed in the future, I will need to either:
a) have the fifth grades twice a week (sadly, this term I don't have 3/4 of them at all.)
b) get classroom teachers on board (a likelihood with some and very doubtful with others)
c) give students an option to use paper or the program of their choice (a word processor, presentation program, or mindmap program) instead of GoogleDocs
d) make sure that strugglers have helping partners set up beforehand, and get those kids in separately in small groups for extra support. (Some teachers do digital documentaries as a group project to help support strugglers, but I really want kids to get the whole experience, which doesn't happen if you break down the project into smaller jobs.)
The good news is that I can use what I've learned here with the other 3 fifth grade classes I hope to have in the spring. The bad news, as always, is that this class ends up the unfortunate guinea pigs.
There are so many great teachers doing digital documentaries with their students and posting about it, but I haven't found any yet who are doing it with classes of 25-32 kids in a once-a-week setting. Surely they must be out there, right?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Kids and Passwords II
Part of the confusion some kids had setting up their accounts could be due to the design of my password sheet, which had 4 boxes: username, email address, ps116.org password, and GoogleDocs password. The boxes on the sheet were similar visually to the ones where they type their passwords online, but the sequence of boxes on the sheet didn't correspond to the sequence of boxes on the login screens. The sequence in my redesign, while not as logical, does correspond to the login screens (with a section for the username and password they enter at ps116.org, and a section for the email address and password they enter at GoogleDocs), and should lessen confusion somewhat.
The only problem is that this year's kids are all set up, so I may have to wait until next September to try it.
The next quandary is whether to let kids choose their own passwords (which many often forget without the password sheet) or have them use a formula (which is less secure, but also teaches them a strategy they can use for managing multiple passwords later in life, and which some still forget). I've tried both and neither is perfect. Anyone else have experience with this?
The only problem is that this year's kids are all set up, so I may have to wait until next September to try it.
The next quandary is whether to let kids choose their own passwords (which many often forget without the password sheet) or have them use a formula (which is less secure, but also teaches them a strategy they can use for managing multiple passwords later in life, and which some still forget). I've tried both and neither is perfect. Anyone else have experience with this?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Movie project collateral
Now that it's finished, I'm really focusing on improving the 5th grade movie project for next year.
I'll include here the proposal form, the reflection form, the compress/share how-to (coming when I find a good place to host the pdfs), and the links to copyleft media sites I direct my students to.
Here's the current project sequence:
1) intro, show examples. proposal form (homework) and possibly start collecting pictures.
2) collecting pictures: remind how to get the actual picture, not thumbnail, teach how to make folder for them, what kinds of pix are good/not, how many you need at 5 secs each for 1-2 min movie (some kids may be scanning or writing scripts at this point, too)
3) finish collecting pictures, can start dragging into imovie and arranging, maybe teach non-google sources (flickr, archive.org, etc) as needed.
4) zoom and pan w/ Orech video, show photo settings and how to use
5) zoom and pan 2: with purpose and meaning, can also have still shots, can also have talking heads
6) titles 1: choose style (what’s better for long and short), type words, set font/color/size, over black or over clip, set duration, and drag to timeline. focus on tricky parts: duration, words too small b/c all in one box, styles that are annoying, titles over titles
7) titles 2: review tricky parts, emphasis on timing and readability, what to do if you find a clip is too short after you’ve put a title on it
8) open questions
9) transitions: optional! movies are often better without them, but look at them like punctuation. teach tricky timing part and how they work
10) audio: optional. show different timeline view and how audio clips work.
options: sound effects and imovie loops, record your voice, find and save midis and wavs online, bring in cd, or request from me. more audio taught on individual basis
11) open questions
12-15) compress and reflect/share
At once a week, this generally takes 4 months.
If a kid is absent even once, they can get way behind.
Common problems:
• no real information in their movies
• titles too small or too fast
• pictures blurry or irrelevant
• pointless zoom/pan
• overuse of effects
• many kids don’t remember how to make a movie 2 months later
Potential changes:
Include research steps @ beginning? (persuade classroom teachers to participate?)
More time on titles and choosing pictures (including copyleft)?
Midpoint critique?
Teach more of these skills in earlier years?
???
1) intro, show examples. proposal form (homework) and possibly start collecting pictures.
2) collecting pictures: remind how to get the actual picture, not thumbnail, teach how to make folder for them, what kinds of pix are good/not, how many you need at 5 secs each for 1-2 min movie (some kids may be scanning or writing scripts at this point, too)
3) finish collecting pictures, can start dragging into imovie and arranging, maybe teach non-google sources (flickr, archive.org, etc) as needed.
4) zoom and pan w/ Orech video, show photo settings and how to use
5) zoom and pan 2: with purpose and meaning, can also have still shots, can also have talking heads
6) titles 1: choose style (what’s better for long and short), type words, set font/color/size, over black or over clip, set duration, and drag to timeline. focus on tricky parts: duration, words too small b/c all in one box, styles that are annoying, titles over titles
7) titles 2: review tricky parts, emphasis on timing and readability, what to do if you find a clip is too short after you’ve put a title on it
8) open questions
9) transitions: optional! movies are often better without them, but look at them like punctuation. teach tricky timing part and how they work
10) audio: optional. show different timeline view and how audio clips work.
options: sound effects and imovie loops, record your voice, find and save midis and wavs online, bring in cd, or request from me. more audio taught on individual basis
11) open questions
12-15) compress and reflect/share
At once a week, this generally takes 4 months.
If a kid is absent even once, they can get way behind.
Common problems:
• no real information in their movies
• titles too small or too fast
• pictures blurry or irrelevant
• pointless zoom/pan
• overuse of effects
• many kids don’t remember how to make a movie 2 months later
Potential changes:
Include research steps @ beginning? (persuade classroom teachers to participate?)
More time on titles and choosing pictures (including copyleft)?
Midpoint critique?
Teach more of these skills in earlier years?
???
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Annual movies
The first graders have finished their "about me" movies in iMovie, and the second graders are about to start. Students will make a movie every year about who they are at that point in time, since they change so much so fast. When they graduate, they'll take all the movies with them on dvd as a sort of time capsule of their elementary school years.
In first grade, the movies are interviews with partners, in second, they write and read scripts, and in third-fifth they'll add new elements--editing, titles, transitions, music, still photos. This is a very new project, and I'm open to suggestions!
In first grade, the movies are interviews with partners, in second, they write and read scripts, and in third-fifth they'll add new elements--editing, titles, transitions, music, still photos. This is a very new project, and I'm open to suggestions!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
