I have been doing lip sync projects in which students create their own music video to a popular song for 12 years here at WRMS. It has become the highlight of many student's WRMS memories. Back in the 1990's I used a large VHS camera to film the final projects so we could show them in class on the TV/VCR set up in the classroom. Boy have we come a long way! Today I use You Tube on my classroom projector to view examples of professional choreography from Broadway Musicals before we even start the project. We view the lyrics to make sure they are appropriate for school and listen to samples on the classroom computer while planning, saving time and money CD's we may not use. I use You Tube as a dance tutor by allowing the students to request instructional videos for popular dances, as well. Want to learn the Hustle, Bus Stop, or Cupid Shuffle? It's all there! (I preview everything and save it in a favorites folder before showing them to the class so there is no chance we view inappropriate content.) When we are ready to film the student created dances/lip sync projects on Digital Video tape I use You tube on the classroom "Big Screen" like a Karaoke machine with music and lyrics! It takes a little time to find/preview the videos but almost any song you can think of has been posted with lyrics. I save everybody's song in the lip sync folder by class so when we film it is all ready to go from my desktop. I set up the camera just in front of the projector screen. The kids face the screen when performing so they can refer to the lyrics while dancing and it helps them to keep their faces to the camera rather than looking at their feet. From the DV camera we can download and edit the projects in Movie Maker, convert them to QuickTime files for podcasting, post them to sharing sites like School Tube, or just burn a copy to share with family and faculty (You can skip the computer download with a DVD direct to camera burner!). And yes, you can do this at home kids! 0: )
Angel Bethke
Drama Director
UIL Academic Coordinator
West Ridge Middle School
(512)732-9240 x32807
abethke@eanesisd.netThis message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com
