At Clawson Middle School, we spend time welcoming our incoming sixth grade class, and this year it comes a little earlier, perhaps due to the standardized tests schedules. A long-standing tradition was for the adults in the auditorium to stand on stage and describe the middle-school experience in intricate detail. There seemed to be a need to tell our story a little more vividly and that is where technology steps in. A couple of years ago, students were sent to the middle schools, armed with flip cameras on a mission to interview the 5th grade classes. A video was made based on the concerns. This was an example of modification, because we were able to capture the sounds and sights of the middle school, which words could not convey. Schedules, Class offerings and technology changes have rendered that video obsolete. I am under the gun to make a new video. I created a storyboard, which after sharing the video with my colleagues and modifying, had little resemblance to the finished product. The video is created through my GoAnimate app (through Edmodo).
Originally, I made a plea to our current middle school students to create this video, but I had only one taker. Knowing that there was a time crunch, I continued working on my GoAnimate video, while the student spent much time on here own version. The student created a totally genuine video that looks at the middle school experience from her perspective and answers the concerns of the upcoming group. Both were played for our orientation. The video clip, voice and cartoon pictures are all produced by the student.
modorientation.mp3 |
The file above is an mp3 exported from Audacity regarding modifying our middle school orientation by using these digital storytelling tools.