Room 319 Happenings Aug.-Sept. 2016

How Do You Learn Multimedia?

Written by Natalie Adams

A question wondered by many, but an answer only few will discover. This year, the 138 learners enrolled in Media A will come to experience the joys (and hardships!) of CMSW’s multimedia program. From assembling clips to searching the web for sound effects, these kids are going to learn everything they need to know to prepare themselves for Media B.

Starting off, Media A has been studying the different types of shots and angles that are used every day in the multimedia world. Instead of completing a worksheet, Media A was faced with a different challenge: create a video demonstrating every single shot and angle that they had learned. Along with applying their newly learned script writing and story boarding skills, this assignment has been a great way to expose these kids to the inner workings of media and WESTV, two things they will become extremely accustomed with by the end of this year. See Emily's project below.

On the other hand, our hard-working, nine-person team known as Media B has been leading the charge by creating procedures videos for Media A to demonstrate the proper guidelines of our classroom, and setting the “stage” for a successful year and program design for WESTV. View their videos below:

Our biggest project this six weeks has been the overall layout of our show, and the approach we are going to take this year. We have been gifted with a handful of great actors, animators, camera people, and editors, which has been a huge help when it comes to creating our new intro.

Media B WESTV Leaders

In conclusion, although it has only been six weeks, our media kids are hitting the ground running, expanding their knowledge in multimedia and working towards improving and preparing for our upcoming shows. Armed with high-quality technology and software, along with an amazing teacher, we’re going to prove that West truly is the best.

Room 319 Happenings Jan. -Mar 2016

Second semester always poses new challenges for the WESTV staff. Many learners often start to experience the idea road block in their segment planning path.  Like any good journalist, we are always asking ourselves questions like, "What do our viewers want to see?", "What stories should we tell?", and "How can we get more leads?" Well, I would like to use this blog an an avenue for leads.  Feel free to comment below with your story ideas.  Do you know something interesting going on in our community? Is there a learner at our school doing something amazing that we should be shouting about from the roof tops? Do you know about any upcoming school events we should be advertising? If so, leave us a comment.

One place we find inspiration and motivation is through the district's high school news program KCBY. In January, all eighth grade Media learners went to the high school for an inside look at the program and studio.

New Tech's NT Fuze also provided mentors by sending one of their seniors and former WESTV staffer, Jeremy C. to our Media classes. He spent all day with us and visited with each learner about their Challenge projects.  He was full of great advice and my learners experienced many "Ah ha" moments that day.

Media B learner's and all CMSW 7th graders experienced a first hand account of seeing Multimedia professionals at work during a field trip to Gemmy Industries. Seeing ways to apply their love of art and video to a career generated great enthusiasm for many of the Media learners. Check out this video to learn more about the trip.

We felt so blessed to have so many mentors investing in our learning that we decided to pass down some of the love and partner with Mrs. Donohue's sixth grade social studies learners. We helped them complete a video perspective project on the Industrial Revolution.  See some of the finished projects here.

Next, we dove into the world of animation.  Check out this Stop Motion Padlet to see the assignment and learner's creations.

Another highlight of the semester was receiving brand new Canon Vixia cameras for our program. Learners created tutorial/review videos of their new camcorder. Click to view.

...And of course, all along the way, we continued to produce our show.  Here is the link to WESTV in case you missed a show or two.

The last three months have been a great Multimedia learning journey. Wish us luck as we move into the CISD Video Challenge experience! Details to come.

                                                                                   

Room 319 Happenings Aug. - Dec. 2015

Well friends, we made it. It is hard to believe, but it’s time to say goodbye to 2015! Our Multimedia learners have been very busy honing their skills. They’ve learned film composition skills, advanced video editing, animation, story boarding, script writing, speaking on camera, voice-over work, and acting. These skills are being applied to entertain, inform, and serve our school.

	Max preparing a storyboard for his WESTV segment Cole planning a segment for WESTV Trey, Daniela, and Sydney collaborate on the perfect video idea

  

We spent most of our time preparing and producing our school news program, WESTV. Learners have produced four episodes this semester. Watch them here, here, here, and here.

 

Jessica, Ahbi, and Rishi  anchoring Show 4

Sathvika and Hailey sign off for Show 3

In addition to the broadcast, we tackled many other special Multimedia projects. One of the most challenging and rewarding projects was a collaboration with the drama department to produce A Midsummer’s Night Dream the Movie, a play that integrates video segments into live theatre.

Theatre learners perform in the Pyramus and Thisby film

 Another project that my learner’s always enjoy is the Hour of Code. It is a global movement to get as many students coding during Computer Science Week, Dec. 7-13. Expert computer programmer, Richard Gottleber with Fidelity Investments shared a little about his computer science careers and assisted learners with their own programming. It is super fun seeing the excitement and intensity my students express when coding games. The analytical exercises and emotional roller coaster that accompany coding is thrilling to observe.

Neha shows off her Hour of Code accomplishment sticker

Aidan, Graham, and Gabe work to solve a Code Combat coding challenge with Mr. Gottleber                             

Our podcasting unit, allow learners to explore an area of Multimedia that was brand new to most of them.  I was surprised to learn that most of them had never heard of podcasting before the lesson. Not only did they explore a new resource for learning and entertainment, but they had the opportunity to create their own.  Check out this fun podcast by Jessica and Kaitlin or this one by Aidan and Graham.

        

This is one of my strongest Media groups yet and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish during the 2016 part of this school year.  They have learned so much already, but best of all, we have become a team and a family.

Team Building Activity 9/15