Today we’re honored to have Beth Holland as a guest blogger. Beth is a lead instructor with EdTechTeacher – an organization dedicated to supporting educators in their quest to enrich student learning experiences through emerging technologies. She and her colleagues have developed a summer workshop series focused on innovative, tech-driven approaches that can help you teach more effectively and efficiently.

As a strong supporter of technology in education, we’re proud to present Beth’s top 10 list for attending an EdTechTeacher Workshop this summer:

1. Meet new colleagues from around the world.
2. Gain hands-on experience with new tools and strategies.
3. Learn not only how but WHY to use the most powerful tools and apps available.
4. Collaborate in a challenge-based workshop environment.
5. Develop a vision for thoughtful and powerful technology use in the classroom.
6. Plan your fall curriculum in a creative and productive environment.
7. Earn continuing education or graduate credit.
8. Spend a few days exploring some incredible cities.
9. Get to work with some of the best instructors in the country.
10. Leave with ideas to make next year better than ever!

Independent reading assignments can be tricky to teach in a fresh new way. A great way to step up boring poster board presentations is to use a video editor like Pixorial to create a book trailer. They are one of our favorite ways we’ve seen teachers in the Pixorial community use Movie Creator. Like movie trailers, book trailers can provide a visual for important settings and prominent themes from novels. Book trailers can also be used later as a great tool for review.

1. It all starts with a free account; educators are eligible for a free Pro account with 30GB of storage space (which you can find here) while students can use our standard 7GB of storage.
2. Once an account is set up, create an outline for the trailer. Does it start with a question? Or a powerful visual? Brainstorm how to get the message across clearly. From there, creating a trailer is as easy as adding visuals, text overlay and music.
3. Students can create their own visuals by capturing photos or videos from smartphones, webcams or digital cameras and uploading that content into their Pixorial Library. Creative commons is an amazing source for ready made visuals be it photo or video. Download what works and upload it into your Pixorial library for editing.
4. Once we have visuals, insert text and transition effects to set the scene. A simple text overlay can name the main characters, locations and themes, while transitions can indicate a lolling tale or a fast paced mystery.
5. Last, add one of our 500 free music tracks to set the mood. Is it old school Dickens or a little more modern? We have tracks that range from electronic to mystical. Find out more about Movie Creator features in, How to use Movie Creator: Creating your own video masterpieces!.

Check out our example: The Grapes of Wrath

“As my school’s Technology Facilitator, computer science instructor, yearbook Advisor, and an ELA (English Language Arts teacher) I have found Pixorial to be an amazing Web 2.0 tool that seamlessly integrates itself in classroom instruction and professional development.”

“The mobile applications support our BYOD program by making activities such as digital photography scavenger hunts, QR code treasure hunts, narrated photo-stories, and student created video projects possible. Teachers appreciate the easy account creation process and the ability for students to collaborate and share out their albums / work from either a desktop or mobile device.”

“Pixorial is an innovative tool and I’m excited to continue finding more ways to utilize the service in and out of the classroom.”

There are a few styles that utilize voice overs to make creative and interesting videos. Today we’d love to tell you about the Common Craft Style. This style can be used for just about any project, whether it is the fall of the Ottoman Empire or the examples of duality in The Tale of Two Cities.

The Common Craft style uses a single camera shot from above with the action happening on a white background placed on the floor. The graphics are drawn on paper cut outs that are manually placed and picked up by people off camera. This gives teachers flexibility to be creative whether they want to use words, drawings  or photos.  This is a great opportunity to let students help build visuals and they can also help in the execution. With just a little video editing you and your students can create a shareable video about any subject.

Check out this behind the scenes look.

Once you’ve shot all your raw footage, use Pixorial to add transitions, credits and voice overs to make a more polished product.

To add the voice over just record an audio file while playing back you finished video. With a Pro account just choose “Add a Song” from here you can upload your audio file.

Once you have the audio in place, click “Finalize Video” and we’ll get to producing it.

Sharing the finished product is as easy as copy and pasting your videos unique URL in an email or posting it on your classes website. Free video sharing is at your fingertips.

Need more video editing help? Check out this article!

Check out these examples and let us know what you come up with in your classroom!