Lesson+outline

As a classroom managment tool I put the students into groups of 3-4. I have found that more then this allows for too much down time for students and can lead to problems in the final stages of the project.


 * Lesson 1**- Brainstorm- In this stage students need to individually come up with a solid idea of what they are going to produce. In my class this is when I would give them three different items such as a pencil, paintbrush, and a pair of scissors. They are to come up with as many ideas, usually 5, ways to personify these items. The more detail they put in this stage the easier the rest of the project is. Students really need to have a solid idea in their head on what the final project may look like.
 * Lesson 2**- Group Brainstorm- They next step looks similar to the last, but students are then pulled into their small group. I have student narrow their focus. So if you gave them many ideas then have them pick one and build on that. Using personification, I would have groups pick from a hat on what item they would use for their final project and then choose the best ideas. They need to know that as they select the ideas from the brainstorm they will need to leed into a story line and link together so that they storyboard will be easier to write. If the ideas do not fit together and are to random creating a movie will be very difficult.


 * Lesson 3**- Project Planner- This activity is a simple project to help the students plan who is going to being doing what and allowing students to have a focus over the next few days. The first thing is to let students know that they will all be helping with all parts, but students will have designated roles within the group.
 * Lesson 4**- Story Board - The story board is graphic organizer that is a great tool that lets students see what they are going to do. In this step, modeling is key. If you do not take the time to model this step then students will not do well at all. The key to this step is to be very detailed oriented. The more information put on the storyboard the better off the students will be. This allows them to be very organized and the entire group will be focused on pictures as everyone sees the movie. Showing examples from text will really help here, find mentor text such as __Tim Burton's Corpse Bride__. This is a good time to have a few students go through the tutoral of frames. These will be your leaders in the production stages.


 * Lesson 5** - Construction- Build it all! Here they need to build everything, sets, characters, props, backgrounds, and anything else they need. For managment I find that I need to pass out the clay on a as needed bases just to keep things in order. It can get expensive with materials. If you control what they take and how much then there will be a lot less waste.


 * Lesson 6** - Pictures - At this step students take pictures. As students set up, keep in mind when they set up it is best if they can leave their sets in place and not have to move them, if not then measure where the tripod goes and each piece of the scenary, otherwise it is more work for them in the end. I find that I have to model how to take a good picture. You need to keep in mind things such as what can be seen in the view screen and how far away you are from the subject. If you subject is too small then they will be hard to see in the pictures. You also need to talk about how to keep the camera still, hence the use of a tripod. Before they get to far a I also recomend that you turn the picture quality down to a lower setting as the larger the pictures, the larger the file, the longer the load time. These seem simple but when students get excited then we need to slow them down and help them with this step.


 * Lesson 7** - Import- Know what types of cameras your kids are using and have a card reader that can accomodate all of them. This will really save you a headache. You will be suprised at just how many different types of cards there are.


 * Lesson 8** - Editing/Production- This is when they use frames. If you had a few students from each group go through the tutorial during the storyboard phase, then you will be ready to go. Have a computer for each group and a flash drive. I found that by using a flashdirve and don't bring down the schools server (had a few issues and complaints about this one). You will also need microphones for students to record their voices. I do not encourge the use of chroma key or importing music until you have used the software a bit as it can be really squirrley at times. When you finish the movies I recommend creating a full quality and a pod cast, kids like to share on their moble devices.