Hello hello hello Blog! This week I will be using the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle to discuss our first technology based in-situ!

Description

For our first technology in-situ of the semester, we had the privilege of working alongside two grade three classes at Marysville Elementary School! Our task while working with the students was to create a stop motion video, utilizing the free stop motion animation app, Zing Studio. When we arrived at the school we first were introduced to the principal and were given invaluable advice about teaching and working with kids. I really appreciated her advice about meeting the students wherever they are at and moving them forward. Then with our class partners, we were assigned groups of five to six students to collaborate with. We headed to the class and broke into our groups, meeting the students for the first time. Each group was provided a school iPad (with Zing Studio ready to go), a story board template, and the students brought their desk-pets (little stuffed animals) to be the stars of the show. Our group first began by working on the story template and brainstorming ideas for our short film. The kiddos had so many ideas but thankfully collaborated extremely well and we were able to incorporate a few of everyone’s ideas into our story board. See our story plot below:

Two characters are playing soccer having so much fun, but then the evil villain pig flies in. He steals their ball and tries to escape with it, ruining the game and all the fun. Thankfully, two superhero desk-pets save the day with their friendship potion. All ends well and all the desk-pets get to play soccer together as friends!

To build a background for our story the students grabbed two whiteboards. One student drew the soccer field, and the other student drew a stadium with fans for the backdrop! During this portion, the other students finished filling out the story board. To get the iPad stable we used books to raise the iPad and have it in a still location throughout our stop motion creating process. For props we used a little ball one of the students found in the class and we also used a mini glitter jar as the friendship potion. To get the evil villain to fly we found string and tied it around the desk pet! The students had already used Zing Studio, so they were extremely confident and capable with the technology. Kenna (my partner) and I focused on supporting the students while they drove the project – ensuring collaboration, equal participation, providing tips and helping when needed. Our group was able to get our storyline photographed and then we played around with the speeds of our movie along with testing out different audios. When it came to choosing the audio, all students were involved, and they took turns looking through them before we came to a decision on the final sounds. The audio was a bit difficult to work with and the sounds overlapped but the students did not seem to mind much. After the project time was completed, we had a class wide movie preview of all the different stop motion videos! Kenna and I, along with the students were so proud of their stop-motion creation – it was such an enjoyable and fun experience 🙂

Feelings

I was so excited for the opportunity to be in a class and actually work alongside kiddos again. At the start, I was a bit fearful that the five students may not collaborate and would have multiple ideas we would need to showcase. These fears quickly turned to joy when the five students were able to come to a group consensus for our story which also made the storytelling process much easier to navigate! I was worried that some kids might not get a large enough role in creating the stop motion, but two students took turns with the photo taking and the other three worked on props and moving the desk-pet characters around which gave everyone the opportunity to participate. Overall, this was such a positive experience. Seeing the students’ teamwork and how proud they were of their final project left me feeling confident and overwhelmed with joy – I cannot wait to have more of these experiences!

Evaluation

The first big positive of the experience was the story board template. It streamlined the planning and collaborating process, and each student was able to see where their ideas would come to life. Another positive of this experience was how much fun it was. The students were so engaged by the technology-based project and had a deep understanding of the app which allowed for lots of fun throughout the creating process! Finally, learning more about Zing Studio from my students was also a big positive – the students had a much better grasp on the app, especially with the audios, letting them teach me how to use them gave them the opportunity to be the expert on the subject which I think they enjoyed 🙂 The cons of the experience were being unsure what props and materials were available to us. During the movie previews we saw some groups had used paper for their backgrounds – having a nice green piece of paper would have made for a pretty good soccer field! Another not so great part of the experience was that when our video uploaded to Seesaw for the class preview, the video cropped the screen differently from what the iPad was showing, cutting off student artwork in the background. Lastly, we struggled a bit with the audio trimming, and the two selected audios played over one another at times.

Analysis

This in-situ gave me the chance to see how technology can be utilized in a classroom. It was amazing to see how engaged the students were and their excitement to work hands on with technology. I believe stop motion is an excellent avenue to bring out students’ creativity and get them working with technology. Additionally, this was my first time being in a class for a group-based project. I had a lot of fears that some students’ voices would not be heard but with minimal guidance their teamwork and collaboration skills flourished. I also loved learning about partner-teaching. The classes we worked with often collaborate and the teachers play to their curricular strengths – which is something I could see being very useful as a teacher! This experience really solidified that I am entering a career that brings me passion, joy, and excitement! When bogged down with heavy course loads and a never-ending list of assignments, it is sometimes hard to picture the end goal – but this experience and the way it left me feeling, assured me that I am on the right path.

Conclusion

If I were to do this project again, I would like to have supplies for the students for creating their backgrounds and bringing their vision to life. Even if it were just paper, markers, and string, I would have them all laid out and have the students know they are able to use them for their video creations. I believe that bringing in props could help guide the story and allow for a more cohesive vision as many of the other groups had multiple story ideas they wanted to incorporate. Having more time would also be a big plus as I wish I were able to get to know the students a bit more, but we were very focused on the task at hand. Finally, a tripod would be a lifesaver in this situation – we used our creativity to setup the iPad decently, but any minor movement throws off the frame effecting the final product. Due to the tedious and time consuming nature of creating stop motion videos, I believe this technology would best be suited for students in grades 3 and up! I think for little ones, their fine motor skills and storytelling abilities would require significant teacher assistance for a project like this. However, I see older students being able to use this technology effectively in integration with other subjects to enhance their learning and interest in the content!

Action Plan

If I were to recreate this project, I would first start by familiarizing the students with the Zing Studio app and allow them to explore storytelling but with very minimal props to focus on learning the technology! Then I would assign my students to groups based on similar interests so the story line ideas could be more cohesive and increase excitement for the project. I would separate the project into two different classes. The first day would be for planning the storyboard template, at this time I would bring in props to help students with their planning. The second day would be for the filming and creating process. Here I would like to supply tripods for each group and have materials out for the students to use to enhance their stories. I would also like to make sure that each student gets an opportunity to control the technology. To do this I was thinking a class timer could be set for two-minute intervals and the students could swap who is taking the picture ensuring each group member gets a chance to participate in each role of the creating. For myself, I would like to gain more knowledge on utilizing the audio, specifically editing the length and times the different audio clips play at to help troubleshoot and pass this knowledge along to my students!

Watch our final stop motion animation below: