Book Commercials

For a second culmination project for our persuasive advertising unit, students had to create a book commercial of a favorite book.

While at the library, students chose their favorite books.  They created storyboards using only key details that would grab a viewer's attention.  They had to decide what pictures they wanted and where they would go.  Once the storyboard was done, students used the computers to access Animoto.

Animoto is an amazing web site to use to make simple videos.  As an educator, you can get their plus account for free which allows you to make videos over 30 seconds long.  Once you apply for the account, you will receive a code.  You can use the code for up to 50 accounts.  Since my students are not old enough to have Google accounts, I made Animoto accounts.  If you have a gmail account, you can use "fake" emails to make the accounts by using your email name then + and a number (mrscurt+1@gmail.com).

Having over 50 students, I have found that they have always done a great job in sharing the log-ins and not ruining each other's videos.

First students find pictures to use in their videos.  Then students must choose a theme and song to fit their book.  They upload the pictures and add the text.  After previewing the video, they can choose to produce it or fix it.

In the end, I had the students copy the link to their video and share it in Edmodo.  This allowed all the students in the class to view the videos right in Edmodo, give a reaction, and comment to each other.

This is one of my favorites that I'm especially proud of the ELL student who created.