![]() Our district also used Compass Learning software to offer skills practice across the curriculum, and one of the first signs of technology implementation in our school was a greatly improved use of Compass to assign work custom-tailored to individual needs.Īll fourth grade teachers across the district had also been given ELMO video imagers, with the reasoning that the shift to open response and essay questions in fourth grade benchmark tests warranted the instant feedback of the ELMO. The students were excited about the decrease in written drill assignments from a textbook, and the teachers were thrilled to have instant feedback about what lessons students needed most. Also, the one-on-one student interaction with computers allowed teachers the flexibility to meet with small groups whenever the need arose because the rest of the class could stay actively engaged with ongoing projects. Meanwhile, I had been using a Digital Video camcorder at home to record and edit movies of my two young children, and by the time I received my classroom computers, I had used the camcorder to record a couple of school music programs. With access to a data projector and student computers in my third grade classroom, I decided that we really ought to make the most of our high-tech equipment by shooting and editing a DV movie. The first one we made was of students making balloon animals to wrap up a how-to essay about balloon twisting. The students loved making it and with the data projector, it was easy to involve the whole class in the editing process using Pinnacle Studio (opens in new tab). I was really struck by the amazing parallels between video editing and the editing process for a piece of writing. ![]() This led me to think about using DV for a writing workshop as well. ![]() If only I had something to hold the camera, I thought, I could use a camcorder with my projector just like the ELMO across the hall. That’s when I discovered a product called a Lightsmith, and learning has not been the same in my classroom ever since.
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