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Less Physics Mo Problems

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Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms that are
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I've got 30 Thelma Schoonmakers in my class

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With one seemingly minor update, Google has made iMovie a truly collaborative app which will change the way students create and collaborate on video projects.


The following clip is the best example of bravura editing I can think of.  It is from my favorite director, Martin Scorsese.  Thelma Schoonmaker, his longtime editor, won her first of 3 Oscars for editing Ranging Bull.



In the beginning of the 2013-14 school year when I received my class set of iPads. I dreamed of all the different collaborative projects my students would be involved in.  One product that I was very excited about was the ability to use iMovie on our iPads to create videos as a group.  Well, that didn't turn out to be nearly the collaborative experienced I dreamed.  After shooting all the necessary video on one iPad, only one student would be in control of the more labor intensive process of editing those clips together into a final product.  Sure there would stil be collaboration in recording the voice over, but it is called and "I"Pad for a reason. It is not made for multiple students to huddle around.  Over a year later, this problem has been solved.

On November 6th, Google released an update to Google Drive on iOS.  One of the features of this update was the ability to save videos from Drive to an iPads camera roll.  So how does this revolutionize the video creation process in iMovie for the iPad? Each student in a group can now be in charge of creating and editing a specific part of the video.  Once a part is completed, it can be uploaded to a folder in Google Drive shared by all students in the group.  When all the segments are complete and ready to be assembled, the can be downloaded from the Drive app to the camera roll on a single iPad and quickly pieced together in iMovie.

It is now possible to create an easy workflow for a single video in which all of your students play a roll in editing a segment of.  I look forwards to using this technique to inspire all of my students to play a role in the art of video editing rather than having the one student who know how to use iMovie simply take over the process.  This will increase necessity to plan out a video, delegate, media and ICT literacy, productivity and will decrease the time required for groups to create video products.

This may seem like it may be limited to classes with sets of iPads, but many of our students have other iOS devices such as iPhones and iPods.  If you need any assistance with this workflow please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org.

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