Video in the classroom

Cameras not just for fun anymore! This year, the teachers in one of our technology groups (Cadre 1 which meets monthly to work on using technology to transform their classrooms) received Flip video cameras. I am so excited to hear them discuss ideas and projects.

1. We filmed guest speaker and discussed the presentation later.
2. I filmed students reading their poetry and want to post to Voicethread
3. I am planning on filming clips throughout next year to burn to a DVD
4. Very short clips of students completing an experiment and then posting in Voicethread or on our wiki page.

No time for extensive movie making?
What if you just took a minute to make one short video everyday and post to a class blog? How very exciting for parents and how nice to see progress in the classrooms. Gone are the days of lining the students up for a picture to put on the bulletin board. And you can get these cameras at an affordable price!
Other ideas from Warren Buckleitner, a contributing editor to Parent & Child and Early Childhood Today.
# Be a Classroom Historian. It's a great way to document important classroom events throughout the year Play back the footage on the last day of school or during any parents meeting.

# Help Children Reflect. George Forman, who teaches 3- to 5-yearolds at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. "I call this `instant video revisiting.' We are finding that children are more reflective about what they have done when they explain what they are doing when watching themselves on video. They are much more reflective with the video than when they are trying to remember what they did."
# Reach Out to Community TV "Look, I'm on TV!" Once you have your tape, contact your local community-access channel for submission guidelines. Cablecasting is great PR for your school and lets your community know what's going on in your program.

# Do a Classroom Checkup. Here's a great way to examine how children use your classroom space. Record an entire freeplay period. Afterwards, watch the tape in "preview" mode to see how children move around the room. What areas get the most traffic? Which children go unnoticed?

# Relive Field Trips.

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