Using Windows Live Movie Maker Automovie Themes

Hello everyone!

Note;  we have added an addendum to the end of this post for those of you looking for new titles and transitions!

To go with the last post on using student created video in the classroom, considering we recommended Windows Live Movie Maker, we thought we'd better show you some of it's basics.

To this end we've fired up our Youtube channel again and made a couple of videos on how to create a video or slideshow using Automovie Themes.  We chose this for the example because, as we said in our last post, Moviemaker is either in your EduSTAR package or a free download.  We looked around for a couple tutorials, including the one on the DEECD website (which shows a much older version of Movie Maker), and none of them showed things quite as we wanted you to see them.

We made two videos showing you how easy it is, even for quite young students, to make a good looking finished product very quickly.  Keep in mind this is just the very basics.  Both of these videos are only about 5 minutes long and will show you how to quickly produce a movie in just a few minutes using Automovie Themes.  The first is a short piece of video and the second is a slideshow with music.

Please keep in mind we have the copyright holder's permission for the music we use.  When choosing your music please be aware that if you upload a video containing copyrighted material the hosting site may block it for copyright infringement and, in severe cases, you may end up being sued or prosecuted!

 

See?  It isn't hard at all!

Why not use video from school excursions?  Have students submit video and edit into a presentation.  A trip to the museum or gallery?  Have each of them stand in front of something of interest to them and give a short report on it and why it appeals to them.

For the younger ones, take photos during the week of your students when they do well, holding their piece of work.  At the end of the week put it into a slideshow and show the class as a reward.

Video is a way to communicate.  Video is a way to learn from each other.  Video is a way to say "well done".  Video can even be a special treat.  You need an icebreaker for a new class as a CRT?  How about a video or slideshow of some of your hobbies and interests so the kids can get to know you a little?  Flex your imagination and explore the possibilities!

How do YOU use video in the classroom?  Do you use Windows Live Movie Maker or something else?  Do you have any links to your own work or other tutorials you'd like us to see?

Addendum;

We get a lot of people coming through looking for new automovie themes for Windows Live Movie maker.  With this new version there just isn't a lot around as Microsoft is keeping much of the architecture to itself.  However, Windows Live Movie Maker 6 still works on Windows 7!  The amount of user-created titles, transitions etc for this version is very large.

We recommend starting with this blog to get Windows Movie Maker 6 working on your Windows 7 machine and access to all the content that is out there; 

Blaines Movie Maker Blog.

Mel.

Information and Communication Technology!

ICT was a topic that was considered important at the February meeting with the main expression being things like Interactive Whiteboards, Edustar, Boardmaker etc.

Today we though we'd take a little different look at a way to approach ICT.  One thing we have noticed over time is the somewhat narrow idea that many people seem to have about it.  Today we'd like to broaden your horizons!  

"Student Generated Content" is creating quite the buzz lately which is why all those audio and video editing programs feature so heavily in the EduSTAR package.

Every Victorian school teacher/student computer or laptop comes with Windows Live Movie Maker through EduSTAR.  It's a free downloadable program you can get for any Windows computer with Windows Vista (requires SP2) or Windows 7.  Sadly Windows XP is no longer supported though you may be able to track down older versions.  You can get Windows Live Movie Maker without the EduSTAR package it by installing it from Windows Live Essentials.

The DEECD has a page devoted to eLearning styles and tools on offer but we thought that because of our recent foray into Youtube we'd focus on using Video Production in the classroom.

With just about every mobile device you can think of being capable of taking digital photos or video it's something that is never far out of reach in the classroom.  With video media becoming such a large part of many student's lives with social media sites, youtube and even video game forums it's often an area where they want to excel.  It's a medium that they are often more familiar with than pen and paper.  It also encourages productive collaborative effort through engagement and has a positive effect on a wide range of learning types (visual, audio, kinesthenic, etc).

So what can you do with it?

A nice video that shows you the possibilities of where you can head with this in a full-time setting. As you can see, exercises like this build up student's Video literacy, help in reading/writing Literacy areas like fluency and cadence and build up computer literacy through research of the content.  Of course we are CRTs and it's not often we have the opportunity to start something of that magnitude!

It doesn't mean you can't take aspects of it and use video devices as an engagement tool.

Take a Food Pyramid for example, why not make a video presentation?  You might be teaching Food Tech but what is a food pyramid?  It is a basic graph so has Maths ideas involved and video adds up time in various ways, all the time working with images of the food pyramid to reinforce that aspect of the lesson.  Get them to do a voiceover for the food pyramid so it also encroaches on Literacy in the construction of the voice over, reading it aloud etc, again reinforcing the food pyramid lesson.  Why not make it a "food pyramid" lesson that engages multiple parts of their brain and make it something they will never forget?

Here's an idea that allows you to cross art with video called "Video Doodles";

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

Video Doodles on EFL 2.0 - Teacher Talk for more information.

Of course for the younger children you could pick more appropriate music or simply do nursery rhymes etc.  You could have them illustrate a reader primer with the words on the page and have them "read" the book as a voice over.  This way students can have the book read back to them by their class, illustrated by them, with a voice over that helps them pick up their sight words.

Keep in mind, as we said before, a lot of this is aimed at Full Time teachers and we are CRTs.  Some of this isn't directly relevant but it's wonderful food for thought on what you can do to engage your students and teach them in new and interesting ways.  There are many web pages, articles and videos out there on the internet about this sort of technology in teaching!  We encourage you to get out there and search!

Further food for thought;

Students make high frequency sight word videos with SonicPics from Robyn Griffith on Vimeo.

Digital Video in the Classroom from NCTE on Vimeo.

Digital Storytelling Exemplar from Calgary Science School on Vimeo.

This is a new type of content for us and something we have been planning on for a while.  Please leave us comments on this topic, and this format, in the comments section!  We have recently removed the need to sign in to anything to comment to make it easier for you to leave us feedback!

If you have received this as an email subscription, the embedded videos will not appear for you unless you visit our blog.  Sorry about that!  There's nothing we can do about it.

New links and other things.

Hello everyone,

New Links;

Since an interest was expressed for ICT training in the Feb meeting, we have added a new link to Connect.ed which has free online cybersafety PD.

Connect.ed is designed for primary and secondary school teachers, casual relief teachers and support staff throughout Australia. Teachers who have attended a Cybersmart Outreach presentation can use this program to refresh, reinforce and build their cybersafety knowledge.

Gifted and Talented was another topic of discussion.  We have found a free source of online PD on this topic.  It is from the United States but is still worth having a listen to.  You can find it here.

This 4-part video lecture from UC - Irvine promotes education for gifted and talented students. Teachers can learn how to identify exceptional students and modify the curriculum to meet their needs. For an extra fee, this course is also available for credit through the UC - Irvine Extension.

New page;

We have also added a new page regarding a meeting, outside our regualr scheduling, on May 28.

From 2011 onwards, September 30 became a significant date in the teaching profession calendar. The time frame has changed for payment of annual fees and renewal of full registration.

Full registration requires all teachers to maintain their professional practice and suitability to be a teacher through the renewal of registration process.

To be able to teach effectively for student learning, a casual relief teacher should have current professional knowledge and practice.

The Institute recognises that CRTs sometimes have less opportunity to know about and engage in professional development activities.

Dawn Colcott, Manager of Professional Learning at VIT is looking forward to visiting our network and will try her best to answer your questions around your renewal of registration.

February Meeting;

We have a basic report for the Feb meeting to look at and our initial thoughts on what to do with the information.

Feel free to leave comments or email us with your thoughts (wodongacrt@vit.vic.edu.au).  It's our interpretation but we aren't the ones that count, you are!  Let us know if you think it needs changing.

Commenting on the blog;

We have had a think about commenting on the blog.  Up until now we have kept comments under lock and key by requiring you to have a Google account to post.  We are going to be turning this off but turning on comment moderation as a way to control Spam.  It's a little more work but it allows you to comment more easily.

It has always been our intention to encourage commenting on posts and due to the lack of comments on the blog (and a the feedback we have been given about it) we decided to trial this new way of doing things.  Keep in mind it's only a trial and we may go back to the old way if spam starts to be an issue.

The catalyst for this was a few emails prefaced with "are you still going" type comments.  While we could put view counters in the blog to show how often it's used we feel that in some ways it sets up a "competitive" aspect.  While this is still a possibility we would prefer to avoid that sort of a move.  We would much rather show we have an active community by having comments left on posts.

Blog updates;

We have updated the "About Us" page to reflect VIT's suggestion to also take on beginning and returning teachers to assist them by giving access to PD opportunities to maintain their registration.

Regards,

Mel.

Positive Partnerships Online PD

Something that came up in the meeting last night was that many of our members missed out on the Positive Partnerships PD with Sue King last October.

We would like to remind you all that there is a free online ASD Training;

Positive Partnerships Online Training.

Find the "Register Now" link to access online courses.

Also keep in mind that there is over 500mb of resources available in the members area of our Skydrive dealing with autism and tools to use in the classroom!

If you don't have access to the members area, please email us to organize it!

We also recommend heading over to Sue King's Room 13 Teacher's Space blog for an amazing amount of other ASD information!

Regards,

Mel.

Feb Meeting.

Hello everyone!

We've just had our first meeting for the year discussing PD, types of PD and what PD our members think they need most of all.  Between the meeting and those who emailed us their reflections it's given us an excellent view on where to go from here!

We'd like to remind everyone that input at any time is welcome and if you missed the meeting you can still email us your thoughts!  It is going to take us a little time to sit down and piece all your suggestions together but as a quick overview;

Literacy, behaviour management, ICT and Maths were all common topics identified as needs for our members.

Of course March sees Michael Ymer's "hands on maths" and we think this is going to be right up the alley of what people were looking for!  We also have a variety of literacy with a splash of music on the way, Interactive White Board and a few more ICT topics in the pipeline.

We also had some input on the type of PD we should be looking at putting on in Meetings.  It became obvious that people want a "nice mix".  Some meetings are 2 hour PD workshops.  Some are just to swap ideas and resources.  Some more will be on another format still.  We have had a lot of ideas on the back burner for a while, not really sure about how they would be accepted, but now we feel confident in moving forward!

We will get a report together in the next week or so which should let you all see what the results were.

With that out of the way, I'd like to tell you something that I got out of the meeting tonight that wasn't on the agenda.

VIT's original intention for CRT Networks were to be real networks.

"They provide an avenue for teachers to meet regularly to share information and gain knowledge."

Lifted right from the VIT website.  As the Network Coordinator I take this pretty seriously.  It has always been my intention to try to build a comunity where we all come together to help each other be better at what we do.  A community where I'm the coordinator only because someone needs to be there to book rooms and organize dates.  Where as soon as a meeting starts I'm not the "coordinator" anymore unless one is needed, otherwise I'm just another CRT there to help and be helped.

It's been a bit of a long road but the last month or two, and tonight's meeting in particular, makes me proud to see that all the work we have put into the Network bearing fruit and I'm just as proud of it's members.  Thank you all for being such a wonderful group of people.

On another note, thanks to Tammy for a new link for our "Websites of interest".  Learningplace.com.au - Behaviour Support Strategies.

Mel.

Work on the blog today; new page, updated pages, new link.

We added a Teachertube link to the sidebar.  Teachertube is Youtube for Teachers that also contains audio and text documents dealing with teaching.  It also has student submissions.  We had some issues with Teachertube if we were signed into a Google account.  If you cannot load Teachertube please log out of your google account and try again.

Updated the Microsoft Office and an Alternative page;  Renamed it and included Skydrive and Google Docs as realistic free alternatives.

Updated the Skydrive page to more accurately refelct the full usage of Skydrive.

Added a Pdi page which you can see here.  It's a work in progress but we wanted to start encouraging everyone to consider using it rather than wait until it is finished (could take days or weeks depending on when we have time...).

Updated various pages to reflect changes in the way we interact with Pdi.

Went around and started making sure links all open in a new browser tab or window.

Updated a few dead links to send you to the new web address of certain pages.

New Page

Today we added a new page over on the PD Information blog.

PD that is DEECD approved or otherwise "guaranteed to run" will be going up on that page so you have an idea of what's coming in the future.  Keep in mind that it's not everything that's on the go, it's just what we can say is going to happen without getting caught out.


The details supplied are minimal; just the name, the presenter, a short summary and a link to the Pdi listing if there is one.  There may not be dates attached to some but we will try to keep it in chronological order.

The idea is to give you a bit of a heads up so you know what's on the way and begin to look elsewhere if we aren't providing something you are interested in.  Of course if you think something is needed that we aren't covering you can feel free to email us on wodongacrt@vit.vic.edu.au and make suggestions.  As always we can't promise anything, our funding is limited, but we do our best to make sure everyone is catered for!

You can view this page here:

http://wodongacrtsupportnetworkpd.blogspot.com.au/p/future-pd.html

Mel.

Monthly Meetings and Pdi

Following the February Coordinators meeting the way we interact with Pdi has changed and it gives some extra opportunities.

Monthly meetings with guest speakers or presenters can now receive Pdi approval if they fit the guidelines.  Topics for a meeting will now be included next to the date and if this topic is a LINK it is Pdi approved and the link will take you to the Pdi listing for the meeting.

The first of these is "Literacy Games", my presentation from December, which will be running again on the 21st of June.

Through a special arrangement with the Victorian Institute of Teaching, all Victorian CRT Networks use a collective account with the provider name "crt networks".  By clicking on the provider name at the end of an entry it will take you through to a page listing all of the Pdi approved activities being advertised by all the Victorian CRT Networks.

You can find information on all of our Pdi approved activities by using the Pdi search page and searching "Wodonga".  We make sure that Wodonga features in the title of the PD to make them easy to pick out as you scroll past all the search results too!

We also urge you to have a look at the VIT CRT Network page and see what other networks are close enough that you are willing to travel to their PD opportunities.  Run a few searches or go through the "crt networks" listing and keep an eye on their PD opportunities too!

Keep in mind our access is only new and it will take some time for Coordinators to come to grips with using Pdi so give it a few weeks for the lists to become populated!

Mel.

Work on the blog.

Today we have started a series of upgrades to the blog and these will come in small bits and pieces over the coming months.

Up until now we have been concentrating on the information contained in the blog to make sure it gets to a state where it is providing the information it needs to provide.  We are now pretty happy with the blog on this front and will, of course, continue to update or add to the information it provides.

Today's update is fixed some clerical issues, and adds the Pdi registered PD provider logo to the blog.

It also contains our first video upgrade with more to come as time allows!



Both the Pdi logo and the video can be found in the side bar of the main blog but only the Pdi logo will feature on the PD Information Blog.

Take care everyone,

Mel.

An Update

Hello everyone,

It's been a very big week with a lot of positive things happening.

Officeworks Sponsorship.

We have been using Officeworks since we started the network for various things including printing PD certificates, the plastic pockets and note taking supplies for our PDs and other bits and bobs that we use to keep the network ticking over.

While on their website not long ago we noticed they have "corporate responsibility" program which offers services and donations of goods to not-for-profit community organizations.  Shortly after we submitted an application for a Store Sponsorship through this program and they have agreed to support our network!  They are donating goods which will help us publicize ourselves and run PD more efficiently, note-taking supplies to help us in running our Monthly Meetings and other things that will improve our PD experience and the smooth running of the Wodonga CRT Support Network!

We will be receiving the donated goods early next month and will give a greater description of the contents of the donation and the uses we are putting them to as we use them.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Officeworks Wodonga for their support in making us into better teachers! 

We ask you all to help us show our gratitude and to shop there occasionally ;)

Network Coordinator Meeting.

Friday was the first network coordinator meeting held by VIT for the year and was hosted by Dawn Colcott.  A lot of positive things came out of this meeting for both us and other Networks across Victoria!

One of the major things to come out of this meeting is that through negotiations between VIT and Pdi, Victorian CRT Networks are now Pdi approved Professional development  providers.  This comes with the major benefits of access to Pdi tools and advertising of Workshops and other PD opportunities which are in line with Pdi approval criteria.

Another big theme of the meeting was encouraging Coordinators to communicate ideas and give moral and technical support to each other to make the running of networks smoother and easier.  Through this communication we should receive more frequent news of PD opportunities being offered throughout Victoria giving us a much wider and up-to-date list to select our Workshop Presenters from.

A big one is relevant right now!  We are able to offer more than the 5 hours we have been offering for our Pdi approved PD workshops.  The hours you receive as "Verified PD hours" will increase to the duration of the PD itself starting with Michael Ymer's "Hands on Maths" next month!  It will increase from 5 hours (face time with presenter) to 6.5 hours being the time from the commencement to closing of the Workshop (9.00am-3.30pm).

Monthly Meeting Formats.

We have some people in our network experienced in running PD workshops or perfectly capable of doing so if given half a chance.  Over the last couple of months we have been having offers come out of the woodwork for them to do something for us at one of our monthly meetings.  My presentation in December was a "trial run" to see how it would go.

Since it was well received we are going ahead with it this year and we will see some of our Meetings replaced with "workshops" that will run for part or all of the Meeting.  These will remain "network only" with the only cost being gold-coin donations at the door.  Nothing will change except the content style of the meeting.

We have been building partnerships within our community and our own funds that we can access as we need to for the running of the Network and we plan on making use of these things for these Meetings.  Using the above as an example, Officeworks has donated note-taking supplies which we will be using for these workshops and the Wodonga South Primary School will continue to offer us a free venue.  If we need handouts for these workshops we have avenues to get them so we can keep to our usual standards!

Following yesterday's Coordinator meetings, it has been made clear that we can seek Pdi approval for these workshops too.  If approved you will get access to a Pdi number making these meetings "verified PD hours" for the new MyVIT!

We also have an interesting line-up of new ideas both from ourselves and picked up from other coordinators at the VIT Coordinator meeting.  We'll have a larger variety of fun, engaging and informative formats for our meetings this year!

Weekday PD.

We have been aware for some time that some of you have difficulty coming to our PD because they are on a Saturday.  The problem with that is that this always involves a higher cost as we cannot use the Wodonga South Primary School as a Venue.  The DEECD only offers us a limited amount of funds and being a regional network travel and accommodation costs eat through these and a Venue on top would see us losing a PD a year.  The Wodonga South Primary School came to the rescue offering us a venue that allowed us to keep that extra PD.

We have found an affordable venue outside of the school and we are considering trialling weekday PD.  The issue is that these PDs MUST remain cost-effective to have continuing support and funding approval from the DEECD. This means that we have to be careful at which time of the year we run them to ensure our CRT's aren't giving up work to attend.  This gives us a limited window during the "traditionally quiet times" for CRTs in our area.

This may be a while in coming unfortunately but we did want to point out that we aren't ignoring those of you who need PD workshops to be on weekdays.  It has been a monster task to make sure it all fits in with our limited funding and other guidelines that we have to adhere to.

This was part of the reason we were seeking ways to "upgrade" some meetings into a Workshop format and we hope the new inclusion of a Pdi number for some of these will start to help you out very soon.

February Meeting.

Because of these developments February's meeting has become crucial for us to gather the information we need to build a plan to do this right.  We urge you all to attend or at least have input as we have suggested on our February Meeting Page.

Please read this and RSVP or email me your input.

We cannot tailor the network to suit you unless you tell us what you need!  

Even if you are happy with everything we are doing, sometimes we need help.  We are getting to the point where we have an awful lot of things to choose from and your input will make our lives a lot easier simply by helping to provide us with direction on what to choose.

If you are unable to attend the meeting we would like your email input a few days early so we can sort through it and take it into the meeting with us for open discussion.  We don't want a great idea going by the wayside because you are the only one who thought of it!