I AM: Poetry Share

Do you remember classroom share time?  I remember it as a painful time when I sat at my desk and listened to a classmate go on and on about a special object, place or person.  The dilemma lies in the fact that it's difficult to get up in front of a class and speak clearly no matter how old you are. When presentations are prepared with care, there's a much better chance that the presenter will hold the audience's attention and make an impact.

My students have added many, many images of their lives to our closed classroom social network, NING.  They enjoy looking at the photos and talking about the images to their friends, and they are eager to share the photos with the whole class.  "When are we going to share our photos, Ms. Devlin," they ask almost daily.

I've been thinking of the best way to share these wonderful images, a way that would incorporate classroom goals and learning too.  Hence, I've decided that every child will write an "I AM" poem, then upload their poems, images and music to Animoto and create a short film.  These  mini films have many advantages including the following:

• quick to share with friends near and far
• entertaining to watch
• easy to upload to our social network for reviewing.
• metacognition practice
• a great start to our Self Portrait Poetry Anthology Unit.
• a wonderful introduction to choosing and synthesizing just right-images, words and music to create a message.  

There's no need for lengthy, dull shares anymore since we have so many wonderful tech vehicles for presentation and sharing of information.

Here's an example of the film I made to try out the project: My Animoto Video and a copy of the directions and template.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Note:  I have a wonderful book in the classroom titled, I AM.  I'll use that book as a model for the writing. When I find the link and author, I'll add it.