Table 4: Video

today our library professional development was intensive technology training...an extension or practice of more 23 Things things, but also some new stuff for me. This post is part of that staff development. Here is my disclaimer: any product posted herein is not meant as a final product, but instead as a "work in progress."

The Table 4 task was video. The first thing on our checklist was downloading a video from TeacherTube and posting it here. I downloaded a cool video of "Ma and Pa Kettle" math (thanks to A. Reynolds from Terrace Elementary for pointing me to it!) and here it is:



Then, on to YouTube, which of course, we couldn't access from inside the district. I think that's a shame. Yes, I know there is lots of inappropriate material on YouTube, but there is also lots of great stuff. It would be like banning search engines because kids might search something inappropriate. Besides, I guarantee any kiddo with Internet access at home knows the ins and outs of YouTube. I know elementary students who can record their own video, edit it with MovieMaker, and upload it to YouTube! I think we're remiss in teaching students to be responsible consumers and producers of information. Okay, okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.

The next thing I did was play around with MovieMaker. I imported my own video that I took of my son's dwarf hamsters with my Flip. Import was successful...EXCEPT for the audio. For some reason, the audio, my narration, was much too fast after the import (but the video speed remained "true"). It was actually kind of funny because it seemed as if the hamsters were doing the "talking." :-) I played around with "cutting and splicing" and transitions. It will be fun to play with MovieMaker some more. Oh, when I tried to save, though, it was VERY slow. In fact, I thought it had frozen because I'd waited about 5 minutes and it still hadn't saved. Lo and behold, though, I left it running through lunch, and when I returned, SHAZAM! It had finished saving. Woo hoo! I'll be interested to see if that is a problem that continues.