Monday, August 4, 2008

THING 21 - Podcasts and Audio Books

Have I mentioned too many times that I have been working in Whitney for the summer, then took a quick trip to Oregon and have not been planted back in Houston since I left the first week of June?

The reason for this unimportant information - I was unable to load Photostory or do other functions that would fully explore this activity. I have Photostory on my school computer and have used it with success for creating and loading videos on my classroom webpage. Prior to learning of Photostory, I had used the old MovieMaker program with similar results. Each has it's own unique features not found in the other, so it would depend on the expected result and flexibility one was looking for when deciding which program to pursue. When I am back at a functioning, download-friendly computer, I will have to revisit this lesson and continue to play with the features available.

To complete this lesson, I pulled a handful of pictures from an old student that attending Spring Oaks. During an A&M travel program, he visited Spain and shared these and MANY more pictures. In a matter of minutes, the pictures were placed in a video, music and credits added and in the time it took to get a glass of water, the movie was ready to post on the blog. TOO easy and probably not worthy of credit for this lesson, but it really is that simple. Whether there are 10 or 50 pictures, whether you want one or two songs, and even if you want text clips or recorded voices added, it takes NO time at all other than the time needed for coming up with something creative.

At the end of each school year, we use this type of movie maker to create a video for out graduating 8th grade class. It shows pictures from their three year stay with us, complete with music and teacher goodbyes sure to cause a fear teary eyes in the audience.

1 comment:

bookeatersclub said...

The important thing is that you know how to do it, and you do!