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Embracing Creativity
Preparing students for jobs that have not yet been created, let alone thought about, stands as a monstrous task for any educator. ISTE (2016) Standards for Students encourage all learners to be creative communicators, innovative designers, and computational thinkers. Throughout this chapter, these standards guide the lessons to assist students to create and publish projects in a variety of different ways. This involves creating a classroom in which problem solving and critical thinking remain at the forefront. Throughout the book, you will hear us talk about student voice and choice that allows student decision making throughout the creative process.
Lessons in this chapter focus on deepening students’ creativity and innovation skills through a range of tasks—from simply recording their voices to developing skills in multimedia creation, regardless of device. According to Michael Hernandez (2015):
Multimedia stories are fun challenges for your students and empower them to share their ideas and concerns with the wider world. We owe them the opportunity to become multimedia literate and to develop the courage it takes to have an impact on society.
This chapter will provide teachers with tools to give students the power to create their ideas for others to see. We share lessons that combine student interest and creativity that will engage and excite teachers and students alike. The lessons in this chapter cover the tasks of working with digital images, creating video projects, working with audio, and creating meaningful multimedia projects. For information about the tools we mention in these lessons, and for clarity on technology terms you may encounter in this chapter, see the appendix on page 133. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/technology to download a free reproducible version of this appendix and to access live links to the tools mentioned in this book.
Working With Digital Images
Teachers will have students work individually and in small groups to create projects using digital images to demonstrate what they have learned. Students will then share projects with an authentic audience beyond the walls of the classroom. Working with images is a nonlinguistic representation that often leads to deeper understanding of a topic. So much of the work we do in schools is focused on developing language skills, but it is important that students also learn how to create a message using images. Students will learn that they can use digital images to better understand concepts and ideas and demonstrate what they have learned.
Learning goal:
I can search for digital images, save them, and use the images in a project.
Novice: Searching for Digital Images
This lesson covers searching for digital images, saving them, and using the images in a project. Students will use voice and choice to select the best resource to create a project. The purpose of searching for digital images, saving them, and using the images in a chosen project is to provide students with an authentic opportunity to share their voice through digitally enhanced projects. Students can use these skills in all types of multimedia projects in all content areas. We encourage students to collaborate in groups as they learn a new app, website, or program.
Process: Searching Online for Images
To complete the following six lesson steps, we recommend you use a search engine; our favorite is Google (www.google.com). If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options including Microsoft Bing (www.bing.com) or Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com). In the tech tips, we have included other student-friendly search engines.
Use a search engine to complete the following six steps for this lesson.
1. Tell students to open the search engine and search for a curriculum-related topic.
2. From the results screen, have them select Images to display only images.
3. Students can narrow the search if needed using more specific terms or filter features, and then they can select an image.
4. Tell students they should not save by right-clicking the image from this screen. This could result in a low-resolution image that may look pixelated or fuzzy when placed in a project. Instead, they should first click on the image so that it expands to fill most of the screen.
5. Once students click through to the larger image, they should right-click on and save this high-resolution image. On a tablet, students should hold their finger on the image and save it.
6. To address copyright issues, students should also copy the image’s web address and paste that link into a document for recording project resources.
TECH TIPS
Students can use the following additional search engines.
KidRex: www.kidrex.org
Safe Search Kids: www.safesearchkids.com
Kiddle: www.kiddle.com
DinoSearch: www.dinosearch.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com
Following are instructions for saving images on different devices.
iPad: Press and hold on the image > select Save Image. (The image will save to the Camera Roll.)
Any tablet: Press and hold on the image > select Save Image. (The image will save to the Downloads folder.)
MacBook: Right-click (or Control + click) on the image > select Save Image As > pick a location to save the image to.
PC: Right-click on the image > select Save Image As > pick a location to save the image to.
Chromebook: Right-click (or use Alt + one tap on the touch pad) on the image > select Save Image As > select Choose My Drive. (Note that the location defaults to Downloads, which can be very difficult to retrieve.)
Universal keystroke shortcut: Hold down Control or Command + S.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Groups of students can create a retelling of a picture book from a different point of view. The students make the ebook with digital images they have found online.
• Mathematics: Groups of students can search for pictures of real-life examples of three-dimensional shapes.
• Social science: Students can search for a primary-source document, saved as an image, and insert this image into a project. These examples can be used in a final project.
• Science: Students can search for images online to illustrate a science topic.
• Art: Students can search for, save, and insert into a presentation different images from one artist.
• Physical education: Students can search for images specific to a sport or activity they do in class. They can play the slideshow of images on a screen outside the school gym so other students in the school can see them.
Learning goal:
I can annotate a photo to enhance the image and demonstrate my learning.
Operational: Annotating Digital Photos
The purpose of this lesson is to have students demonstrate their thinking by annotating an image using a variety of technology tools. Students use higher-level thinking in this type of multimedia creation, or mashing up of media, as they add details and information to an existing image. Students will focus on adding text, labels, or other elements to a base image to show deeper thinking or understanding of the content.
Process: Using Diagramming Software to Annotate a Digital Image
To complete the following six lesson steps, we recommend you use Google Drawings (https://drawings.google.com). If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Options include but are not limited to Microsoft Paint, PicCollage (https://pic-collage.com), and the native photo app on the device.
TEACHING TIPS
Many students have experience annotating pictures on social media, but the key to this lesson is to see what students have learned based on your instruction or their research.
Students annotating an image helps the teacher understand the students’ thought processes as they are creating a project.
1. Have students locate a base image before beginning annotations. For example, in science, students would need to search for an image of a cell as the base image before they can label the parts of the cell.
2. Students should open Google Drawings, found in their Google Drive, and search for a base image to annotate.
3. Have students add text boxes on top of the image to show what they have learned about the topic.
4. As the teacher, you may set how many annotations students need to include based on the content you cover.
5. In addition to text boxes, students can also add other features like lines and shapes.
6. When students finish, they can share their drawing just like any other Google Drive document using the class LMS.
TECH TIPS
Different applications and websites have different annotation features, including labels and drawings; sizing options; the ability to rotate, flip, or move items; and so on.
When students save their final image, the annotations are embedded with the original image, creating one easy-to-share image.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Students can search for an image and annotate the image to show how it relates to or reflects aspects of a piece of writing.
• Mathematics: Students can take a photo of a problem they solved on paper and use the annotation features to explain how they solved the problem. Also, students can annotate or label the properties of any geometric shape (sides, angles, symmetry, and so on) on an image of the shape to demonstrate the learning target that the teacher has created.
• Social science: Students can select a primary-source image and annotate the image to demonstrate what they learned about the topic. You could collect these student-created examples in a Google Slides presentation, creating a multimedia study guide.
• Science: Students can take a photo of an experiment and annotate their findings. Students and teachers can work together to decide when this would be most useful to their learning objective.
• Art: Students can take a picture of something they have created and annotate the image to share what they learned about the specific style of art.
Learning goal:
I can edit and manipulate a photo to enhance its purpose.
Wow: Enhancing Digital Photos
The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with a creative outlet to demonstrate their learning through enhancing digital photos. This higher-level technology skill has students critically study the base image they select and enhance it to demonstrate what they have learned. For example, in English language arts, students find an image to use with their piece of writing, but they determine the image would better match the tone of the piece if it appeared in black and white. With these new skills, students can modify an image to make it black and white. Students can apply these photo-editing skills to more sophisticated presentations in the future.
Process: Editing Photos Online With Photo-Editing Software
To complete the following four lesson steps, we recommend you use PicMonkey (www.picmonkey.com), a free online image editor. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Other options may offer different features. For example, Photoshop (www.adobe.com/photoshop) is used for modifying and enhancing images, whereas PicCollage (https://pic-collage.com) can be used to add multiple photos into one final collage. We encourage teachers to allow students to choose the application that works best for their project, device, and learning style.
TECH TIPS
Photo manipulation options include adding labels, text, drawings, and shapes; changing sizes; and rotating, flipping, and moving images. Each of the different photo-editing apps has different features. For example, Photoshop has the most advanced features for professional use. Many of the other sites have simpler features and are easier for students to use.
Photo-editing options include cropping, adding filters, changing contrast and brightness, and more.
1. Students should take a picture with their device. The image is saved with other photos on the device or uploaded to the student’s Google Drive.
2. Have students navigate to the website PicMonkey (www.picmonkey.com), using a web browser. Students should select an image from their device that they would like to enhance. Once the image is selected, students should upload the image to the PicMonkey website and select the pencil icon in the upper-right corner.
3. Students can crop the image and change the light, color, and more.
4. Have students save and share the newly modified image.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• Cross-curricular teaching: Students can search for multiple pictures to tell a story or give step-by-step instructions of a process. By editing or manipulating these photos, students can clearly demonstrate what they are learning.
• English language arts: Using story elements, students can order pictures and enhance and annotate them to create a comic to retell a story the class has read or to create an original story. For nonfiction texts, students can add captions or label photos to identify the steps in a process to complete a task.
• Social science: Students can search for an image from history and modernize it using digital tools. Students can Photoshop themselves into a primary-source image.
• Science: Students can search for photos or use their own photos of an experiment or a scientific principle they study. Students can save, categorize, and order images in a project according to sequence, progression, or complexity. They can annotate or label claims and evidence of the principle taught, such as matter phase changes, weather fronts, and the plant life cycle.
• Art: Students can take a picture of their original artwork and digitally modify the piece. They can then compare and contrast the two images.
Creating Video Projects
Creating videos is one way students demonstrate what they have learned. There are many free and low-cost options for creating videos on different types of devices. Depending on the devices your students will use to create the videos, we have included a variety of websites, apps, and programs. We’ve included a range of tools because not all classrooms will have access to the same platforms. For example, the program iMovie (www.apple.com/imovie) is only available for Macs, and the app is available for iPhones and iPads. Throughout the lessons on creating video projects, we emphasize that planning is important. Tony Vincent’s blog, Learning in Hand, includes valuable resources to help students prepare and think through video projects. The post “Plan a Better iMovie Trailer With These PDFs” (Vincent, 2014; http://bit.ly/1yjjSMX) shares storyboard templates students can use with iMovies as they plan for creating a video. If you are using a different video platform, feel free to create a template for your students, or have students use paper and pencil.
Learning goal:
I can create a book trailer and share it outside my classroom.
Novice: Creating Book Trailers
The purpose of this lesson is for students to create a trailer for a book they have read to summarize their understanding of the targeted learning goal. The trailer should hook their audience without giving away too many of the book’s details. Students should make sure they understand the trailer’s purpose before they start filming and planning. Students can find many examples of book and movie trailers on YouTube (www.youtube.com).
Process: Using Video-Editing Software to Create Book Trailers
To complete the following five lesson steps, we recommend you use an iPad or Mac, as they both come with iMovie (www.apple.com/imovie) preinstalled. If you prefer, you can use this process with a variety of other options such as Magisto (www.magisto.com) and Animoto (https://animoto.com). With many options available, teachers should allow the students to choose the application that best fits their needs and the devices they have available.
TEACHING TIPS
Discuss components of real movie trailers with students, asking them, “What should you include?”
Students should spend more time planning than filming or editing. To manage groups during this process, have the groups check their storyboards with you before they move to production. See Vincent (2014) for a helpful planning resource.
Review the first set of lessons in this chapter on working with digital images to see how students should save an image.
Limit the student-created videos to about thirty seconds or fewer to keep students focused on the content without added distractions.
1. Have groups of students open iMovie on a Mac or iPad and select Trailer.
2. The groups should select the template they would like to use. Exploring and selecting templates in iMovie takes time for groups of students.
3. After choosing their trailer, students will access the planning document at http://bit.ly/1yjjSMX to plan their iMovie.
4. Once the planning document is complete, students should sequence the photos or videos they use and add titles and transitions.
5. When the students finish, have them share their final published trailer.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• Cross-curricular teaching: Students can create movie trailers as a study guide around a unit.
• English language arts: Students can create a review of a book, chapter, or section they have read by creating a book trailer.
• Mathematics: Students can create a movie trailer about what they have learned in a mathematics unit of study that you can use as a summative assessment.
• Social science: Students can create a Choose Your Own Adventure type of movie trailer to show how a historical event could have changed had different decisions been made.
• Science: Students can take digital pictures as they work through a lab experiment and create a movie trailer about the process.
• Physical education: Students can create a movie trailer about a sport or activity.
TECH TIPS
Magisto (www.magisto.com), a website and an app available for Apple and Android devices, is another app option for this lesson. Have students gather all their pictures and video components in one folder before they start the project.
Animoto (https://animoto.com), a website and app that teachers can use for free, is another app option for this lesson. Teachers can set up an education account at https://animoto.com/education/classroom.
Note that some free versions of movie apps, websites, and programs may limit the length of a trailer or video.
Operational: Creating Multimedia Projects With Photos or Video
The purpose of this lesson is to let students have voice and choice as they create multimedia projects connected to curricular goals. The use of photos or video in a multimedia project allows students to visually demonstrate their understanding of a particular standard or topic.
Process: Using Adobe Spark to Create Multimedia
To complete the following three lesson steps, we recommend you use Adobe Spark (https://spark.adobe.com), a free website to design graphics, images, videos, and webpages. The templates it contains make it easy for teachers and students to create projects. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Other options include but are not limited to WeVideo (www.wevideo.com), Google Sites (https://sites.google.com), Google Slides (www.google.com/slides/about), and PowerPoint.
Learning goal:
I can create, edit, and use photos or video to create a multimedia project.
1. Prior to students creating a multimedia project, they should decide what their message is and how to best share that message. Students should compile a variety of photos or videos that they would like to include in the project.
2. Students will navigate to http://spark.adobe.com and log in using their Google accounts. Once logged in, students can either create a post, page, or video to demonstrate their learning. Adobe Spark provides step-by-step instructions for each option as well as very helpful video introductions.
3. Have students share what they have created using the class LMS.
TEACHING TIPS
In planning, students should consider who will see their multimedia project and what message they want to share.
Create teacher check-in points for student groups to touch base with you to monitor their progress.
Discuss your norms and expectations for the final project.
Limit videos to thirty to sixty seconds.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Students can choose to use photos or video to create a character study of a fictional character.
• Mathematics: Groups of students can create multimedia projects to demonstrate how they solved a complex problem.
TECH TIPS
Have students gather all their pictures and video in one folder before they begin their projects.
If students choose to add music, transitions, and other editing, they should do so after a teacher check-in to ensure they have completed the sequence of content.
• Social science: Groups of students can create multimedia projects re-enacting a historical event.
• Science: Students can demonstrate multiple strategies or scientific principles using photos or video.
• Physical education: Students can work in partners to create videos about the proper way to throw a baseball, dribble a basketball, or serve a volleyball.
• Foreign language: Students can create videos or multimedia projects and narrate them in the language they are studying.
Learning goal:
I can combine still digital images and video clips to make a final movie.
Wow: Mashing Up Video, Photos, and Audio Into a Project
This lesson focuses on giving students an outlet to demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned in a multimedia format. Students may have different file formats, including photos, videos, and audio files, to demonstrate their learning.
Process: Creating Movies
To complete the following four lesson steps, we recommend you use WeVideo (www.wevideo.com), an online video editor with free and premium features. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Options include but are not limited to TouchCast (www.touchcast.com) and iMovie (www.apple.com/imovie).
TEACHING TIPS
Have students distinguish the difference between a single image and a framed video.
You or your students can determine who will see the final movies and what message you want them to get from watching the movies.
Allow students to select the technology tools they use in their movies to support student voice and choice.
1. Students should access WeVideo through their Google Drive by clicking on New > More > Connect More Apps, and then search for WeVideo. They only have to do this once because WeVideo will now be linked to their Google Drive account.
2. Have students upload the images they have already chosen to use in their movie to WeVideo. Keep in mind that some apps or programs require specific file formats for compatibility.
3. Students should sequence the images and add sound effects and music from the collection within WeVideo. By using the sounds and music in WeVideo, teachers will have no concern about students violating copyright in their projects.
TECH TIPS
Photo and video files can be saved in the following formats.
> Photo: .jpg, .png, .tif, and .gif
> Video: .mp4, .mov, .avi, .mpg, and .flv
If an image a student wants to use appears in the wrong file format or is corrupt, have the student search for another image with the correct file format. For example, the file format .jpg is the most common for images, but sometimes students will find an image with the file extension .png, .bmp, or .gif. Depending on the app or the program a student is using, the file format of a specific image may not be compatible.
4. Once students complete their videos, have the students publish them and share them with an authentic audience beyond the walls of the classroom.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Groups of students can create a movie of a different ending to a book they read. Also, they can change a portion of a story and retell it with different settings and characters.
• Mathematics: Groups of students can take specific mathematics strategies and find examples in real life, creating a multimedia project of these examples that they can share.
• Social science: Groups of students can create a prequel to a historical event in any multimedia project, explaining cause-and-effect relationships that led to the event.
• Science: Groups of students can create movies illustrating what a day without a simple machine would look like. Assign a different simple machine to each group, and have students tell their story with simple machines found around the school.
• Art: Students can create a multimedia project using classmates’ authentic artwork to show different art styles.
Working With Audio
Creating audio clips can help students discuss what they learned and reflect on their learning. Most devices have an audio-recording app that is native to the device. Using this feature allows the teacher to understand students’ thought process, check their fluency, and give oral feedback. Using audio is yet another option for students to choose as they demonstrate their learning.
Learning goal:
I can use a variety of tools to record my thoughts and opinions.
Novice: Recording My Thinking
Across the curriculum, we often ask our students, “How did you get your answer?” or “Can you explain your thinking?” This lesson focuses on these questions as students record their thought process while working through a problem. When students can listen to themselves as they work through a problem, they can improve their academic vocabulary and catch their mistakes.
Process: Using a Voice-Recording Tool
To complete the following six lesson steps, we recommend you use Fluency Tutor (https://fluency.texthelp.com/Chrome/Get), an extension in Google Chrome. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Some options include but are not limited to Audacity (www.audacityteam.org) and Educreations (www.educreations.com). However, we chose to focus on Fluency Tutor for this lesson because of the feedback this tool provides. With other options, teachers will listen to the audio clips and provide feedback to the students themselves.
1. Students or teachers add Fluency Tutor to their devices by downloading the application before the lesson begins.
TEACHING TIPS
Allow sandbox time for students to explore new apps or websites. We use the term sandbox to reference playing in a sandbox. We want students to play with and learn the capabilities of an app or website. This prevents the technology from distracting students from the lesson objective.
You can decide whether the students record once or have multiple attempts at recording.
Some students may need to practice before recording, or the teacher may decide that it has to be a cold read. A cold read is reading without previously practicing the text.
2. Create an account to manage the data students collect as they read and record passages.
3. Share a passage of text with the class, and have students read the passage aloud while the Fluency Tutor app records the audio.
4. Students can use the helpful embedded tools, including a picture dictionary and text-to-speech conversion.
5. In Fluency Tutor, use the data dashboard to see class progress and listen to the passages of individual students and color-code the errors.
6. Students can always go back and listen to their own recordings to self-reflect on their fluency in addition to the teacher using these recordings for assessment and feedback.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Students can record themselves reading a story and practicing their best reading. Students should listen to the audio and then try to read the same passage out loud again to make their reading more fluent. Students save both audio clips to compare and contrast them.
TECH TIPS
In a loud classroom environment, consider using a microphone or a headset with a microphone to reduce interference when recording audio.
The teacher should determine where the audio files are stored or shared. Some ideas include posting in a Google Form, sharing in a folder, or sending an email or message.
• Mathematics: Students can record an explanation of a mathematics problem. As an extension idea, have students listen to each other’s explanations and see if they can solve the problem just by following the steps listed in the recording. Students can then give each other feedback on their mathematics explanations.
• Social science: Have students compare and contrast audio recordings created by different students portraying different historical figures from different eras.
• Science: Have groups of students create an audio summary about what they learned from an experiment.
• Physical education: Have students record directions or coaching tips for other students to follow.
Learning goal:
I can splice together pieces of audio and adjust the volume as needed.
Operational: Manipulating Multiple Audio Files
This lesson focuses on combining multiple audio files together in order to create a final piece. During certain tasks or projects, students will have multiple audio recordings that they might need to combine in order to demonstrate their learning. Students can adjust the volume on these audio files and put them in a certain order for their final project.
Process: Recording Actions and Audio With an Interactive Whiteboard App
To complete the following four lesson steps, we recommend you use Explain Everything (https://explaineverything.com), an app and a Chrome extension that you can use on almost any device, computer, or tablet that uses the Google Chrome browser. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Options include but are not limited to the Chrome extension Screencastify (www.screencastify.com) and the website and app Educreations (www.educreations.com).
TEACHING TIPS
Students should practice with a classmate to make the audio-creation process easier.
Make sure that the students stay focused on the learning objective. If necessary, provide scaffolding with a graphic organizer or storyboard that will allow the students to stay focused on the academic skills.
1. Have students navigate to the app Explain Everything or launch the Explain Everything extension within Chrome on a Chromebook.
2. Students will plan out their presentation and sequence pictures to illustrate the main points.
3. Use the tools within Explain Everything to crop, add voice over, and manage audio clips to create a final project.
4. The app pulls everything together into a movie that students can share through the class LMS.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
TECH TIPS
In a loud classroom environment, consider using a microphone or a headset with a microphone to reduce interference during recording.
With all technology, teachers should try the technology first to ensure that it works properly before students record.
• English language arts: Students can create a retelling of an event by making an audio recording and adding sound effects that reflect or enhance the content they are creating. English learners could also change a portion of a story to tell it from a different point of view. This can be used to tell a story from a different cultural perspective or from a different character’s point of view, to practice conjugating verbs.
• Mathematics: Groups of students can create guess-my-shape narrations in which they explain the attributes that describe the geometric shapes, adding sound effects or music. Students can also record themselves modeling how to solve a mathematics problem in different ways. They then splice together the different pieces of audio to make one recording of the different explanations.
• Social science: Students can create a narrative around an event, such as what would have happened if the United States had never landed a man on the moon. Students can tell the story, incorporating different points of view using alternative voices (for example, voices for a newscaster, a cowboy, and an astronaut), and use a lot of expression and inflection to enhance the recording.
• Science: Groups of students can create weather report narratives by pretending to be a meteorologist on a radio broadcast or a podcast focusing on climate change.
Learning goal:
I can edit and enhance multiple audio clips by adding sound effects to create a final product.
Wow: Engaging My Audience With Sound Effects
In this lesson, students will enhance their projects by adding sound effects to engage their audience. The use of certain sound effects can enhance a presentation; however, sound effects also can distract the audience. Students need to discover when it seems appropriate to use certain sound effects and when it may be appropriate to leave the project without audio distractions.
Process: Enhancing a Project With Sound Effects
To complete the following six lesson steps, we recommend you use VoiceThread (https://voicethread.com) to set up an online collaborative space for students to create video, voice, and text commenting. VoiceThread is a paid subscription service. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Options include but are not limited to iMovie (www.apple.com/imovie), PowerPoint, Voki (www.voki.com), and WeVideo (www.wevideo.com).
TEACHING TIPS
Allow students time to explore and experiment with a variety of sounds to create the intended effect.
Encourage students to bring earbuds for this project.
1. Have students navigate to https://voicethread.com and create an account.
2. Students will click the Create button in the top-left hand corner to then add media. A menu will pop up and students click Audio Recording.
TECH TIPS
Have students self-check their clips and edit the volume when needed, as some sound effects may need volume adjustments.
Have students save all recordings in one location for easy access when splicing the clips together for the final project.
Have students delete unwanted audio clips immediately to allow for faster, easier creation of the final project.
3. If it is the first time that students are using the program, they should allow access to the microphone. The program then begins recording immediately.
4. When recording is complete, students click on the red button. They should then give their project a title and description, and save.
5. Students can edit and enhance recording as needed through tools in VoiceThread. Some of these tools include doodling, adding video, and uploading a comment.
6. Students can then add multimedia comments and share presentations.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Students make an audio recording as they retell a story, changing one element of the story, such as the location or time period. Students then react to the change in location as if they were the characters in the story in the audio recording. Students can modify the audio clip based on the element they change. For example, if the setting has changed to the top of a mountain, they might add howling wind to the clip.
• Mathematics: Students can create audio reports as they identify mathematical concepts outside the classroom, such as doubling a recipe, which would include the mathematical concept of adding fractions. Students should be creative as they create their audio clips, for example by including sound effects like the blender operating or an oven door opening if they are creating a recipe.
• Social science: Students can create a report from a historic event, including background sounds.
• Science: Students can use multiple audio clips to create a real-world report. For example, students can report on changing weather conditions. Students can then insert sound effects (such as wind, rain, and sirens) into the recording to enhance their final report.
• Music: Students can create a new musical composition, using tracks of music from various sources and adding in their own sound effects to enhance the audio track.
Creating Meaningful Multimedia Projects
In these lessons, students will focus on gathering multiple types of resources to create one multimedia project, giving students the ability to have voice and choice as they draw upon visual, audio, and annotation tools to create a multimedia project that demonstrates their learning.
Learning goal:
I can create a multimedia poster, embedding photos and text to demonstrate my understanding.
Novice: Using Visuals to Show My Learning
Teachers can check how well students understand a task, lesson, or unit by having them create a visual aid. Prior to the pervasiveness of technology in our lives and classrooms, students used poster board and markers, but now, they can show the world what they know using multimedia. This lesson focuses on creating multimedia posters that embed text and photos.
Process: Creating Visuals
To complete the following three lesson steps, we recommend you use Lucidpress (www.lucidpress.com), a website where students and teachers can create stunning brochures, fliers, digital magazines, newsletters, and reports. It does not require users to install anything on a device, and users can add all types of media to their project with a simple drag-and-drop interface. If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options. Other options include but are not limited to Adobe Spark (https://spark.adobe.com), Google Slides (www.google.com/slides/about), Google Sites (https://sites.google.com), and Canva (www.canva.com).
TEACHING TIPS
Allow time for students to explore the tool in groups before production begins.
Make sure students have a clear purpose for their multimedia poster and they can share their goals with others, including the audience that will view the poster.
In a class discussion, analyze existing advertisements and billboards to discuss purpose, audience, hook, distractions, bias, and persuasive techniques.
English learners can create multimedia posters as a visual aid for a presentation.
1. Have students navigate to www.lucidpress.com. From there, students should click Sign Up With Google and enter their Google information.
2. Students then click on Start a New Document. Students create a poster by using the tools along the left-hand side of the screen. They have the option to add text, shapes, images, tables, videos, and buttons to external links. The teacher should allow students to have the autonomy to create a digital poster as they see fit, utilizing a blank poster or a template. Have students select the type of project they would like to create, and tell them to start to add pieces of media.
TECH TIPS
Make sure students understand how to save their final product.
