Showcasing Student's Work and Thinking Through Media Part 2

For the last couple of weeks, the Cardinal Ones and I were looking for a way to share our learning about Reading Strategies with our parents. We had a Reading Workshop in early October and were able to share Reading Strategies with about one third of the parents in our class but we still really wanted to reach everyone. We decided that our blog and Animoto would be a great way to share with everyone!
Animoto is an award winning that you can use to create captivating showcases of your student's ideas and work. It has a three step process for creating your projects.
Step 1: Load your images or video clips. In this step you can also add text where you would like it in your presentation.
Step 2: Choose your music. There is a VERY wide selection of music to choose from or you can load in your own music. One thing I do not like here, is that the music can only be MP3 format. I have made the mistake of purchasing songs from itunes for my presentations only to discover that I could not load them in because they were not MP3. If anyone has a solution to this, please let me know!
Step 3: Choose your format. With a basic membership, you can create 30 second videos for free or you can upgrade to full length for $3.00 per selection. You have a limited amount of choice but the choices are appealing. If you purchase an All Access membership for $30.00 per year, you have more choice in format and you can create full length movies. The Pro membership is more for businesses and is $249.00 a year but with many more options and capabilities.

At last, click "create" your video and Animoto mixes and puts it together into a polished piece. When complete you can view it and then edit or remix it if you are not satisfied with the result.
I like Animoto because the videos are less like a scrapbook than some other sites. What I don't like is that if I am not satisfied with the final product, I don't have the power to tweak it to my satisfaction because the site takes it away and does the creating. I have to wait for the site to give it to me again and then see if I am now satisfied. If not, the process begins again.

Once completed, you can embed it on your site, burn it to a DVD, email it or download it to share with others. I have used this site to create a few different presentations and would recommend it to others.
Check out our newly released Reading Strategies presentation below. It will also be posted to our Cardinal Ones blog to share.