PLP 9’s focus is videos. We have done over 10 videos since the start of the year, and the purpose of this blog post is to reflect on all of thee videos. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a 3000 word post, I will be trying to compact my reflections. The way this blog post is going to work is I am going to talk about the 5 core competencies and use the videos I used as proof.
The first competency, being an empowered learner is all about leveraging technology to choose, achieve, and demonstrate competency in my learning goals. I think i did fairly well in this, I tried to use all the feature of my iPad as much as possible. A very good example of this would be the Alberta People Video. I used iMovie, Garageband, Canva, and Snapseed to create a variety of music, photos, and videos. I used Garageband to create a soundtrack and Canva and Snapseed to create and edit photos and posters. I can still improve on this competency though as in the Take Your Kid to Work Video I could have used many different forms or recording but unfortunately didn’t take advantage of them. So I have demonstrated this competency but I have room to improve which is going to be a focus for future videos.
“I can critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts, and make meaningful experiences for myself and others.” This is the next competency I am talking about and it is about being a knowledge constructor. A good example of this competency is the Alberta Video and the Ghost Town Silent Film. I already mentioned the list of apps I used to create my video, but for the Ghost Town Film my group used a wide variety of editing tools to create our video. Another good example of this would be the American Revolution. I used many different apps to conveniently create a good video that my group could be proud of. As a whole we used Garageband, iMovie, Voice notes, and Pages to create this. The best example from this list is Pages. Anders and I managed to create a colour-coordinated script that was easy to follow and very easy to read.
The third competency is being an Innovative Designer. This is about using technology to identify and solve problems with useful or creative solutions. I think I did this very well with all videos. In the Alberta People Video(this is the video that I did the best on) I had trouble with deciding what photo to show at the start. So, I decided to use Canva, which is a poster and collage making app, to create a photo collage that was able to show all the photos I wanted Another example of this is the RUN Video. I couldn’t use the original audio for the video as there was somebody talking in the background so I went outside with a microphone next to my feet and managed to create a perfect loop that I matched perfectly to the footsteps in the video.
The fourth competency is being a computational thinker. This is about using strategies to understand and solve problems that use the power of tech to develop solutions. I don’t think I did very well with this competency. I think there is only one example I ca think of and that is from the First French Revolution video we did. We needed a montage of heads being chopped of, so I took a binder and dropped it on my iPad, imitating a blade falling. I came up with this idea when I was looking around the room for something to use for this scene. I taped my hand to a binder and dropped it down on my iPad repeatedly, and then edited them together on my iPad. I think it turned it well but I could definitely work on this competency in the next term.
The last competency from this term is being a creative communicator. I think I was very good at this. I have many good examples of how I used this competency. The first one that comes to mind is from all of the Revolution Videos. Not only did I consistently make the screenplay so everybody knew what was happening, but I needed to make sure that the screenplay was easy to understand, so I would label, colour-code, and highlight certain parts so that my group could understand what they needed to say or do. Another example is the Alberta video. I needed to make sure the people I was interviewing understood the questions I was asking, so I needed to put them into words that people outside of PLP could understand. I also needed to make. Sure for all the videos we have done s far this year were easy to follow.i would do this is a variety of strategies. The first way was by making sure each topic and interview would perfectly flow from one to another. I would imagine they were melting together and blending into one. Another way was by making sure audio was good and clear. You can’t communicate what you are trying to say if the listener can’t hear you. Writing the script was also another way I would creatively communicate my message. One of my focuses when writing these scripts was to connect them to other experiences unrelated to the topic and try to relate them. I think this was one of the best competencies for me this term.
All in all I think I managed to show these competencies well. There were hiccups, which I have addressed but I think I did show these well. I did use and practice many fo these competencies a lot and there was not a ton that I struggled with this term. Term 1 of grade 9 was a success in my eyes.
This is a list of videos I didn’t mention in my post so far: