Jan
2011
I’ve got some nerve…
I love videos, and more importantly, my students love videos. The posts where I embed videos are usually the most watched in class. Youtube has been my go-to place for finding videos to share with my students. I have shared everything from book trailers for YA books, interviews with authors, lessons from Barry Lane, warnings about texting while driving, and musical promos for reading.
Kickstart Challenge #6 looks at embedding media in blog posts–the nerves of a blog. There are several blogs that I think effectively use embedded media. I look to them for examples and inspiration.
- Laurie Halse Anderson sometimes shares book trailer videos created by the readers of her books. These trailers show both an understanding of the book and an appreciation for the story’s impact. One of my favorites isthe post with videos for Catalyst.
- Sarah Anderson of YA Love posts a book trailer every Thursday for a recurring feature on her blog, Book Trailer Thursday. I would love to get to this point with my own blog. I know trailers can get students excited about reading books. My difficulty has been finding trailers that I actually have a copy of the book to put into students’ hands.
- Maggie Steifvator not only writes beautiful books, she also creates breathtaking book trailers for her own books. Check out this one for Linger. Not only did she create the art and music, she shared how she did it in posts through the following days: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
- The bloggers at the League of Extraordinary Writers (for all things dystopian) often connect the science fiction genre across mediums (books, movies, television). Of course, they include clips from the relevant films/television shows as in this one bemoaning the fate of Caprica.
I do have some goals for increasing my use of media on my blog. Here are three to get me started.
- Find and share book trailers with my students on a regular basis. If I can’t manage weekly trailers, why not monthly or bi-monthly trailers? I could do that.
- Share student work with videos. Today I collected some good examples of my students’ last book projects. Now I just need to scan them in and use Windows Movie Maker or Animoto to present them.
- Sign up for the free educator version of Animoto!
- Write up a parent permission to upload videos of students to youtube, so I can embed them on my blog. I created video poems with each class last fall using George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” as a model. We’ve watched them in class, but my students and their parents would enjoy more access.
Now just for fun I have a video I’ve been wanting to share. Now seems like a great time:
mrsjwilson
January 29, 2011 at 10:54 am (13 years ago)What a super fun video! Your school is very similar in size to mine in terms of students and faculty. Did the kids love helping make the video?
Mrs. McGriff
January 29, 2011 at 8:24 pm (13 years ago)It looks like they had fun, but it’s not my school. I wish we could pull off something like this video. It’s amazing.
Jana
January 29, 2011 at 2:54 am (13 years ago)Great video! I smiled all the way through it.
Mrs. McGriff
January 29, 2011 at 7:53 am (13 years ago)Me, too! Glad you liked it.
Malyn
January 28, 2011 at 4:27 am (13 years ago)Hi there. I’m stopping by as part of the edublogs teacher challenge and leaving a bit of “love” here.
I love the video – definitely made me smile. I also love books (not necessarily big) and have recently finished a bit of ya fiction – The Book Thief – which I thoroughly enjoyed. My 13 yo also just finished it and declared it the best she’s ever read and is now struggling to go back to the fluffier stuff. Oh dear, I’ve created a book snob.
Good luck with the rest of the challenge and happy blogging.
cheers,
Malyn
My post for this challenge
Mrs. McGriff
January 28, 2011 at 6:38 am (13 years ago)I’m glad you liked it. The Book Thief is an excellent book. I also liked Zusak’s I Am the Messenger. Tell your daughter not to despair. There are many YA books that have the depth and quality of Book Thief. IF she likes fantasy, Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron and Sapphiqie are excellent.
Malyn
January 28, 2011 at 8:49 pm (13 years ago)Thanks for the recommendations – how did you know she likes fantasy??? I read any book – more or less though my husband is convinced I’m a lit snob, preferring Booker prize shortlist and winners – though I like reading ya books. I think it’s a window to their world (important to me, having kids of my own as well as working in high school).
My favourite book of all time is in fact a kids’ book – The Little Prince by Antoine de Sant Exupery. I’ve drawn so much from this book at various times in my life.
Mrs. McGriff
January 29, 2011 at 7:56 am (13 years ago)The Little Prince is what inspired me to learn French! I love that story. I have copies in both English and French, still. Check out the Printz award winners for YA. It’s like the Newbery for younger kids books. I think Life of Pi was one of its winners–another very good, very deep YA novel. I listened to it on audio, but want to go and read it now. I missed too much listening.
Michael Grether
January 28, 2011 at 12:19 am (13 years ago)Thank you for sharing this great video. I especially like the librarian @ 1:98… priceless. One tip/idea when embedding YouTube videos: make sure to select the 560×340 size box, so that it fits nicely onto your blog screen.
Book trailers are an interesting idea. It is a great way of getting kids interested in a book they might not otherwise have checked out.
Mrs. McGriff
January 28, 2011 at 6:35 am (13 years ago)Thanks for the tip on changing the size of the video. I will do that next time. I find the ovesized one annoying, but didn’t know how to fix it. Now I do.
Laurie Fowler
January 27, 2011 at 5:36 pm (13 years ago)I loved the video you shared on I love big books! What a great video. I am a technology professor and former English teacher who absolutely adores Young Adult novels. I love your examples of book trailers. I would like to do some of these as reactions to some of the books I have read, but I don’t really have an audience for them. Do you have any suggestions?
My post on embedded video is found here http://lauriefowler.blogspot.com/2011/01/nerve-wracking.html
Laurie
Mrs. McGriff
January 27, 2011 at 5:41 pm (13 years ago)Youtube has a whole selection of ya book trailers. That’s where I get most of mine from (unless I, my students, or our librarian create them). I’d be glad to share them with my classes, of course. A good book trailer gets my students excited about reading. Of course, some still ask, “When’s the movie coming out?”