Finally Finished!

By -
After many failed attempts (and a lot of learning), I have completed my MDTA interview.  It was certainly a challenge, but I feel far better prepared to film a video with my learners after creating this video and I have learnt a thing or two about filming.




1) Watch out when filming outside
I thought I had found a quiet spot when filming my first take of this video,  but my microphone still picked up an awful lot of ambient noise; I did not realise how distracting a slight breeze and a couple of birds could be! There was also issues with the sun and other people entering the shot. In the end we had to change location because removal trucks parked next to the field that we were in!

2)  Sort out your technology
 I had a number of technical issues; at one point I re-filmed the interview on a school camera only to discover that it had saved onto my computer without any sound and that the original footage was deleted.  In the end, I invested in a camera and tripod which meant that I could be far more flexible with filming and got a clearer film because of it.

3) Continuity
In the end I drew footage from three different takes of the interview. Although I had remembered to wear the same clothes and return to the same position, I could not ensure that my background remained exactly the same as I filmed in my classroom. I also found that the lighting changed dramatically, as two of the takes were filmed in the evening while one was filmed at midday.


Comments

  1. Clarelle Carruthers5 August 2016 at 19:26

    Hi Danni, I really enjoyed watching your video. I know that it was a huge challenge for you putting this together but you have done extremely well. Your video really showed me how passionate you are about providing the best opportunities for your learners. Well done getting your video done and sharing your teaching views with the world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danni Stone7 August 2016 at 13:30

      Hi Clarelle, thank you for your kind words! It was certainly a challenge but I am happy to have created it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Different Kind of Ending

By -
Image
As I approached the stage at my graduation on Friday,  I began to consider where I might be if I had not undertaken this degree. In fact, there was a chance that I might not have gone to University at all, as I am the first person in my family to gain a degree and one of only a handful from my old primary school.  Although I like to think I would have found a job that I would enjoy, it would be such a shame to let my dream of teaching go simply because I was not brave enough to enroll in tertiary study. It felt a little surreal returning to the University of Auckland city campus on Friday to graduate. I know that at other universities graduation is held at the end of the year, yet mine was held after I had finished my first term as a teacher. Although the celebration felt a little belated,  I really enjoyed catching up with my old classmates and I had a wonderful day. The highlight of my Graduation was when I went to dinner with my family as we discussed my ti...
Read more

Unpacking Our Reading Journey

By -
Image
Over the past two years I have been able to track a target group of students in my literacy group. The students are all girls except for F and G but these boys left in 2018.  I wanted to track this group closely this year as they came to me with reading ages between 8 and 9, where our learners seem to get stuck. In the first year, some were able to achieve accelerated shift, while others only made 6 months. Student End 2017 End 2018 End 2019 A 8.5 9 11 B 8.5 10.5 12 C 9 10.5 13 D 9 9.5 11 E 9 10 11.5 F 8.5 10 / G 9 9.5 / I focussed on those that had made the best shift and surveyed them to see what they thought caused it. F said that he enjoyed the topics that we were reading and that he was reading more. B and C had similar answers, with my hunch being that B made so much shift due to reading more at home. In fact, I gave B an extra text every week. In 2019 I attempted to give the students texts that they would find more interesting, and for the end of te...
Read more

Top Tips for Online Learning

By -
Image
With the world in lockdown every teacher is having to make adaptations for online distance learning. To help speed your learning journey,  here are seven top tips that I've curated from the experts Harry Fletcher-Wood and Dr Nina Wood at the  Education Hub . 1. Students attention spans are going to be far shorter . We know that there are many distractions for children at home and they are definitely not dedicating six hours of their day for school work. We don't want to overload parents either - if there is too much content and they have multiple children things get very tricky. A couple of hours of learning a day is great. In fact, my 11 to 13 year old students tend to clock out after about 90 - so I make the most of them! 2. Your learning activities need to be simple. We don't have the chance to meet face to face with students, to answer questions as they arise, so our tasks need to be easily introduced and explained. It is helpful to use a similar format each ...
Read more