Digital Imagery Reflection

This was supposed to be a project on textiles but it was not finished in time so I put this project on the Presidential Primaries together at the last minute. I include information below about the process of working on the Textile project as it was my primary focus for 10 days.

My project is an introduction to the Presidential primaries. My Civics students are not very media savvy and haven’t been following the news much, so a really basic introduction is in order before I get them started researching the candidates, the process, and the issues.
Normally, I would have introduced the topic verbally in a mini-lecture. By using Movie Maker, I think it will capture their attention, give them a visual reference, and hopefully get them excited.
I start out with an introduction of the candidates then highlighted the major issues being debated. This will be accompanied by a handout with basic information about the primary process and a timetable. The students will then be asked to create a Powerpoint on a candidate of their choice and share it with the class. Next they will choose issues to research, again share them with the class. We will have a debate where each student gets to role play one of the candidates and finish up by holding our own mock primary just before the real primaries begin.
Previously I used Powerpoint to create slide shows but I like the added flexibility with Movie Maker and IMovie. I’m nowhere close to mastering these programs but will continue using them in particular to create visual introductions to topics. It seems like a great way to jumpstart a new unit.
I’ve done learning style surveys of my students and the majority have a visual strength. Art is a focus at our school and we have some amazingly talented kids. Using visuals makes so much sense but it’s the time factor that gets in the way. This took me hours to put together as I was using the program for the first time. I’m sure it will get easier as I become more familiar with it.
I had originally planned on presenting one of my textile unit IMovies for the Digital Imagery Project but none of them was finished in time. I saw a great opportunity in my school’s two week integrated unit on textiles that was perfect for getting some students involved but now I see that it was too ambitious. I had small teams of students working on them in 4 different classes and these multimedia projects were to be the culmination, presented to the school to help tie the two week unit together. Even though they are not complete I wanted to comment on the process. We used IMovie as we have Macs at school, however, most of the students have PCs at home and don’t like using the Macs. It always amazes me that the students, who have grown up with rapidly evolving technology, are more resistant to change than I am.
One group abandoned IMovie after spending an entire week compiling slides. Without informing me, a team member railroaded the whole thing and in one evening, recreated the entire project on her pc using Powerpoint. I was disappointed as I wanted these students to stretch their technology muscles and delve into another area that they were not familiar with.
The US History team (2 students) was the most ambitious. They are incorporating interviews that they conducted with former textile mill workers. This project has the most potential, but it has dragged on for so long due to various fieldtrips and assemblies that they are starting to get bored with it.
The final lesson learned; keep the task short, well-defined and doable in a reasonable amount of time.