Last week, we had our first In-situ technology class and visited a school in Kimberly to teach stop motion. While I have discussed stop motion in the blog, I thought it might be interesting to reflect on teaching that process to students using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle.
Description
We met at the school and were assigned to predetermined groups of students. The project was to use the Zing Studio app, which the students were familiar with, and create a stop-motion video (here is a link if you’re unfamiliar with the process). To do this, we would first create a storyboard and then film the movie using the student’s desk pets as the characters in the film. The process of making the movie was enjoyable. While in the development phase of our epic tale, my partner and I led a brainstorming activity. The students were full of great ideas. However, not all of them could be animated in 40 minutes. I was surprised at how well the students collaborated and were receptive to guidance. The plot of our stop motion was as follows. Five desk pets would fly on a plane and skydive onto a remote island. Then, after realizing they do have cell service, they climb a large hill to call for help. However, the mountain they climb is an active volcano, and it begins to erupt. Just in the nick of time, a 6th desk pet appears in a UFO and saves everyone. All six pets then fly to Chicago to visit someone’s grandma and have a sleepover dance party with cake, movies, and bunk beds. Now you may think…. how on earth did you animate all this? The truth is we didn’t. After the climactic volcano rescue, we were out of time. However, the students did a great job with what we had, quickly adjusted the video frames so the video appeared longer, and added sound effects. It was a masterpiece; most of all, the students loved the experience and enjoyed making it.
Feelings
During the project, I focused on keeping the scope as narrow as possible so we could animate as much as possible. Unfortunately, this did not work out, as students suggested the Chicago trip was necessary. I felt optimistic about the whole experience. The students were engaged and happy with the process, so I was happy for them.
Evaluation
Some great things about the experience were; the engagement, collaboration, participation from the students and the project was fun
Some things that needed work were my partner and I could have used our time more efficiently. We opted to draw most of the backgrounds on the whiteboard, which was challenging as it meant we had to redraw every frame of some of the shots. The process could have been smoother for the students with a few more props and some planning.
Analysis
This project was a great way to observe the dynamics of small groups in the classroom. It was interesting to see how the students interacted with one another and who took initiative during the project. We made sure to get ideas from everyone in the group so that there was a consensus on the video and the project, but getting the quieter students to speak up about what they wanted to see took some prompting. We also observed how the two teachers handled classroom management during the classroom premier of all the projects. it was interesting to see their approach, and it helped me to reflect on my teaching style.
Conclusion
some points for the future would be to come in with some props or have some predetermined props and challenge the students to make a story with what they have. I think I would also bring a tripod, but other than that, the project went well.
Action Plan
- Practice with stop motion App
- Bring some props on the day of class
- narrow the scope further of the film
- Play a game with the students so everyone gets a turn storyboarding the film.
I’d like to credit Vecteezy for the great photo that wasused as the featured image for the post. You can find some of their other work on the site.