MovieMaker

Movie Maker is a great technological tool to get teachers and students excited about learning. Teachers can use it to introduce or reinforce material. This would be a great tool to use it a teacher is out; students can watch the video and learn the standard for the day. Students can use it to showcase their knowledge about content material. By creating a movie with their own pictures and sounds it will seem as though students are just playing instead of learning. The example on probability that I created uses pictures that I have taken of my son and his friends. Probability is a concept that can be difficult for students to grasp. Hopefully, by seeing real world examples, students will be able to master the standard and apply it in their lives.

Example:
Probability All Around Us

Reflection
The example provided was created to help eighth grade math students understand the concept of the counting principle and simple probability. This tool can be used for a variety of ways to enrich the curriculum or reinforce concepts. For example, students can go around the school taking pictures that represent slope and then create a movie to display their findings. Using nontraditional ways of teaching allows the students to have a deeper understanding of the concepts. I faced several challenges while creating this movie. The first, and most important, was not having the program on my laptop. My laptop was issued by the county and they have put so many restrictions on our use. Last January, my computer got a virus and needed to be re-imaged. When the tech support specialist did this, he forgot to re-install numerous programs present one included. It took almost two weeks for them to come to the school to install it on my laptop. Another challenge I encountered was that my images for my project could only be retrieved on my laptop. I tried working on my project on another computer and when the file pulled up large red x’s would appear in place of the picture. I eventually figured it out, but in the meantime became very aggravated.
Before this project, I knew nothing about this program. I feel as though I have a good basic understanding of the program, but by looking at some of the other examples from classmates I realize that I still have much to learn. I am looking forward to implementing this technological tool in my classroom. My students are required to do a project with each unit. The project for the last unit was a Choice Board. Students were able to choose three squares in a tic-tac-toe pattern. One of the choices was to create a PowerPoint presentation using their own voice. Next year, it will change to a movie.
I printed off the tutorial guides to refer to if needed, but I am the type of person that needs to figure it out on my own. If I look at a guide, I will always need it as a crutch. I realize that it probably took me longer to create than most, but I am comfortable knowing that I can create another movie without help. Learning be doing not only applies to the children in my class but also to anyone wanting to further their understanding of various concepts. This project reinforced what I already know about myself: I am an extremely hard worker who can figure out almost anything.

Digital Storytelling Article

The purpose of this article is to explain ways that still and moving images can be integrated into the mathematics curriculum to help students gain a deeper understanding of the concepts. Still image examples for linear functions, Pythagorean Theorem and the coordinate grid are presented as well as quadratic functions for moving images. By using movies in the math class, students are given the opportunity for a fourth representation of algebraic concepts, visual. Benefits for using this in the classroom are endless: student engagement is increased, real world problems come to life and connections to other disciplines are encouraged.