Sunday, September 2, 2012

Introducing Yourself to Your Students

While browsing around the Web today, I came across this blog post by Melissa Seideman about using Animoto to introduce yourself to your students. Check her post: Instead of Telling Your Students Who You Are, Show Them. She suggested using Animoto to do this.

Animoto is online tool for creating quick videos by uploading saved images and then adding a soundtrack. You can also add text slides to the presentation. I have included three examples of Animoto introductions that I found on Melissa's post. Below the Animotos, I included examples from others who used additional tools for creating introductions.

I thank Melissa for this excellent suggestion and encourage following her on Twitter, where her user name is @mseideman.

Mrs. Seidman, High School Social Studies Teacher



Here is Mrs. Jee’s Video



Here is Mrs. Lindinger’s video



Here is another created with Animoto, but then uploaded to YouTube.

Meet Mr. Lee:


Here is one that was created with VoiceThread. (Excuse the comments on the first slide, which still need to be deleted.) Just go through the full VoiceThread, using the arrows as needed, or just letting the show proceed on its own.

Introduction to Jamme Freitag, Elementary School Teacher


This one was created with PhotoStory but then uploaded to Google to be placed in a Google Site. You will need to access it from a Google Site web page: Introduction to Colin Murray

Now that you have seen how teachers are using Web 2.0 and multimedia to introduce themselves, what are your thoughts on the idea? Would you consider introducing yourself to your class in this way?

On another note, I found out that Melissa uses Animoto for her students to create projects for their  history course. Check this blog post, which has a link to the assignment directions and an example  of one student's response to the project. Animoto: Video Slideshows. The text slides in this student example were created with PowerPoint, and the PowerPoint was saved as a jpeg file, so the slides could be uploaded to Animoto similar to how images (or photos) would be.

How can you see yourself using a tool like Animoto for student projects? What kinds of projects might you integrate into your own teaching?


5 comments:

Danielle N. said...

After viewing the various videos I would absolutely use one to introduce myself and the new school year to students! In fact, I almost wish I could start this year over again just so I could create one and try it out! What a fantastic, engaging, exciting way to begin the year. I found a lot of what the creators put in their videos/photostories/voicethreads/etc. were things I tell my students or include in a beginning of year Powerpoint, but how fun to really show them. These are great for visual learners. Each one was unique and nicely designed. Presenting yourself through something like this helps kids to get a close look at you as a person outside of school, which can be hard for kids to imagine. It really helps to build rapport and an interpersonal relationship with students right from the start, which I find pays in dividends then throughout the school year. I thought it was particularly interesting that Mrs. Lindinger's video showed herself as a child, not just as an adult- How often do kids get to see their teacher at their age?! I can imagine many light-hearted giggles around the room. I thought Yolan Lee's video was very powerful and inspiring and I agreed with so much of his philosophy of what a school year is all about. I would love to edit this video a bit (for example, for proper grammar since I am working with young, impressionable students) and use it next year. I can also see myself using something like this to introduce a project and to show some past projects completed by former students. Great videos!

Christina N said...

I think the videos were great! To help build relationships with students, it is important for teachers to personalize the classroom and we can start by sharing more than just our subject area with our students. This year I introduced myself to my students through the use of a Prezi. I uploaded a middle school photo of myself, shared what sports I played in high school, favorite food, singer, and uploaded pictures of my niece and nephew. As the Prezi played, I narrated the aspects of my life I wanted to share with them. They loved it and many never heard of Prezi before.
Here is a link to my Prezi:
http://prezi.com/vws9lvsabh-s/about-miss-nascimento/

Judy said...

Thanks for sharing, Christina. I enjoyed learning about you through your introduction tour. When you have a chance, let us know how your students reacted.

Rachael D. said...

I think this is a great and fun way to let students learn a little bit more about the teacher they will be spending so much time with. I think kids would love this and think it was so cool of their teacher to create something like this! I think it's great that Mrs. Lindinger included photos of her as a child. It will probably help her students relate to her and realize that she was once a kid and student too! I would definately utilize these tools to create a video introduction for my students. Its a great way to present this information as opposed to standing in front of the room talking about yourself, and most of the time forgetting half the things you wanted to say! Awesome teachers and great videos!

Christina R. said...

The videos were fantastic! It is an engaging way to introduce yourself to your students that brings your classroom up to 21st century standards. The students will be excited and I think very intrigued with the teacher as to what other technologies will be utilized through out the school year. I could definitely use animoto for a variety of projects with my students. I could do an introduction project amongst the students, where they create their own version, and then we could view each others videos. Another, could be art based. I could have students put together a montage of their work and this would give them a digital portfolio of their work. It is also nice to use those for future classes to see what previous students have done.

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