The article “The Eight-Frame Storyboard for a 30-Second Movie” really motivated me to start thinking about what I could make my index page for this class as well as ideas for my movie. I think the thing that moved me the most was keeping it simple and changing my mind is OK. Wow you mean I can actually plan, and then re-plan? This concept goes deeper then words on a page. I have been observing the way I approach a computer and the way my two boys do. In my observation I noticed two glaring things.
First my boys are not afraid to make mistakes. Why should they be? In their experience with technology they have been able to undo, cut, copy, move and paste. Their experiences have never involved having to stay up all night because using a typewriter was the most unforgiving piece of technology I had to endure as a teen/young adult. If I didn’t plan every sentence, period and indentation before I stated typing I had to start all over again. Furthermore, my spelling and grammar had to be flawless. Which even to this day it is not! Having to do typing over, and over again inherently has made me cautious, I am afraid to make mistakes. My boys do not have this fear.
Secondly for some reason my boys have a different perception of time then I do. The boys do not think anything of spending a couple of hours reading blogs, news groups, or chatting on line with a total stranger about a problem they have encountered. Sharing of helping someone else out isn’t a problem for them either. They do not see the countless hours they may spend gathering information as a waste of time. As a teacher I am much less patient. With all the grading, conferences, planning etc. I find it very frustrating to have to sort through everything I approach on a computer that is new. I just want to click on a button and have the computer do it for me. What I have gathered through the reading tonight is it is OK to plan, execute and redo as a evolving process. With the exception of this class which expects results in just two short weeks. So what is my plan? To get my feet wet. Learn the basics and redo evolve from there.
3 comments:
I agree that it is nice to be told it's ok to have a "do over" and nothing you do in the technology world is ever relaly written in stone. The thing I liked about atoryboard creation is that this is a process that I find myself doing all of the time. All day long, in my classroom and out, I am always drawing organizers, maps, graphic details that make my day easier or help me to remember an otherwise easily forgotten concept. Even my grocery list is a sort of Story board. While it may not have any pictures, I envision the store in my mind and "walk around it" in myhead. So... by the time I get to the end of my list, I went shopping and created my whole list in order of what I need to get and how its going to get into my basket. Organization and structure seem to be a stron point for me. As a result, I , like you, look forward to doing some story board activities. It's something you can't do "wrong"!
You know...I have noticed that same thing...that our society is becoming so much more open to making mistakes and learning from them. As teachers we have always promoted this concept with our students, but for some reason it wasn't as acceptable for adults.
I was just having this conversation with my daughter the other day about starting a new job fresh out of college. She was wondering if they would expect her to know everything right off the bat or if there was a period of learning. So in her mind, she was storyboarding what it would be like to begin a new job...thinking about the expectations what the job would entail and how she would go about it.
With the implementation of Thinking Maps at our school, I have seen a growth in the area of planning for our students. They use more thinking with these types of maps (they look like graphic organizers, but they aren't). :O)
When I have students work with the Claymation project, they have to storyboard before anything else and the motivation for the finished project will usually be strong enough to endure that difficult process. I don't find storyboarding to be the easiest thing to do...it's the most difficult and this is where I do most of my editing/creating/redoing. :O)
I agree with you about planning. There is so much to get done, who has time to plan. We all jump into the project and probably spend twice as much time because we end up redoing it 2-4 times! Planning is key.
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