Moviemaker

Windows Movie Maker is a program that I have become familiar with through the coursework I have done for my degree. I have done many different projects with it, but this is the first time I have created a project that was based off of my students' work and ideas. I chose to use their work because I thought that the message would be a stronger one if they had ownership of the work. Below I have included the movie and my reflection after completing the assignment.

Digital Story Project
Jessicca Elliott
November 1, 2010

Introduction
Windows Movie Maker is a program available to most PC users that allows the designer to create movies in many formats. This type of program allows educators and students to show their creativity when making presentations. For educators, this format would allow them to design a movie that could be used as a hook to start a unit or lesson, as a way to present student ideas and comments, or as a way to provide background information to students. Students can use this program as an alternative means to create presentations. Most students are familiar with Microsoft Power Point and present their ideas using this program, but Windows Movie Maker allows the student to be more creative and to learn a new way of presenting ideas. The digital story project that I created was done as a means to introduce or hook my students in a new topic of discussion, but was done so by also using this creation as a cumulative presentation for our unit on Westward Expansion.

Target Audience
I teach third grade at High Meadows School, where character education is a big part of the curriculum. Therefore, the digital story that I created with my class is geared towards my third grade students. However, this movie can be watched by any grade level to introduce a discussion revolving around cooperation. The activity that was done to create this project can also be done by any grade level, if the responsibilities are changed to reflect the developmental level of the students participating. This activity can also be changed to make a movie about a different attitude but still using the same activity and format.

Purpose
High Meadows School is a school that puts just as much emphasis on character development as it does on academic performance. Because of this, a huge chunk of curriculum is focused on integrating specific attitudes into the units of study that are taking place in the classroom. Currently my class is studying the human migration when the United States took part in Westward expansion and we have chosen to integrate the attitudes of cooperation, enthusiasm, and curiosity. In an effort to have my students see the importance of cooperation, both during Westward expansion and in our own classroom, I have created a movie that has incorporated their thoughts on the attitude and is presenting a topic of discussion for how we can cooperate in our classroom.

Distribution Plan
This movie was developed in order to create a forum to start a discussion on how the children can use and show cooperation in our classroom and in other areas of life. Because this was created partly by the students, they worked on this project with the idea of showing their understanding of how cooperation was used during Westward expansion as the goal. However, once I presented the movie to them they realized how they could compare their own lives and situations to those they have studied during this time period. My third grade class viewed this as a whole group during our inquiry time as an effort to discuss our roles in the classroom in regards to cooperation. We have also chosen to place our movie on the public server and are letting other classrooms know that it is there to be viewed if they would like to understand or discuss cooperation.

Conclusion
I chose to use this project as a means to introduce a topic of discussion to my students. Although I incorporated my students’ thoughts, ideas, and artwork in the movie, I generated the final piece using Windows Movie Maker. I chose to use this assignment as a way for me to expand my understanding of a new tool and how to use it as an instructional tool. Although I fully believe that this tool can be used by students to produce their own movies, the activity that was involved for this particular presentation would be geared toward teacher production. I believe that it is very important to teach students to use and value technology tools, but this idea is secured by their understanding that it is used by adults as well.