The past few days I have been experimenting with various websites used for digital storytelling. A site that I found extremely easy to work with was Animoto. This website allows the user to make a video using different themes, music, pictures, and text. It is a really engaging way to present information and make learning fun and interesting. At first, I thought it would be very difficult to create a good video but I quickly realized that all it took was a little effort to add a theme, pictures, and text. The theme came with a great song and constructing the pictures and text was extremely simple. I think my favorite part of this tool is the fact that it is easy to use and therefore it would not be too challenging that students would lose interest. Also, the product is very impressive and makes the creator appear to be experienced with making these presentations.
With the upcoming holidays and the prediction of snow, I decided to create a video about Christmas. This could be used in the classroom as a "hook" for a lesson about Christmas or holidays. It would be especially useful for ESL students who are not familiar with this holiday and need some background information and a quick idea of what it is. I made sure to put some information, vocabulary, and pictures of important elements of the holiday. However, this was made with the limitations of a 30 second free trial. If I had an account, I would create a longer and more vocabulary oriented video to introduce the topic to the students. This could be used for many topics other than Christmas and it is a great way to grab student attention to introduce a new lesson. Overall, it is an extremely beneficial tool for the classroom and also very user friendly because it does not take too much effort to use. Give it a try!
You accomplished a lot for a short video.
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