Poetry Project using Movie Maker:

This year I decided to assign my students a project to complete after the End of Grade (EOG) tests. Each year the last two-three weeks of school is hard to accomplish something because the EOG signify the end of the school year for the children and they are less likely to complete standard class assignments. This year I tried a different route.

We were in the middle of our poetry unit when the EOG’s were scheduled. I always like to have the children create their own poetry to demonstrate their understanding of the literary elements that make up poetry. Typically, I have them complete a poetry book with a class element that they have to take home to remember the year by. This year I decided to have them do something different. I noticed that anytime we added the element of technology to a lesson or project, the kids were more engaged and willing to complete the assignment. Engaged is what I wanted them to be during these few weeks that they are normally in “shut-down mode.” So, I designed a poetry project that required the children to create a piece of poetry that included the literary elements I would normally require them to demonstrate, but add four additional steps. First, they would need to find pictures that displayed and demonstrated the theme of the stanza. They were required to write a five-stanza poem, which would then require 5 pictures: one for each stanza. We used www.freefoto.com to find pictures. This site allowed the pictures to be used for educational purposes without being sited back to the site. Second, the students went to www.freeplaymusic.com to choose an instrumental music track that related to the mood or tone the students wanted their audience to feel while viewing their project and reading their poem. Next, the students put the first three steps (poem, pictures, and music) together using Windows Movie Maker. Finally, students recorded themselves reading their poem and added this to their presentation.

While completing this project, I noticed that the students really enjoyed it. I didn’t hear the normal complaints of “Why do we have to do this?” “School is over, why are we still working.” They dug in and were excited to put together this visual and auditory representation of their thoughts. A lot of the poems the children wrote were about what they were dealing with at the time in regards to their peers. Many students wrote about finding love or being picked on by their classmates. Others wrote silly poems that reflected their individual personalities. It was amazing to see what the kids were thinking and feeling. Things we as teachers sometimes miss or don’t notice as we interact with them all year.

Another quality that was noted was the children who normally don’t do well on standard writing projects really excelled with this project. They created a high quality poetry piece which would have only been sub-standard if it was just hand written. In most of these cases, these students were the first to complete their project. These students were asked and gladly accepted to help walk their classmates through the steps of converting their project into a video and then importing the video into a new project in order to record their voice. These children, who in most cases sat on the sidelines most of the year, stood out as being an expert. It really made them feel important and special.

Since this project was assigned during the last few weeks of school we had several schedule disruptions that took time from class . At our school we have a class period called Core Plus. This is a class like study hall that students can work on homework; receive extra help, read a book, etc. During this time, I took groups of children to the computer lab to give them extra time to work on their projects. Each morning I had students come up to me and beg to be able to go work on their project. At the end of each class period they would also ask if I could put them on the list for the next morning. The kids were so involved in this project that they wanted to come work during a period that by this time in the school year meant “free time.” They all wanted to finish their projects and to proud of what they accomplished. This was really nice to see from a teacher’s standpoint.

All in all, I think this project was a huge success and will definitely use it again. The children were engaged at a time in the year where everything around them was being brought to a close. There were no disruptions, behaviorally that normally may have happened. Finally, the kids completed a project that was creative, included all the elements they enjoy (music, pictures, and individualized thoughts). This year, language arts ended with a movie day of our poetry videos that were enjoyed, celebrated, and appreciated.

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