BP2_Animoto

The web 2.0 application that I incorporated into my class is Animoto.  Animoto creates a musical video.  I can use Animoto to create book trailers.  Book trailers are mini advertisements to get the kids to read books, much like a movie trailer.  I was very reluctant to use it.  I had seen other book trailers that librarians had done and I was unsure of myself.  But, taking this class gave me the courage and motivation to try it.

There are two girls who come into the library on a frequent basis, Gabriela and Jennifer.  They really enjoy reading.  I asked them if they would like to help me create a book trailer.  I explained that we had to create a storyboard to tell about the book.  I found that they lacked a vocabulary of vision to communicate nonverbally.  The ability to express themselves visually was a handicap in preparing the trailer.  This supported one of the articles I read for my lit review: “The Educator’s Role in Preparing Visually Literate Learners” by Susan E. Metros.  I worked with them orally, having them tell me the story and then asking them what image came to their mind.  We then wrote a short sentence to anchor the image.  It was challenging finding copyright free pictures, but finally we did.  Then, we uploaded the images to the Animoto site, put them in a sequential order with the text anchors, added music that Animoto allows us to use, pressed create and about 15 minutes later voila! We had our video.  They really seemed to enjoy it, and I now have them working on another one.  Animoto will do any 30 second video for free, however they do have an educator account available that allows for longer videos.  Please mention my name if you try it.  I get some type of credit for referrals.  Enjoy!

www.animoto.com