Video

I would use this video to teach kindergarten or 1st graders the vowels. I had my students help me create the video. After learning the song and doing the video I hear them singing the vowel song during class. Since we shot all the scenes they have all been asking me to see the video.This shows me that they enjoyed making the video, singing the song, and I know that they know what the vowels are in the alphabet.

I think having students be involved in making a video is a great idea. I think it is something different for the students to do. You can create a video project involving any subject and it integrates technology.

I will say it was very difficult to have my 1st graders be involved in this video. We had to take numerous takes to get each scene correct and it took up a lot of time during the day. The timing may have been partly my fault. I planned everything out before I got my students involved but then when it came down to actually filming the video there were some things I had to change because it wasn't working out. For instance at the beginning of the video, originally I wanted my students to stand in a line one behind the other. Then I was going to have them introduce their letter and then sit down. That was very confusing for them so I changed the beginning and I just had them sit on the floor to introduce the letters. Also I originally was trying to film the whole beginning as one shot and that didn't work. The students had a hard time remembering what to do and paying attention in that time span. I ended up filming each line of the video separately and that worked out better.

Overall making videos with your class can be very successful if you are able to set aside a significant amount of time to film the video and if you plan it with lots of details.

Click here to see my Vowels Video