Okay, Now You Have My Attention

Rich Media… 

I use rich media with every lesson I introduce.  My struggle is which one to use for my example for this assignment.  The first one I use is Mrs. Burleigh’s Introduction Powerpoint.  It is animated and interactive.  The students have to go in and change slides by editing my text ”About Me” to make it their own.  They also have to create a class rules slide and define Professionalism.  I put the Powerpoint on a class flash drive and each student signs one out along with headphones and watches it at their computer station.  They then save as with their name on the file and turn it in on the  flash drive.

When we begin the Careers section, I introduce them to an e-Portfolio.  I show two student samples from the year before.  One sample is very large with all the awards and samples that can possibly go into one.  The other is smaller but is content rich in selection of artifacts.  I do this so that students can see that bigger and flashier is not always better.  They come away with the notion that this is a very professional file that, when created correctly, can define who they are as a person.  The e-Portfolios are animated and interactive.  They are created using Powerpoint and have interactive hyperlinks to go from slide to slide.   

Toward the end of the Career series, I show a student’s career documentary that was created the year before using either Movie Maker or Photo Story 3, (Now I will also teach and allow the use of Jing).  I pass out a rubric and as they watch the documentary, they grade it based on the criteria I am looking for in the rubric.  This not only gives them a good idea of what to include in their own documentary but excites them to create one that is better than what they saw.

For the Holidays, we create e-Cards and email them to teachers, family and friends.  I start that lesson by showing my sample card and a student’s sample card.  I plan it so the student sample is always better than mine.   I make them aware of that by showing how the animation is in time with the music and how the pictures and music match the mood of what they are watching.

For the second semester, I introduce them to their final project; a multimedia presentation on their year at Axtell.  They can create it using whatever software we learned during the year.  I introduce it early so they can start collecting pictures, video clips, music etc.  We discuss copyright laws and music piracy and begin learning Audacity so they can create their own music score and voiceovers. I always show my Year at Axtell from the year before which pictures all my students engaged in different learning events.  Mine is not correct and is full of flaws.  We discuss what is wrong with it and what they can do to make their's better.  This makes the lesson relevant to them. 

My Year at Axtell Attached:

Song: The Time of My Life by David Cook, 2008