Technology Implementation Plan

Please see our class blackboard discussion board to read comments on using MovieMaker for a project with a middle school student I tutor. Here is my description of the project:

I decided that the steep learning curve I was experiencing while doing my digital imagery project with Movie Maker, would be a perfect starting point for implementing a plan that utilized Movie Maker for an instructional purpose with a 6th grade student I tutor. This particular student has organizational and executive decision-making strengths, with fine motor coordination and social-emotional concerns. His need for learning accommodations for schoolwork contributes to his social discomfort with peers, and appears to be negatively impacting his self-image, which results in low self-esteem. His parents have asked that I help him to handle his situation as healthfully as possible.Much of what I do with him revolves around highlighting his strengths. We discuss the pros and cons of his learning accommodations, and try to substitute his awkwardness about his coordination with confidence in what he CAN do (such as making informed choices). Augmenting his knowledge of how to use technology to express his ideas has been very successful in the past. In this case, I decided that my goals to help him develop a healthier self-image and higher self-esteem could be integrated most authentically by working with him on producing a MovieMaker video. I could think of no better way to actively involve him in this project, than to have him comment and make constructive suggestions to my movie making project!!It was a lot of fun to design this series of lessons. I was trying to pique his interest in movie making while helping him to identify factors that would contribute to his lifelong health (and happiness). As I had already determined that he is a strong visual learner, I believed that this particular medium would be intrinsically stimulating and engaging for him. I had learned the basic mechanics of the Movie Maker application, and was ready to interactively explore it with input from a younger mind! We started by viewing public domain photos, discussing the specifics of creative commons shared rights and exploring the various rights expressed in flickr.com. I purchased a $25 camera cell phone for his use. I was ready to move forward and engage!For age appropriate guidance, I turned to the "Media Smart Youth: Eat, Think and Be Active!" program (www.nichd.nih.gov/msy/pdf/msy_intro_overview.pdf). It is a health promotion program, designed for young people 11-13, "to teach them about the complex media world around them, and how it can affect theirhealth, especially in the areas of nutrition and physical activity".The program is also designed to help teens become critical, creative thinkers by helping them make smart and positive choices about nutrition and physical activity every day.
Learning objectives:
1. Student will be able to identify the broad indicators of healthful living (eat, drink and sleep well; engage in physical activity daily; feel good about self by doing your best; identify meaningful choices; learn about being a critical consumer)
2. Student will be able to state his personal view of "healthful living". (through discussion and brainstorming)
3. Student will make a visual presentation with MovieMaker that shows young children involved in healthful activities (and pretty obviously feeling good!)for a “healthful living” discussion with 8 year olds.
As I have worked with this young man for a few years now, I am quite familiar with his creative mind and confident in his ability to analyze, evaluate and create new thoughts. For the purposes of this implementation, I touched upon the nutrition and physical activity sections of this program through open topical discussions that contributed to the images of healthy young children that were used in the final product. As a springboard into the Movie Maker work, I used the 6 Media Questions handouts from Media Smart Youth www.nichd.nih.gov/msy/pdf/MSY_Poster.pdf with the following questions: Who is the author or sponsor? Who is the audience? What is the purpose? What is the message? What information is missing? What techniques are used to attract your attention? These questions helped our discussions by giving a framework to explain how to recognize the ways that media try to get the audience's attention and to have the student analyze media messages and evaluate them for accuracy and for consistency with his ideas of what it means to be healthy. It gave us time to discuss the many aspects of healthfulness that may not have been mentioned in relation to nutrition and physical activity, including the importance of healthy family interactions, decision making and self image. To create additional interest in making the MovieMaker video, I presented the video I was working on so that he would offer comments and see that his opinions mattered to me. Adding that dimension definitely improved our level of discussion, and encouraged him to solve some technical problems along the way, while stimulating his critical thinking at every turn regarding the photo selection process! To apply all of that to a hands-on project really made sense to my student. It helped him feel confident in being able to photographically depict what he determined to be qualities of healthful living for younger children. He seemed to be very interested in also helping younger children understand all that goes into living more healthfully. This is an adaptation of the Media Smart Youth program media project goal which is "to motivate other young people to take action for better nutrition or increased physical activity" and definitely relates to work I am currently doing with other families. I was extremely impressed by his level of engagement and the depth of his interest in video production. I believe that this will spark additional use of Movie Maker for both of us. In this process, we both learned new skills of production, teamwork and creativity.