Richard's Media Masterclass!

Richard has been working on a photography project called, "A Portrait of Tallis". He has taken all the images using a digital SLR camera, applied some effect using photoshop, and shared them using a great website called Vuvox. What a star!

Soren

Using a memory stick on a Mac

Using new media to support literacy

Yesterday Katie Martin invited me to a really interesting presentation at James Wolfe. The presentation was given by Charlotte Enns, a Canadian academic with a background in communication therapy, and also a fluent user of ASL. She worked in a sign bilingual school in Canada and investigated how filming could be used to support the narrative and writing skills of students.

The students were writing a story based on letters that would would then be collated into a story. The first step was for them to plan and develop the story in sign. Students started by filming themselves telling their signed stories and this was then shared with peers and staff who offered a range of suggestions for amendments and improvements, and noted any important omissions. It was lovely to see the students collaborating to offer some really skilled and diagnostic feedback and also to see the students reflect on their own signed story and consider how to improve it. An important feature seemed to be the advice and feedback from a deaf adult who offered a commentary on how well the students had demonstrated an understanding of the grammatical features of ASL - positioning, handshape, signing space etc. Students then filmed a final version using all their preparation to make a finished version that was much more coherent, developed, detailed and accurate than their first attempt. This approach seemed to have lots of benefits. The sense of an audience seemed to encourage students to think about the needs of the recipient of the story and encouraged them to attempt a level of clarity and precision. Students had a chance to study and reflect on their own performance and think critically about how they could improve. Students grasped the purpose of the redrafting process and understood that there were ways of improving and developing their stories and that the process was worthwhile and productive. Finally, students had a real sense that the story was their own, and that they had taken responsibility for producing it - a level of independence that was really impressive.


The next step was for the students to follow the same process for their written story. In effect, they had already grasped that the story wouldn't come in one go and that there were lots of stages before the final product was finished.

There seemed to be a number of implications:

Students needed access to the required technology and expertise to film and edit their signed story
Students needed access to a deaf adult to develop their understanding of the important features of BSL/ASL
Students needed the time to devote to the stages of the task

It would seem to me that these challenges are not insurmountable and that the benefits of working in a way that makes students so much more reflective, self-critical and independent make a compelling case for attempting this way of working.

Would anybody like to try a project out? I think I might try and put together a project for our new intake or current year 8 group.

Soren

Questions for the Primary - Secondary Transition

For Sharon...
These are the questions that our Year 6 children wanted to ask about their transition to Thomas Tallis:
1) When is lunchtime?
2) Are we allowed to have money in school?
3) Where do we go to have our lunch?
4) Where do we go on school trips?
5) When is PE?
6) Are you allowed to go to the toilet during lesson time?
7) Do we get to go on school journey? Where do we go?
8) Will I have BSL lessons? And does that mean I can't learn French?
9) How big is the playground?
Hope you can answer them in the DVD - our children are very excited about watching it.

Sam

Sam and Claire . Questions for yous.

Hi, we at Thomas Tallis would like to make a DVD about Tallis for the new year 7 students. Is there anything they would like to know that we could include on the DVD? It would be great if you have an opportunity to ask them and send feedback. We would like to give it to them when they come in on the 16th June, as a going away gift they can watch with their families. Looking forward to hearing from yous. Sharon x

From Imovie to Youtube to the Blog

Just a couple of demo films that show the different options for sharing from Imovie. The second film explains how to use the embed code in YouTube to include a film in a blog post.

Soren

Southend

After our training day on Friday I took the camera on a day trip to Southend.
I imported the film into the Macbook and started to work on it.
After one text and several questions to Soren, it began to take shape.
It took me 3/4 hours to edit and create the film, but I learnt so much along the way. Just want to encourage you to get started on any project to become more confident using this media. Hope you enjoy the film the girls are my daughters, don't worry it's only three minutes long. Happy film making. Sharon.

Using new media to learn key vocabulary

This is a really good example of how new media can be used independently by students. A year 8 student was working on learning some high frequency words. He started by making a comic using Comic life and then exported it to Iphoto so that he could use his comic to make a film. Finally, he added signing and subtitles to his film. It meant he has made a resource that he can access at home and share with parents, it also means he has been working with the key words in lots of different and enjoyable ways without it becoming seriously dull.

The film is all the student's work and was completed in the course of two lessons. He really enjoyed making it.

Soren

Imovie in action

Having made progress with learning names for the exterior of the body, Year 8 were confronted with learning the placements and names for the internal organs. Ms. Piwko has made a lovely film that shows how effective and enjoyable using new media can be. Check it out. Frank was willing participant and no anatomical dummies were harmed during the making of this film.

Soren

Where can I find help on a Mac?

I thought it might worthwhile to put together a short film to show the different sources of support available on a Mac. As well as the support and guidance we can offer each other , it's handy to know where you can find answers quickly and efficiently. I thought I could also suggest a list of possible topics for the next demo. What would people like next? Leave a comment and I can adjust the running order in the light of your preferences. For the moment I suggest:

1. Capturing film from a camera and a webcam, and organising footage into events
2. Editing in IMovie
3. Sharing from Imovie to Youtube, Itunes and IDVD
4. Finding images and managing them in Iphoto

Or if you have any other ideas leave a comment with your suggestions.

Soren

Part 1 Of The Comic Life Demo

This is Part 1 of the demo film explaining how to get started on Comic Life. I have decided to upload it You Tube at a higher resoultion. Hope this helps. Get in touch with other suggestions. The next one will be on Imovie 09.


Soren

Pauline's media interview

New media training day. Practice with the camera
up and down loading film. Excellent day very
beneficial will try to use all I've learnt.

Sharon

first step with macbook

This was a brilliant training session.
Received a huge amount of information, but
i want to learn more and have my own Mac!
Anyway hope you like this first attempt.

Pauline (agape)

Playing around with new media

Lots of fun. looking forward to doing some more.

Claire

Experimenting With Imovie

We experimented with Imovie 09 - it was much easier than everyone thought.

Soren