At a two day professional development course I connected with a teacher who works in a small rural primary school with six students. She has an iPad for each of her students but was unsure where to start to use them in her teaching. She asked me how I would use iMovie in lessons for students K-6 across the curriculum. This is my response to her:, ten ways to use iMovie in teaching.
To begin a new project in iMovie you tap on the plus symbol. You have the option of a project or trailer. A trailer has a set storyboard in a particular theme to which you add titles and footage. It is a short one minute storyboard. A project is not time bound, so you can add any length of footage. But the author need to design the sequence, add music and incorporate titles.
Once you have opened a project adding footage, audio and titles is very intuitive. But if you get stuck the question mark icon provides clear instructions. To export student work, create a class YouTube account ask all student log in with the same email address and password. Have students put their name in the project title so you can provide feedback after the lesson.
Ten applications for teaching, each is hyperlinked with an example:
1. Digital Stories: Students write a poem of piece of descriptive writing and then publish it as a digital story. By saving images from Safari and then adding music and titles, the piece of creative writing can really come to life.
2. Information Reports: Research compiled as a information report can become a documentary style video. Students take photos or save images from Safari that match the key concepts in their information report. They can add key ideas to the pictures in titles and then record a commentary over the top.
3. Publishing Podcasts: GarageBand and iMovie connect with one another seamlessly. When creating a podcast with musical accompaniment in GrarageBand students can export using SoundCloud (the audio equivalent of YouTube) or open the project in iMovie where they can add images and video footage.
4. Showcase Leaning: Filming students at work is a fantastic way to report to parents, observe learning patterns and celebrate student achievement. This footage can easily be compiled in iMovie as a project or a trailer.
5. Explaining Mathematics and English: iMovie trailers can be created using twelve themes. They have locked to a timed storyboard in which you alter the titles and insert images and video. Consider teaching the properties of triangles through a trailer called Super Triangles using the Superhero theme. Or maybe consolidate work on adjectives in a trailer called Adjective Journey using the Narrative theme.
6. Enhancing Animations: Animator HD and Animator Free are are two apps that can be readily utilised in Science, Geography and History. For example Animator HD can be used to create a clay animation demonstrating the adaptation of the Galapagos tortoise shell. Or for Animator Free could be used to create an animation displaying the settlement journey from England to Australia. These animations can be brought to life by exporting to the camera roll then imported into an iMovie project to add music and titles.
7. Speeches and Role Play: Speeches and role play are often used to teach a concept or idea. An iMovie trailer is an opportunity for presenting a speech or performing a role play but is less overwhelming for shy or anxious students as it can be recorded then played to an audience.
8. Reflection News Reports: The two news report themes in iMovie projects provide perfect opportunity for creating a learning news report. Students can reflect on a lesson a means of self evaluation and formative assessment by creating a news report on a learning experience.
9. Interviews: Interviewing students at the end of unit is a good summative assessment tool and a showcase to key stakeholders such as parents and staff. iMovie is a simple and fast way to authentically capture the essence of student reflections.
10. Awards: An iMovie trailer can be a fun way to present a special award. Plan a storyboard that builds to a climax where a photo of the student is revealed as part of the trailer. For example Super Learner using the superhero theme.
