Amazing Creativity Shown by Student Animators

Animation by Fawaz, 5th Grader

Animation by Sophie, 9th Grader

I'm always amazed by our students and their creativity. When students use their creative skills combined with technology tools they can make some truly awesome products. Whether it is their artwork, skits done with green screens, stop motion, eBooks, or more, our students make some incredible projects.

A couple weeks ago I asked our grade 4-12 students with iPads for creative examples of animated GIFs they had made with the Animatic app. Almost 140 students submitted work. It was hard to choose some to showcase as so many were really well done! Here are over 20 examples to give you an idea of what Minnetonka students have made.

Animation by Ryann, 6th Grader

When asked to explain their work, 90 students stated that they made their submitted animation just for fun. One student wrote, “I watch animators on YouTube, and when I saw this post I was like: Hmm... I should try it! I like drawing and writing, I should like this! And I ended up really liking it, and will probably animate again in the future." Another stated, “I made this animation because, well, I felt inspired! Also, I wanted to show people my artistic abilities that can encompass technology all at the same time.”

I spoke with the co-founder of Animatic, Darren Paul, about a month ago. He and his team were very excited to have their app showcased in the Apple App Store and as a result saw an enormous jump in downloads. This, in turn, resulted in a great increase in the number of examples made with Animatic being posted worldwide. They are seeing all sorts of uses of their tool, not just by students but by professionals and adults in the workforce, too. Check out their Twitter feed and website to learn more.

If you'd like to learn how to use Animatic from a professional, check out this four-part tutorial from a Disney animator with whom the Animatic team partnered. I shared these videos with our students, too, so we will likely see an increase in their abilities and created work in the future!

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Modified In-Class Flipped Instruction in Elementary Art

Grade five students working on clay animal sculptures.

Christin Congdon, one of our art teachers at Minnewashta Elementary School, regularly uses video for her daily instruction in a unique way I haven’t seen often. For the past two years, she has been recording a video that instructs her kindergarten through fifth grade students on the lesson steps and process of the art technique which they are learning. Lessons are on everything from painting techniques to clay, to rosemaling, drawing and weaving. She shows these instructional videos during class, so it is a modified flipped learning technique. 

First grade students working on weaving.

Since she has multiple sections of the same grade and therefore teaches the same lesson four to six times per week, she started doing this as a way to not have to repeat herself multiple times. She likes the fact that through video, each student has the ability to clearly see the steps and process on the screen rather than trying to crowd around her and get a spot to watch. By using video, she only has to use up art supplies once rather than using more up on demonstrations for every single class, which can get expensive.
Christin has a dedicated art classroom now but was on a cart moving from classroom to classroom in prior years. During that time, she found the use of video instruction efficient because it increased the amount of instructional time for her students--they watched the video as she set up supplies and distributed materials. By far the biggest benefit Christin told me about is the fact of increased time for her to work with individual students. Now with a dedicated classroom, as the videos are playing, she is able to walk around the room and help students who are struggling, encourage students, and answer questions.

Just 12 of almost 200 videos on Christin's YouTube Channel

She often plays the video repeatedly during a class period, so students are able to continually look at the screen to be reminded of the steps and techniques rather than forget things or need to ask for things to be repeated. In addition, fifth grade students all have an iPad in our 1:1 program, so students bring those to class and have their own individual learning station which they can pause, rewind, and loop as they work. Recently I saw this first hand when I observed Christin’s classroom making clay animals as pictured above.

iPad stand

Christin has been putting her videos on YouTube and there are currently almost 200! She has over 250 subscribers to her channel and some of the videos have thousands of views. Her most watched video has been seen by over 33,000 people. These views are well beyond just the students in her classroom, as she has about 130 students per grade level. Her art instruction is reaching beyond her classroom walls around the world. To record the videos, she uses her iPad. Her husband made an adjustable  iPad stand as pictured using PVC pipe, some glue, and a dado blade on a table saw.

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The Hub: Minnetonka Makerspaces Launch

Makerspaces are launching at Minnetonka Schools this year! Makerspaces are “are informal places or materials for creative production in art, science, and engineering where students of all ages blend digital and physical technologies to explore ideas, learn technical skills, and create new products” (source).  The Minnetonka Foundation has invested in materials and equipment at each of our six elementary schools plus our two middle schools. The Minnetonka Foundation has been raising funds for Minnetonka Schools since 1986 and has an Endowment Fund to support large, long term projects like this. (More about the Foundation) We are excited to get Makerspaces for the students in our schools.

This process actually began a year ago with initial talks and a lot of planning and research. Staff at each site started meeting and brainstorming to decide how and where to begin. Staff who participated in this process included students, parents, teachers, principals, media specialists, design for learning representatives, Tonka Codes building leaders, high potential teachers, middle school STEM teachers, instructional technology coaches and district administrators.

The initial site conversations narrowed down the scope, including the arranging the makerspace by themes: structural, electrical, digital media, robotics/coding, artistic. Each site’s makerspaces will primarily be mobile, with a wheeled storage cart (pictured) or a larger wheeled cabinet for each theme that teachers can check out from the media center for use in their classroom. Since most of our sites are tight on space, this mobile solution was the preferred choice. It will also encourage teachers to embed makerspace activities into their curriculum and have students demonstrate their knowledge in all curricular areas instead of view it as an add on or place students would have to go to experience.

In the spring and over this past summer, staff began researching products available and deciding what to purchase. Teachers also began planning lessons and units for their students using the makerspace materials so these curricular materials would be ready to go for colleagues to get started instead of having to start from scratch. Over the past week before teacher workshops, teachers have been attending makerspace classes to learn more. The Minnetonka Foundation set up all the materials in a showcase room for teachers to explore who have been attending summer trainings.

Minnetonka Makerspaces have been branded as "The Hub" and the carts have been wrapped with this logo as pictured. As part of their duties, two teachers will also work to support the makerspaces, guide the development of the program, provide teachers with professional development, research, and find innovative resources to enhance the program. Expanded Maker Faires are being planned for the coming year as well as other activities that will get our students tinkering, creating, designing, and more. It will be an exciting year!

Tonka Teacher Talks at ETT San Diego iPad Summit

Last week five Minnetonka 1:1 iPad secondary teachers shared their best practices, favorite ideas, and tips for iPad integration in their curricular area at the Ed Tech Teacher iPad Summit in San Diego.  Our presentation was entitled Tonka Teacher Talks.  Each teacher presented for ten minutes on how they used technology in their 1:1 iPad classrooms in science, art, math, and social studies. We are fortunate in Minnetonka to have so many great teachers, and these educators shared great things to attendees at our session.  

The five teachers presenting were Kim Hoehne, AP Physics Instructor, Angie Kallman, Middle School Math Teacher, Jennifer Morcomb, 7th Grade Life Science Teacher, Gina Nelson, Middle School Social Studies Teacher, and Emily Swagel, Middle School Visual Arts Teacher.  As you look through the presentation, I think you will agree that they are doing some amazing things with their students.  These teachers' experiences range from a half year of teaching with 1:1 iPads to three and a half years.  Each of these teachers continuously seeks out new ways to create meaningful learning opportunities for their students with technology.  They are creating lessons and activities that harness the power of the iPad and enhance learning for their students.

You can view the slideshow presentation below.  More info about our 1:1 iPad Program can be found here.