Getting Students Excited to Learn

Tech Camp Unleashes Creativity and Collaboration by Joe Bardin.

First off I just want to say everyone should take a moment to read this article it was great, and can be molded for all grade levels in many different subject areas. This article explains the many different tools teachers and students use at a weeklong tech camp. It takes place in Arizona and if you are interested you can go to the following link http://www.azk12.org . The point of this camp is to help motivated teachers by giving them basic direction and hands on experience. For the students it is also a great opportunity to get them excited about using technology in the classroom. There are many different types of technology used at this camp, but a large part of it is centered on movie making. The article gives many examples, but one that stuck out to me was about a first grade class. The class made a movie on fire safety. The task of the movie was left up to the students, they have to write the script and play as actors in it. This is a great example of using fundamental skills with technology, and a great tool to get all students involved, even the quiet ones.

I love this idea of making a movie and I could easily adapt it to my classroom just as any teacher can and should. This can also be used for any subject area whether it be language arts, science or as the article talked about using it for bilingual students where their task is to do the movie in both English and Spanish. Another great point that this article states is that students put more effort into work that is publically displayed such as movies because it reveals them to others. Taking this into account the teacher can be comforted in knowing that yes this project is fun and a great education tool. You can use movie making in so many ways and I encourage you to check out this article to read about all the exciting ways they use it at this camp.