Using Video To Enhance Your Sustainability Lessons!
Dean Kindig (dkindig@harleyschool.org), Learning Resource Teacher
Kids love to be stars. Making videos that document your sustainability lessons goes a long way to facilitating parent-child communication about this important topic, which bears huge benefits for you, your students, parent engagement, and Mother Earth.
- Set up a YouTube Channel. (Go to www.YouTube.com , click upper right, add account)
Mine: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrAsWpg6-2zNP_qBaDV0WEw/videos
- Set up a Vimeo Channel. (Go to www.vimeo.com , click Channels, Create New Channel)
Mine: https://vimeo.com/user21526935/videos
- IPad: Run the camera that comes with iPad, slide the setting to Video instead of Photo, press the red button, and press again when done. Press the image at bottom right to view, and the box with the arrow at bottom left to upload to YouTube or Vimeo (Name it by YYYY-mm and Title, and remember to choose Unlisted before uploading so they’re not searchable by the general public). You’ll have to specify your channel once, and then it remembers. When the video is uploaded, you are sent an email and link which you can forward to group lists. Remember to send them to your principal, superintendent, even local TV. In your sig line on your email, have links to your YouTube and Vimeo channels.
- Using a Video Camera: We sold DVD videos of our class plays for $10 (they cost less than $1 to make) and gradually bought 4 video cameras (2 cheap SANYOs that take MP4 videos only, a SONY Handicam, and CANON Vixia HFR400 for Hi-Def). I keep them all charged, ready to go. Now, you can get a pretty good video camera that takes HD video for $137.
- Editing Video: If you edit Hi-Def video, you need a program that’ll handle it. I used Adobe Premiere’s school version but then discovered Wondershare Video Editor (download latest version). You’ll pay about $40 to activate it after trying it out for free. Paying for it removes the watermark over your video. It does everything the powerful editors do (cut out scenes, add titles, do cool transition, run credits) and will export directly to DVD, MP4 file on your computer, and YouTube.
- Editing Video quickly: YouTube’s own editor isn’t completely intuitive, but you can watch this instructional video (7 min. 49 sec.) on YouTube if you have to edit out a section!
- Do Not Photo List: Not everybody wants their child in videos. Know whom to avoid in your videos, and know whom to edit out! We went back to parents who’d put their child on a Do Not Photo list, explained how Unlisted videos worked, how the child’s last name is never used, and most were fine with it.