My thoughts went straight to a media unit on music videos, not only because I just started teaching it halfway through Course 4, but because it has COETAIL written all over it – starting right back at the beginning with Course 1.
I teach media to Grade 9 students and we have a very simple outcome for them – which is … students have to work together collaboratively to create a music video. The purpose of this is for our students to use a huge variety of cinematography techniques, nevermind the exposure that they will get to the following areas:
- Movie editing
- Sound editing
- Lighting
- Set Design
- Using props
- Time management
- Working collaboratively
- Character building through recognizing each other’s strengths
- Acknowledging that they remix existing music videos (digital citizenship)
And this is just the beginning…
ISTE Enhancers
ISTE Enhancers are not something you take at the gym to get that extra rep, instead, they are like little breadcrumbs you can leave for students to find their way to creating something awesome and meaningful with technology. I have selected *one standard from each category in the ISTE Standards for Students and matched these to the learning goals; as well as the 6 Cs’ of Deep Learning to help form the goals for the unit. Furthermore, I have also linked them to every piece of technology that they will use in the unit; as well as linking it to which part of the SAMR model they adhere to.
*I have selected only one as I want the standards to become part of the students learning toolkit. I fear if I select too many, the standards will become too numerous and just melt into the background; which is fine, but I want to achieve something much greater and long-lasting. You could say I want to leave a legacy with this unit. I will make references to them throughout the unit, with the measure of success being students using the terms to describe their learning in a technology sense.I will outline how I think they will enhance students’ understanding of the content.
Empowered Learner – 1C
Using flip they can re-watch other people’s work. Giving and receiving feedback both inside and outside of the classroom.
Digital Citizen – 2C
As students are remixing existing artists’ work, it is important to acknowledge what copyright boundaries there are.
They will be communicating online throughout the project, and need to do so in a responsible manner.
Students will be in a feedback loop for most of the project with an allocated peer group. They need to be responsible, whilst maintaining honesty and integrity in their critiques.
Knowledge Constructor – 3A
They will need to research online how to carry out the following:
- Shoot cinematography techniques
- Using iMovie
- Record Sound
- Using GarageBand
- Use various hardware
- Using lighting effectively
- How to storyboard
- Use MS Teams
- Use collaborative features in Office 365/G Suite for education
Plan out their time schedule using Excel and a Gantt-style chart. Using the collaborative features within these spreadsheet programs they can adjust times accordingly.
Innovative Designer- 4A
Editing their movies to match the timing of the song; will involve a lot of trial and error. They will also have to present their project summaries using the Pecha Kucha style, focusing on resilience and how they overcame any problems during the three phases; pre-production, production, and post-production.
Creative Communicator – 6B
The Pecha Kucha style will really help the students document and reflect on the whole project. They also have the option to remix a current song and overlay that with a music video from the 1980s/1990s.
Students will be using MS Teams/Google Hangouts to constantly communicate throughout the project, which can help document their progress.
Global Collaborator – 7B
Given that the music videos are subject to copyright, this will limit our audience from where we can get feedback on how to improve; limited to students on campus. But there are of course opportunities for our students to reach out to experts on general movie editing techniques and movie production – through the use of the video call feature in Teams or Hangouts.
Under the Influence
If COETAIL was a cocktail it would probably be a Long Island Ice Tea. Like the Long Island, it contains a lot, and packs a knock-out punch and if you have too many in a short space of time you will be left reeling for days with a headache. But, more importantly, when you are in the midst of the COETAIL binge it is exhilarating!
And what of the single biggest influence of COETAIL? Well, it is hard to pin down…However, I am somewhat addicted to the power of flip and the deep learning that it offers. However, COETAIL has been an awakening for me, like Neo in the Matrix. You see I love researching (students will be researching throughout the project) new things happening in technology, and then passing this wonderful new learning to my students and anyone else that will listen. My other two big takeaways would be:
- Improving visual aids
- This will be used in the 20/20 presentation at the end of the project
- Participatory Culture and Remixing
- Students are encouraged to add comments to the internal MS Stream channel that will be set up to host their videos
- Comments on Flipgrid
- The music video is a product of a remix
Concerns / Pedagogy / Skills & Attitudes / Outcomes
Concerns – My main concern for the unit is simply that I have already started it, and I don’t know how that will impact Course 5. It is due to the end mid-end of March, which I hope is enough time. I am also concerned with the students managing their time, particularly during the shooting and editing phase. For example, how will they shoot and set up the sets/props/lights and so on?
Pedagogy – Pedagogically I think it is sound. I have used the SAMR model initially to match to different apps used, but I will shift gears and actively use both TPack and the TIM Matrix frameworks further down the line. But, I have already used these to plan out the tasks ahead, at least in my head – if not on paper.
Skills & Attitudes – There is an abundance of skills that our students will be covering, which would have been a concern had we not put them into groups; they get to choose their groups as we want them to work beyond the classroom. Students will also have to dig deep into their resilience, critical thinking, and principled reserves. Resilience, as they will face constant challenges of getting each shot just right. Critical thinking, as critiquing each other’s work is a vital component of success. And principled/ (character) as they will need to work with each other constantly. They will learn a lot about each other in the days to come, and I am sure that will continue to be supportive of each other.
Outcomes – I want my students to have fun whilst learning, but I do want them to experience real learning. I want them to experience what it is like to fail and then get back up again. I want them to communicate their ideas succinctly so that each person on the team can contribute equally. And finally, I want them to build confidence within themselves – to believe that they can accomplish anything.
It will be fascinating to see where our students will end up at the conclusion of this unit – like the dispersal of dandelion petals.