Clipchamp to the Rescue!

So this past Monday, I had two teachers that needed my assistance during the same three blocks. Teacher #1 just needed me to review using iMovie on the iPads.  Most of his students had used the iMovie app at some point, so a refresher is all they needed. Teacher #2 needed me to teach her and her students how to use ThingLink, a web app that allows you to create interactive images.  In prioritizing and trying to figue out how to be physically be in two places at once, I realized that Teacher #2 was my top priority since we were introducing a whole new tool.  Teacher #1 could probably get by with a nice little refresher video.

I love my Samsung Chromebook and wanted to use it to make a video, even though I never had made one on it yet.  Why not throw myself a challenge on a Monday morning, right?  And yes, I could have easily used  my iPad, but I just didn't want to.  So, what tool to use to video on a Chromebook?  After a quick "google" on "making videos Chromebook," I found Clipchamp.  The free Chrome app allows you to take selfie videos (using your Chromebook webcam) or to upload videos to then convert to various output formats, save, and share.  I was on a time contratint with about an hour to spare.  I decided it was worth the challenge, even on a Monday morning!

Screen shots of Clipchamp homepage and what it offers.

I thought Clipchamp was super user-friendly in making the actual video.  In less than three minutes, I had a decent review video of filming on iPad and beginning to use iMovie.  Once the video is converted to your chosen output setting, you can save the video as a download to your computer, or you can share to Google Drive, Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo.  I decided to upload to Google Drive to share with the teacher so that he could pull it up from his Drive and share on our projector to the whole class.  Did I say it was a Monday morning?  Well, the 29MB video that I recorded seemed to take a REALLY long time (about 20 minutes) to upload to Google Drive.  Almost too long for it to even make my one hour deadline.  I re-uploaded later in the day, the same video to a separate Google Drive account, and it did not take near as long to upload (about 7-9 minutes) as it did that morning. We will always run into issues with upload times if we are competing with struggling bandwidth.  

Here is the final product with my first attempt using Clipchamp.  The content of my video could have definitely been better rehearsed, but considering my time crunch, I was very pleased, as was Teacher #1, and I will be using and promoting Clipchamp more often.

The Three Ninja Pigs and Ninja School @ RHHS

Our read aloud book for today!

Just becuase I am a media specialist in a high school setting does not mean that "story time" does not still take place.  I LOVE to read aloud to any student who will listen, and I can always count on our SPED students from Mr. Parker, Mr. Evans, and Mrs. Hussein's classes to be active participants when I read.  For #WRAD15, I chose to read The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz and illustrated by Dan Santat.  The ninja parody of "The Three Little Pigs" is a hilarious read with its side-splitting rhymes and action packed pig ninja moves.  The students got in on the action while we read, and then donned their own ninja headbands to practice their moves!

We practiced chops, punches, kicks, and yelling "KIYA!"  These students are all smiles every time we do Story Time, which always reminds me just how important it is to still read aloud, even at the high school level!

And a day is never complete without a few "selfies"!

Skyping with Jo Knowles for #WRAD15

In conjunction with World Read Aloud Day (#WRAD15), the RHHS Book Club got a chance today to Skype with young adult author, Jo Knowles!  She is the author of such titles as Lessons From a Dead Girl, Jumping From Swings, Living with Jackie Chan, and most recently See You at Harry's.  We chose Mrs. Knowles as our recent book club read because her next book, Read Between the Lines, is being released on March 10.  Students in attendance asked questions about the relationships in certain titles, as well as Mrs. Knowles career as a writer.

RHHS Book Club getting ready to Skype in the LiNK

Skyping with Jo Knowles from her office in Vermont

Mrs. Knowles' fiction appeals to teens becuase she focuses on sometimes tough situations that many teens themselves have faced.  Abuse, teen pregnancy, death, and grief are some of the topics that have found their way into her writings.  But her straightforward writing style is what I love best!  It was truly a pleasure to have her visit with our students, and we wish her all the best with her latest release, Read Between the Lines.

For more information on Jo Knowles, please check out her webpage.