My IEP

I wanted to learn how to use i-movie so that I could incorporate it into my teaching. Here is a copy of 6 lesson plans that I intend to use this fall in my new teaching position. I am also embedding a link from You Tube of an example video I made. Enjoy!

As an assignment for one of my classes I learned how to use i-movie; a program to create videos that can be used in the class room. While learning more about the program I began to get excited about opportunities to use it in my classes. This coming fall I will be teaching in a K-8 school as the lead teacher. My responsibilities will primarily be to teaching the 5-8^th grade students; all subjects. The group of students I will be working with have been challenging to motivate to perform to their highest potential; I think that having them working on projects using computers to make movies that will be shown to their peers is a great way to motivate them to do their best.

Below is a list of a few ideas I have for using i-movie in my new class:

*Science- demonstrate scientific principle, ie gravity, chemical reactions, erosion, etc.

*Language Arts- video journal entry, short story, poetry reading, interpretative reading, dissecting sentence, etc.

*Math- story problems and how to work them out, teaching other students how to subtract fractions, etc.

*Social Studies- Historical re-enactment, animated historical documentary, country reports, physical geography description.

One concern that I have about using i-movie is that it could become easy to focus on the software and the project rather than on the content of the students’ productions. I think that after we make a couple of movies, the newness of the tool will wear off and the work will focus on the content again. I am hoping that the excitement for the use of this tool won’t lead to the students dropping their level of motivation. I believe that having an exciting project that motivates students and helps them become more confident in their use of technology is valuable, even if it gets in the way of the content the first few times it is used. The more I incorporate these kinds of projects the more natural it will feel to the students and, I believe, the focus will return to the content.