The topic of creating videos has been discussed in our group. Last week we parted ways encouraging each other to experiment with video-making sites that are accessible to students. For myself, I want students to create short videos showcasing their understanding of a character or major theme from the novel. In the past, I used Animoto; however, it ended up being a 3-4 day project for a video that is only 45 seconds in length. The amount of time used in the classroom just didn’t justify the end product, BUT students enjoyed the activity and loved presenting their videos.
I just recently discovered Magisto–it creates short videos for a user by simply uploading a minimum of 5 photos. I tried this out, and in 20 minutes, I almost like what I put together. We are currently reading The Great Gatsby, so I decided to use the character of Daisy. I wanted to show how smart she is, but she ultimately is stuck, so I end up hating her because of her later decisions/actions. Here is what I produced in my really short time: http://http://www.magisto.com/embed/OgMbNEUGEWhvUw5iCzE?l=vem&o=w&c=b
Please share your own ideas! -Angela
Learning Curve Now 
Your video was an awesome summary of the rich-poor conflict. The production looked really appealing to kids. Have you tried it with students yet?
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Mr. Lawler–I have students trying this assignment out next week. I’m very excited too!
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I just tried the product myself. It is really easy to use. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to have students write a paragraph about what they were trying to convey in their movie and why they chose the pictures they did. I did one about WHS. I have a few pictures about the history of West, and I tried to start a video about West through time.
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Students are going to be writing a paper where they combine their already written personal narrative on an obstacle he/she encountered and combining what was learned from that experience with the obstacles that Odysseus faced in The Odyssey. I am going to have students use Magisto to create a movie so they can combine these things from their papers, along with images and quotations that relate. I will have them do a writing in conjunction with this assignment so they can justify some of their decisions. I will post some of the final products once they are complete. My plan is to introduce this tool in a few weeks. I am thrilled to use this tool!
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