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The Help Desk
Volume 2, No. 3                     13 September, 2002

[To view this newsletter on line:
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Video!Video!

There's a movement out there...and your middle school students can be in it! Video production is highly motivating, and gets kids into using writing/research/organizing skills right away. From science to social studies, video projects can support lots of curriculum objectives! Don't be fooled by kids pushing the technology factor - perfectly fine video production can be done with as little as a single camcorder and a blank tape. If you want more, cheap or free editing solutions are available for/on your Macintosh or PC computer!

This issue of The Help Desk offers some on-line resources for video production. Two excellent resources were reviewed in past issues:
On-line Lesson Planning The Video GuideProject-Based Learning with Multimedia

http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/index.html

This wonderful general resource for teachers and students of video and multimedia production is the product of the San Mateo County Office of Education's Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project. Included are a variety of projects using video and multimedia, often with scoring rubrics. Especially great is this general Video Guide - a collection of hints and helps for anyone interested in video production, including vocabulary, formats, technical issues, and production ideas. There's even activities for first-time video users! Great video site!
Content Area Resources
The Arts The Art Teacher ConnectionThe Art Teacher Connection

http://www.artteacherconnection.com/pages/home.htm

The product of Phoenix, Arizona art teacher Bettie Lake, this site specializes in digital art and web projects, and includes everything from help with copyright concerns to complete lesson plans on several subjects, including the use of pinhole cameras!
Mathematics

MEGA MathematicsMEGA Mathematics

http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/

Suggested by Fayette County TRT LeAnna Prater, this project of the Los Alamos National Laboratory has lots of neat mathematics! The mathematical problems are not the normal fodder of math classes (the 4-Color Conjecture, for instance), but there's lesson and activity plans on the site.
Reading National Council of Teachers of EnglishPractical Teaching Ideas on Reading

http://www.ncte.org/profdev/online/ideas

The National Council of Teachers of English is the premiere professional organization for English teachers, with a wide range of benefits and lots of materials specific to middle school. This resource page is aimed at reading, and includes lesson plan ideas gleaned from NCTE's publications or submitted by teachers. There's a mixture of grade levels represented, but several plans are appropriate for use in the middle school English class. [editor's note: exact resource no longer available, the above link is as close as we could find, 7/2/04.]
Science Science at NASAScience @ NASA

http://science.nasa.gov/

This site is NASA's general information on-line magazine and archive for a monthly newsletter. Included are rich, well-written stories on a variety of interesting science topics, many quite current. Most of the more recent stories are also available on line in audio.
Social Studies Ancient CivilizationsAncient Civilizations

http://www.seneca.k12.pa.us/~lions/main.html

Here's a cleverly-designed website on early humans and human civilizations. Jay D'Ambrosio, middle school social studies teacher for the Seneca (Pennsylvania) Public School District, designed the flashy interface. Links take students to a variety of off-site educational resources on the various subjects.
Writing Video Production Scoring RubricsVideo Production Scoring Rubrics

Since writing is the motivation and the underpinning of video production, and since good scoring rubrics can be excellent resources for content, here's a short collection of video production scoring rubrics, listed in no particular order:

  • Jordan Middle School (Palo Alto, CA) - dry text, but very thorough.
  • Kim Fossey (LSU) - short, sweet, to the point. Developed for a class project of Ms. Fossey's. It's where the cool penguin came from. (Who knows where she got it!) [editor's note: no longer available 7/5/04]
  • Northside Independent School District (San Antonio, TX) - only three levels, but simple, useable, complete.
  • Fermilab (Batavia, IL) - Here's an odd but good one. This rubric is aimed at a specific video project, but it works quite well for general use. The product of the educational arm of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Software Sources GraphmaticaPinnacle Studio 8

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/

Weeeeell, it's not really free, but you can have a CD of their 30-day limited-function shareware version delivered to your door for free. It's very cheap to buy! (The now-discontinued but excellent Studio 7 can still be had for $40, and version 8 is under $70.) Of course, Mac's iMovie is bundled with that platform, so if you're a Mac person, you don't need anything to do reasonable video editing. Windows XP answers with a bundled movie editor as well, but PC owners should spend the bucks to get Studio 8. Drag and drop everything from MP3's to GIFs to captured video to titles to copyright-free instant music from SmartSound (included) right onto the timeline, and finish your video quickly and easily! Studio 8 also includes some fancy Hollywood transitions that your middle schoolers will love. Move up to the Studio DV package if you need a Firewire interface for your digital camcorder. [editor's note: Pinnacle Studio is at version 9 as of 7/1/04]
Professional Resources KET Instructional TelevisionKETKET Instructional Television

http://www.ket.org/education/itv/

Of course, KET is responsible for broadcasting a wide range of educational programs through their two broadcast channels and the Star KET's School Video Project Channel network, providing downloadable teacher guides and schedules. In addition, KET's Regional Educational Consultants can provide on-site help with everything from reception problems to student video production help!

Particularly important to the theme of this week's The Help Desk is the KET School Video Project.  The Project takes the year's best student video work, and broadcasts a sampling through the Star Channel network. There's no restriction on age level or topic, and they'll accept all the common formats. Give your students some exposure for their video work!

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