WeVideo is one of the core digital tools for staff and students in Jeffco this year. As a result, students and staff have access to a wide range of opportunities to engage in deeper learning activities that personalize and authenticate learning through film and multimedia. Getting started with WeVideo is fairly straight forward and there are plenty of resources such as the WeVideo MMTS to help you get started. (Click on the image below to open the MMTS and start exploring.) However, getting started with using film creation and WeVideo for authentic tasks can be a little more challenging. Here we hope to provide a few ideas and inspirations to help you get started. 

Capturing and creating videos as part of instruction can seem daunting at first however, it's doesn't need to be a complicated process. One approach is to begin with photo stories. Challenging students to capture or collect photos that tell a specific story and compiling those photos together with a narrative or background music allows us to practice compiling stories and using video editing tools. Photo stories can be about academic content such as a historical time period, scientific or mathematical processes, or about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They can also be about personal things such as our daily journey to school or our family history. Everyone has different perspectives so our photo stories can be shared to deepen the learning and understandings.

One of the biggest challenges to using technology in classrooms is to ensure it is not a distraction from the larger goals of learning and content mastery. A great way to begin addressing these challenges is to empower students to lead their own learning. As students gain foundational understandings of content, they can be challenged with application of the content and creating products to share their learning and additional understandings. For example in mathematics, we often ask students to memorize key facts and processes but seldom challenge them with application and sharing of the learning. We can empower students to lead their learning by asking them to look for examples in their lives where they can apply the content they're learning and capture those applications to tell their stories. With this challenge, students gain deeper understandings of why content is needed and ways in which it fits into their worlds. Students can then share their creative stories of content application with each other, another class, or students at another school, which leads to deeper learning of the content. 

One of the essential skills across many content areas involves the ability to effectively conduct research and compile our findings so we can form argumentative or persuasive claims. As humans, we regularly find ourselves in situations where multiple views are represented and the need to understand and respond respectfully to others is a foundational aspect of any democracy. As students conduct research and capture evidence that supports their claims, they can put together short films with photos or video clips to support their stance. When sharing with each other, students have access to practice listening and summarizing skills that lead can lead to civic and global engagement or the continued development of communication skills necessary to succeed in settings beyond the classroom. 

Teachers are experts at creating links between outcomes and learning which drives us all to the continuous search for new ideas and strategies. Here are a few tips to consider as you begin to design learning opportunities involving film and multimedia: 

1. ​Keep it short. No one likes to watch lengthy films unless they are coming from Hollywood or experienced film makers. The most difficult films to make are often the shortest ones because getting content that tells a great story into small time frames is challenging. Limit the films to minutes at most to keep them interesting, anything over a few minutes is far too long and students won't want to watch them. A great place to start is 60 seconds or less and work up from there. 
2. Don't forget the planning. Great films aren't just put together on a whim, they often involve months if not years of planning and revising. Setting goals and involving planning processes such as outlining, drafting, storyboarding, and deadlines, are essential to creating films that will captivate an audience. Editing and revising are also essential components that need not be forgotten. It's critically important that students understand how planning and revising are components of all processes we engage in. 
3. Group work is easier.  It's rare to see people doing great things alone, there are often multiple people involved. Providing students opportunities to work in groups when creating films will make outcomes more attainable and lead to better products. Group work also provides opportunities to develop collaboration skills. Working with others is essential to success in any environment and students need practice. Getting captures worthy of being involved in a final film product takes time and work and it's much easier to have multiple people capturing different things. This provides options for choice and the more we have to choose from the better the final product will be. Lastly, sometimes there is a need for a camera person, a director, or an editor, and working in groups makes all of these roles easier to fill as students learn to collaborate together. 
4. Portions of the work needs to extend beyond the classroom. Capturing for film should always be done outside of a classroom. Students see their classrooms everyday so capturing them is certainly no novelty. Classroom time can be used for planning, revising, and compiling however, much of film work will take place beyond the wall or outside the school. This can be a replacement for homework but shouldn't be called homework. The term "homework" has many negative connotations so terms such as capturing or filming can be used instead. Students often love to use their phones (or their parents phones) outside of school and the purpose of capturing for films makes the use of their phones interesting and purposeful, as well as, authentic. Rather than spending time scrolling through social media feeds or messaging with friends, students can find joy and purpose in figuring out ways they want to tell their stories. 
5. Celebrate the successes and challenges. There will be many successes but there will also be many challenges and celebrating both will help students want to continue honing their film skills. When students realize they didn't get the capture they wanted or something is missing, they will face opportunities to reflect and create new practices so they avoid those situations in the future. Call it building resilience, learning from our mistakes, or something else, these opportunities are priceless moments for growth and they need to be celebrated. The first film products might be a little rough around the edges but what are the areas of growth and the new learning that comes from those final products? Students will excel if we allow them time and space to reflect on their work and identify what they will do differently in the future. 
6. Don't forget about the laws. With film and multimedia come a wide range of copyright laws and it's important to know what is permissible and what is forbidden. There are plenty of royalty free options for music and images and helping students understand where to find them is useful. A great resource to help you with finding them is your DTL (Digital Teacher Librarian), they have expertise that is invaluable in these areas. We have some increased rights for using multimedia when it comes to education however, as students become more engaged in capturing and sharing their learning, it will be vital for them to understand where the lines are drawn in regards to copyrights. It's also important for them to understand so they can protect their own work as they grow into more experienced film makers. Ultimately, it's a great lesson in citizenship and ethics that will help them throughout their entire lives.
7. Look for ways to authentically challenge your students. There are a variety of options for students to begin engaging in authentic challenges when it comes to film. The Denver Film Festival has created opportunities for high school students to be a part of the festival each year by attending the festival for a day and being involved in a film competition if they so choose. You can register a group of students to attend this year's festival for free by visiting this link. At the festival, students have opportunities to engage with professionals in the industry to learn tips and tricks, as well as, possible careers in film. If you would like more information about the Denver Film Festival opportunities, contact Nick Steinmetz (nick.steinmetz@jeffco.k12.co.us). Digital Promise also has a great FilmMAKER Challenge and 360 Degree Filmmakers Challenge for students. Check out some of the student film products on the Digital Promise Student Film page or share them with your students to provide inspiring looks at how other students around the world are sharing their learning through film. 

Back in July, Teach Thought published a short piece on 6 Powerful Strategies for Deeper Learning in Your Classroom by Dr. Monica Martinez who is one of the leading experts on deeper learning. These 6 strategies are a great way to get students engaged in learning that involves their passions and interests. Film creation can be used in a variety of ways to implement and achieve all 6 strategies. As students are challenged to create films demonstrating their knowledge and understandings, they are provided additional opportunities to share their learning. Not every film needs to be publicly shared, there might be some short films that are simple reflections allowing us to go back and revisit some of the learnings we gained. Think of them more as selfie videos that are for the purpose of journaling or compiling a personal narrative. Ultimately, remembering the last strategy of "Making Technology the Servant, Not the Master" will help us leverage the power of film in more ways. As we use technology to capture and tell stories rather than consume them, we will be the masters of the digital tools we use and the time in front of a screen will have far greater purpose and outcomes. 

Looking for more ideas on how to use film in your instruction? The WeVideo blog is a great place to find ideas and examples. 

Digital annotations are not new to the realms of technology and education. Digital annotation tools continue to be available and ever changing. The power of digital annotations rests with the user and their abilities to capture their thinking, as well as, share it with others. In K-12 classrooms, digital annotations can be a great tool that empowers learners to begin capturing their thoughts and ideas leading to artifacts of learning which demonstrate understandings. Digital annotations can also be a great source for digital/e-portfolios allowing learners to reflect on their growth and development. 

Why should digital annotations be a part of every classroom and learning environment? Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all fundamental components of learning which lead to critical thinking and digital annotations have the ability to cover all four areas. Digital annotations empower us as learners to engage with text, capture our thoughts, share with others, and gain insights from others thinking. Writing is a great way to process our thinking and allows us to begin identifying the process to where our thinking is going. When we digitally annotate and begin to share those annotations in collaborative spaces, our annotations become the center of collaborative dialogue and learning in which we grow collectively. When we begin to learn about annotating for learning, collaborative spaces for sharing and engaging in digital discussion opens doors to understand annotation strategies and processes from other learners with more annotation experience. 

Where and how to begin using digital annotation tools can be daunting and intimidating however, there are a few simple tools that can empower us as learners to get started on the journey. The comment feature in Google is one of the simplest ways to get started. The feature is available on Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drawings and a few other tools in the G-Suite. It is even now available on any file housed in Google Drive. Comments can be added to PDF's, images, MS Word documents and more when stored in Google Drive. A simple highlight of targeted text or information allows a user to capture thinking and share thoughts collaboratively. 

If you're looking for a more robust tool with increased options, Kami is a great selection. Kami has paid versions with additional features however, the free version has plenty of options that are perfect for learners to get started annotating digitally. Highlighting, underlining, and strikethroughs (in a variety of colors) are all available at no charge. Additional features include adding text, comments, and drawing shapes. Under a 14-day free trial when you begin your account you'll have access to drawing, text to speech and a few other advanced options to try them out. Collaborative annotations with Kami are a breeze and users can save their annotated files in Google Drive if need be. It also works well with Google Classroom. ​

Digital annotations can occur on web-based material as well. Hypothes.is is a great option to consider for annotating web sites. Hypothes.is is entirely free to all users for all features. The tool was originally created for medical professionals who were collaborating around medical journal readings to increase learning and growth. Hypothes.is requires a login which is fairly simple and free to set up. Users can highlight information on websites and even add annotations (notes) which appear in a side bar. Annotations can be public, private, or in collaborative groups. Tagging annotations is offered as an advanced feature at no charge as well for users to quickly access collaborative discussions or topics. Annotations appear to users when visiting websites while the Hypothes.is extension is enabled. ​

Digital annotations can be highly beneficial to us as educators along with our students. Collaboration is now easier than ever with access to new technologies and the tools shared above work just as well for adults as they do for kids. Curating and sharing resources saves us all time and energy and digital annotations can be a quick way for us to collaborate across schools, districts, states, and more. How are you thinking about using digital annotations whether for your professional practice or during instruction with students? We'd love to hear your thoughts using the comment section of this post and look forward to learning more about how you are transforming tasks through digital annotations. 

Sphero Bridge Build: ​Students were to demonstrate Critical and Creative Thinking along with Communication skills as they used the Engineer Design Process to research, design and build a bridge with drinking straws.  Bridges needed to support the weight of a Sphero and span over 50 centimeters.

In conclusion, I would urge all educators who are interested in integrating tech into the classroom to join Twitter. I have found so many creative educators on Twitter that share an endless number of incredible projects or ideas. Feel free to follow me @MrChurch (shameless plug) and make some connections with teachers all over the world that are passionate about integrating technology into their classrooms. ​

​As with anything new there come successes and challenges. I would have to say that my biggest success was the student engagement. At first, when I told them what we were going to do I didn’t get quite the response I wanted. They were moaning and groaning about having to do another research project. As the year went on I saw a huge change in my students. I rarely had to redirect students because they got to choose what tool to use and the topic they were most passionate about. I also found it to be a great way for students to collaborate with each other.  I allowed students to use the following tools to show their learning, but didn’t limit them to these:

• WeVideo - paid version is helpful
• Book Creator
• Powtoons - free version is good but if you can purchase some licenses.
• Green Screen by Do Ink
• iMovie
• Google Apps for Education
• Garageband or Ableton Live to create music with a voice over of their learning

My biggest challenge was supporting and giving feedback on all the different projects.  When I implement passion projects again this year, I will be very intentional about when and how I give feedback. Check out these resources on giving feedback while facilitating Passion Projects or Genius Hour in the classroom:

• 10 Ways to Provide Feedback During Genius Hour
• Using Peer Feedback to Improve the Quality of Passion Projects

​One thing I would advise is to have a way to track where students are in their projects because once you get this started they work at different speeds and it is hard to keep up with all of them. Some ideas and tools for how to manage many different projects at once include:​

Would you like more resources on starting Passion Projects in the classroom? Check out these articles and books! 

• Article: Bring Joy to the Classroom with Passion Projects
• Article: Passion Projects and Classroom Learning
• Article: The Complete Guide to Genius Hour and 20% Time in the Classroom
• Book: The Genius Hour Guide Book
• Book: The 20 Time Project
• Book: Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning
• Book: Genius  Hour: Passion Projects that Ignite Innovation and Student Inquiry

 Digital discussions have become regular practices in our everyday lives. From text messages and social media posts to blog and YouTube comment streams there are continued learning and sharing opportunities with global connections on a regular basis. Many of us are often hyper-active in daily digital discussions as we connect with friends, family, and world-wide audiences. 

As we continue to implement the Jeffco Generations skills and Transform Tasks, digital dialogue and discussion opportunities present engaging opportunities to authentically develop skills and concepts beyond the basic acquisition of facts. Through participation in digital discussions with global audiences we are exposed to the challenges of content application, concept justification, and social understandings in our ever changing world. 

The New York Times provides a number of incredible resources to educators and students for elevating digital discussion opportunities that engage learners in relevant and meaningful topics. Through The Learning Network, they began in 2014 with 200 Prompts for Argumentative Writing which grew to 650 Prompts for Argumentative Writing in 2016 and is now over 1000 Writing Prompts for Students in 2018.  The prompts are broken up by topic areas such as Social Media and Smartphones, Gender Issues, Dating and Sex, Music, Literature and Art, Being a Teenager, School, Health and Nutrition, Science and Animals, Government and Leadership, Personal Character and Morality, and more. Under each topic is a list of questions that are linked to a short articles followed by more specific questions for students to consider and answer. The list of 650 prompts are also available via a handy PDF for easy access and sharing. 

So how does this apply to our daily instruction as educators? Francis Bacon said, "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man". Reading, writing and discussion are a critical components of our everyday learning and growth processes. As educators we know high quality instruction in any content area or discipline contains regular opportunities for learners to engage in reading, writing, and discussion to further develop critical and creative thinking skills.

Using the resources above, learners can be given a prompt and the associated article to read. Following the reading, learners can engage in a short writing activity to gather thoughts and develop ideas. Learners can then share their thoughts with others and ideas to seek feedback for further development and discussion. Some ideas might include:

• Writing on Google Docs and using the comment feature for sharing and feedback with peers or even community volunteers.
• Using Google Classroom for digital discussion threads. (See the Guide to New Google Classroom for more information on how to manage discussion threads in Classroom) 
• Using Schoology for digital discussion boards. (Schoology Instructor Guide & Schoology Student Guide) 
• Creating a blog posts or web pages to share with global audiences and seeking feedback through the comment features. ​
• Writing a student opinion section to be shared in the school announcements or community newsletter. 
• For learners over the age of 13, participating in the New York Times Student Opinion Section to share thoughts and opinions while interacting with other learners across the globe.   
• Don't have access to a number of technology devices? Learners can leverage writing on paper, engage in Socratic seminar discussions and send letters to city council members or legislators to share their opinions. 

Reading, writing and dialogue can and should take place in all disciplines, not just literacy. For example, math teachers can leverage prompts like #327 which centers around a distribution graph of how many A's schools hand out or #289 "Are You Afraid of Math?" and ​#290 "Do We Need A Better Way To Teach Math?". Science teachers can leverage the wide variety of prompts in Science & Health (1,066-1,146) involving Science and The Environment, Animals and Pets, or Exercise and Health. Art teachers have a vast array to choose from in Arts and Entertainment (75-248). Whichever discipline you teach, there can be resources for you to leverage to support students with engaging in reading, writing, and dialogue. 

How will you leverage digital discussions as a way to Transform the Task and support learners with developing the Jeffco Generations skills? The Jeffco Ed Tech team is available to support you in thinking through ways you can leverage reading, writing and discussion with students in your instruction. We would also love to hear from you around how you are already leveraging digital discussions or have done so in the past. We learn a great deal from examples and experience so we invite you to share with us as we continue to grow together. 

Bibliography 

How do you integrate technology into an author visit? Take the author on a trip to his own setting. Fifth graders at West Woods Elementary not only met author Roland Smith but invited him to climb Mt. Everest with them.  Students in Ms. Bachman's class were reading "Peak", one of Smith's many novels when the author himself came for an assembly to talk about the writing process. Armed with Google Cardboards and the Expeditions app, fifth graders were able to take a tour of Mt. Everest through virtual reality as the author narrated. Students were amazed at the details and facts Mr. Smith shared with them about Mt. Everest as he was looking through the Google Cardboard.  They asked him several follow-up questions about how he acquires so much information and the research that goes into his writing process.

Later in class, students participated in a full expedition to Everest with Digital Teacher Librarian, Kristen McCann.  "Watching students engage in their learning and the connections that students were able to make to the text because of the experience was phenomenal," stated Kristen.

EDPuzzle is one of our favorite tools to ensure students are learning from video content and not simply skipping through the material without doing any thinking. To get students to interact with the content, you can add voice or text comments; create multiple choice questions to make them predict possible outcomes, or short answer questions for students to summarize their learning on the topic. Questions are inserted along the video timeline and, with a check box, you can ensure students answer the questions before they proceed.

Searching for educational content within EDPuzzle is simple and intuitive; or you can upload your own videos. Students join your online class using an access code, and then you can track their progress through your video lessons.