As part of a series of lessons focusing on the seed cycle, students were tasked to create a Note about a seed cycle of their choice. Mary Alice Panek, Pembroke Central School, Corfu, NY.
Outline of the Class
Students had been reading a story about the seed cycle. They picked a seed to research and create a video Note about. They were also instructed to incorporate a beginning, a middle and an end in their Note as part of the task. After assigning the task, the teacher observed students at work, offering assistance as necessary.
Over several days, students designed and created their Notes. Taking a self-directed learning approach, they created all of the drawings, typing, voices and music independently. Finally, students’ iPads were connected to the Smart board and they shared their Notes with the class.
LoiLoNote's Application
LoiLoNote provided a fun and easy, accessible way for younger students to create sophisticated, high quality videos independently, with little assistance from their teacher. Teacher Mary Alice Panek was so impressed with one student’s polished video on the seed cycle of apples that she submitted it to two local competitions.
To her delight, the video won third prize at the Annual Digital Media Festival “The Digies” and the Charles Pathe Recognition Award for Achievement in K-3 at the ACWC Youth Film Festival Award, and the student was ultimately recognised by Pembroke Central Board of Education for her accomplishments. (Watch the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgM9HfrRGHE)
A Voice from the Classroom
According to Mary Alice Panek, “The advantage of LoiLoNote (LN) is that it’s not about LN, in essence it’s about what the child can do. The child can write a story and illustrate it using LN. The child can do a research project on astronauts using LN. They can access the Internet, take pictures, write down facts and information, record their voice. The learning becomes the priority, LN becomes the tool that they use for their learning.”
Of her student’s unexpected success in the local contests, she added, “I am so thrilled I could just jump for joy! This is just the best news. It gave me confidence and made me very happy. [...] I feel a second grade student qualifying for third place was quite good - and we’re still just beginners [at using LoiLoNote]!”
