Animoto

Animoto is a web application created by music and video producers that allows you to create your own slideshows from personal pictures and add music from your music collection or theirs. The slideshow is more like a music video with a wide variety of transitions and the transitions match the rhythm of the music selected. Each video can be remixed as many times as desired, resulting in a wide variety of eye-catching videos. Currently, 30 second videos are free. To create longer videos, you need a subscription which runs at $30/year. Animoto now offers free education accounts for schools.

Here's another Animoto, "Be a Buddy, Not a Bully" that delivers an important message.

How can I use this in my classroom?
We've used Animoto with second and third grade students to create educational vodcasts, podcasts with video. The lesson plan is listed as a separate blog post. Here is a vodcast created by one of our third grade students. It took him four-five hours, split into 60-75 minute sessions. I posted this vodcast on my classroom podcast site, hosted by podcastpeople.com There are other examples on the podcast site.

Here are some other ways Animoto could be used in the classroom:
*Quickly review a unit through photos and music
*Empahsize sequence, the life cycle of a catepillar or seeds/plants for instance.
*Help students learn each others' names.
*Pair with a student podcast to emphasize their topic.
*Celebrate a holiday- show photos of how a holiday is celebrated around the world and pair with appropriate music.
*Share student artwork
*Pair photos of a geographic location with music of the region
*Get students excited about their next field trip- create a podcast describing where they are going and pair with pictures of the location
*Introduce a new unit- add text boxes, asking questions, see how many the students can answer.
*Or give hints about the next unit in text boxes and add close-ups or blurry pictures and see if they can guess.
*Students can easily use this application to create their own projects to share with the class. These could include final projects, sharing about their family's culture or a recent family trip.
* Your turn, how would YOU use this in your classroom?

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