The Media Spot

Still from Class 3-206's Video Illustration Students at PS124 add short "video illustrations" to strengthen ideas in their writing within blog posts.

Video illustrations help an audience connect to writing, just like a photo or drawing would in a book.

Here are links to the videos, embedded in posts at the PS 124 Third Grade Blog:

• 3-206 How-To Cookbook
• 3-307's Persuasive Letter to the DOE
• 3-307's Math Workshop (video illustration through guided practice with Mr. Rhys)

The Process:
Ms. Abodeely and Ms. Lutz's students created these videos by adapting a piece of their writing to make a video script, then deciding what to show on the screen and what sounds should go with the video images they planned to shoot by drawing storyboards.

Students decided whether "close-ups", "mid shots", or "wide shots" worked best to communicate the message in their writing. Then they set up the camera shots based on their storyboards, recorded, and edited using iMovie software on a Mac laptop with Mr. Rhys. They selected music from their teacher's iTunes library that fit the tone they wanted to convey, recorded narration, and added titles to pack in as much information as they could into these short pieces.

Video Illustrations can be completed in 3-4 class periods once the writing is complete.