As Mrs. McCollough's 3rd grade class came to the end of their unit on Ancient Greece, she wanted students to have an opportunity to share their learning about famous Greek philosophers. Since her students had never tried Apple Clips before, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it! Before I arrived for our Clips lesson, each student selected one of the Greek philosophers from their unit. Mrs. McCollough had them write down a few fact that they enjoyed most about their selected philosopher. Once I arrived, students used Google images to select and save several images of their philosopher. (We did have a shared laugh when students searched for statues and painting of Homer and found Homer Simpson images :)
On a side note, though worthwhile, searching Google images is always a little risky for several reasons. There is no 100% full proof way to insure that something inappropriate won't slip through. It is rare, but it does happen. Our district filters internet usage. Our iPads are set up with restrictions that help reduce problematic search results. On our Chromebooks, we use Google's "SafeSearch" option. No matter what device we use, image searching becomes an excellent teachable moment to discuss appropriate use and search strategies before students begin their searching. Without these opportunities to teach safe search strategies, we leave our students unprepared for the possible moments when they do stumble across things we prefer them avoid.
Another issue I like to address is the use of copyrighted material. Google also helps with this on our Chromebooks! Using the Image "Tools" option students can select usage rights to avoid using images that have copyright protection.
Back to our Greek Philosopher lesson with Clips...Once students had their images, I introduced them to the Apple Clips apps. Students didn't need much instruction as this app's interface is quite intuitive. Once they knew to hold down the pink button inside the app while they talk, students were ready to go! Students used their image library, video camera, posters, effects with stickers and live titles.
The lesson with Clips went smoothly. There was one area that I will do differently when I teach with Clips again. Next time I will show students how to edit the text of their "Live Titles" before they begin recording their speaking parts. I showed students how to turn on Live Titles and just like all speech to text options, there were occasional misinterpretations on what was being spoken. Students quickly got agitated when their live titles weren't correct. Since editing the text is easy, I would recommend showing the editing option before they start recording.
These 3rd graders loved using Clips and were proud of the results! It was quick and easy! I can't wait to try this again!