The Corps of Discovery Meets MovieMaker
Overview
The legacy of the Lewis and Clark expedition acts as a wonderful springboard for American History students to explore the westward expansion of the United States. It sets the stage for the interaction between native peoples and other explorers and settlers to come.
Students will make a computer generated video as they synthesize and narrate about the Lewis and Clark Expedition / Montana History. The lesson based on the expedition integrates multimedia skills to capture students’ attention, practice students research skills, meet social studies, language arts and media literacy standards, and bring about a richer and fuller understanding of American History. The lesson plan brings together research skills and technology components that allow students the opportunity to synthesize and present what they discover in a professional manner. Using a free video editing program from Microsoft entitled Moviemaker will allow the students to add video, pictures, narration and soundtrack to create a movie. The professional transitions and the capacity for the editor to control a panning of the photo to create the idea of motion within the presentation allows student the ability to create a finished project that, until recently, only filmmakers were able to accomplish. Students will research their topic, write a storyboard, glean appropriate pictures and then create their movie by narrating and adding a soundtrack.
The lesson utilizes digital photos copyright cleared for students to use by the teacher and other resources. This lesson is relatively easy to replicate as the software is available for free in the Windows XP environment and Macintosh has a comparable free program.
Lesson Overview
Introduction.
Students are presented a brief overview of the Corps of Discovery and the
role it played in the making of America. The
students will preview the a one minute introduction of the exploration via the
streaming video Assignment Discovery: Lewis and Clark: A Scientific Journey from
the classroom website. http://wfps.k12.mt.us/teachers/carmichaelg
Using the video as a springboard the class will conduct a KWL activity and then
discuss a thumbnail sketch of what the project will be.
Software Introduction.
Utilizing the computer lab, students will be led through a guided practice of creating a movie using MovieMaker or Photo Story 3 by the teacher. They will be instructed through a hands on activity that allows them to:
Import photos.
Add transitions, special effects, narration and sound.
Create title overlays for titling and credit creation.
Save as a project and then as a finished movie.
Research Strategies.
Students will be instructed in effective search strategies utilizing the
Internet. They will learn the
difference between search engines and directories.
Although students will assert they know how to search the Internet, many
do not really have effective search strategies and have misconceptions on how
the Internet search engines work and thus are not as effective as they could be.
A research PowerPoint is available for student instruction from http://wfps.k12.mt.us/teachers/carmichaelg
Synthesis: Guided practice of
electronic version of text.
Students will be guided through how to translate one entry from the Lewis and Clark Journals from the original text into the modern vernacular. The students will then select five days from the Lewis and Clark Expedition that they find interesting and copy those entries into a word document.
Students will
translate five days of descriptions into modern English text with no
misspellings. A search for available pictures and illustrations will take place
with students saving the pictures into their network folders and keeping track
of where the resources were taken from.
Make a movie.
Import available illustrations into MovieMaker or Photo Story 3.
Review text translation and decide what text and pictures should be used through the use of a storyboard. Students may choose to use the original journal or their own
Import Pictures into MovieMaker project. Organize photos in the order they are to appear.
Add transitions.
Narrate movie utilizing storyboard text and add necessary soundtrack and special effects.
Save file as finished project.
Showtime: Present movies.
Student Handout
The Corps of Discovery Meets MovieMaker
Big Six Skills Overview of Project
Task: Create
a movie about the Corps of Discovery. You will synthesize the information from
five journal entries. You will
translate the journal into 21st century vernacular with no
misspellings
Information Seeking Strategies:
Internet Resources and Library Text Resources.
Location and Access:
We will be in the Computer Lab with access to library and Internet
resources.
Use of Information:
You will take the information you research and create a movie to present
to class and utilize information during the synthesis stage.
Synthesis: After being guided through how to translate one entry from the Lewis and Clark Journal from the original text into the modern vernacular you will then select five days from the Lewis and Clark Expedition that you find interesting and copy those entries into a word document.
You will
translate five days of descriptions into modern English text with no
misspellings. A search for available pictures and illustrations will take place
with students saving the pictures into their network folders and keeping track
of where the resources were taken from. You will follow school district citation
format and turn it in at the same time the storyboard is submitted. Copy
Internet address (URL) and other address information to properly cite source
directly below your pasted information including illustrations. Proper citation
format is listed on the library homepage.
Evaluation: Storyboard
rough draft, citations, presentation, self
evaluations as well as class participation will determine your grade for this
assignment.
Any Questions? Ask
Mr. Carmichael
The
Corps of Discovery Meets MovieMaker
Schedule
of Classes
Monday: Brief overview of the Corps of Discovery.
Research Strategies Lesson
Receive Moviemaker Basics in class if needed and begin creating MovieMaker presentation. You must show your storyboard rough draft to Mr. C. before beginning your movie.
Tuesday: Research Lewis and Clark Journals using Library and Computer Lab resources. Decide which five days to copy and paste into word. Write a translation of the five journal entries.
Wednesday: Storyboard, Create a rough draft that you will turn in later. Be sure to include a title page and a bibliography page. Find pictures.
Thursday: Add pictures and graphics to enhance your presentation.
Friday: Complete any finishing touches on your movie presentation. Add transitions, special effects, soundtrack.
If you still need time to complete your presentation please see Mr. C for a computer lab pass.
DUE DATE for everyone will be Thursday, ____, 2005.
When you give your presentation you will need to turn in:
_____Storyboard.
_____Word document with citations and paraphrasing in a
different font or bold. Be sure your name is at the top. You will submit
this document via turnitin.com. Please see Mr. Carmichael if you do not know how
to submit the document.
I will be looking for proper citations, that you have used
class time and included appropriate and complete information.
Be sure to look at the grading rubric that is posted in the computer lab and classroom to have a clear target for your final product and presentation.
Grading Rubric: Student Project
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