The following Movie Maker activity allows your students to let down their hair as they show off their creativity. This activity is especially useful if it’s the end of a grading period. Movie Maker is found on all XP systems and if your system runs Vista you have an even better program than what we are talking about in this article. The following song list came from the A.P. European List serve, so most of the songs deal with European history. Make sure you are working in timeline mode, so the “Show Storyboard button” will be showing.
When you are saving your materials, all the pictures, songs, and videos need to be put in one folder. Movie Maker will import these and then you will drag it to the timeline. Be sure to use MP3 files to save space. It will be beneficial to you to save each time you place an item into the new Movie Maker folder. If you are fortunate to have a jump drive, it will make the activity much easier. When the students are presenting their final projects it is much easier to put a jump drive in rather than have to plug their computer to the white board projector.
See Historical Songs –
70 points - Pick a song from a select historical period. Find the words on-line and synchronize the words to the music. (Put the name of the song and then the full lyrics)
1. Under Section 2. Edit Movie - Click “Make titles or credits.”
2. Next, click “title on selected clip.”
3. Click “subtitle animation” to put the words at the bottom on the movie.
4. Type or paste the text in the dialog box.
5. Click “Done add to movie.”
10 points – You will write a two paragraph explanation relating the song to history. You may use the typewriter animation effect or you may use the microphones to put your voice into a narration as well.
5 points – Add in a minimum of five video effects. In order to do this you will need click on “View video effects” and choose the ones you would like to use.
If you are in Timeline mode change over to Storyboard mode. Scroll through the effects and drag the effect to the bottom left star.
The storyboard must have content in order to see the stars and if the star is blue it means that there is a video effect already in place. Make sure that the video effects don’t conflict with the song synchronization of the words.
Next you will want to click “video transitions” which enables you to change the transition between slides or pictures. Again, there has to be content on each side to make a video transition. At this point you will need to drag a transition to the rectangle between the two filled contents.
5 points Students add video. (Adding the video requires a little more work, but once the students see how easy this is – they will integrate it into other projects.)
In order to get the free auto screen, students will need to go to “Google free auto screen recorder” – Click the “Download” button. You can skip the information screen if inclined and go to the just download button.
http://wisdom-soft.com/products/autoscreenrecorder_free.htm
After installing this product, click the icon. Make sure you click the “Try” button unless you want to buy the product.
If you choose to buy the product the screen mark will disappear when you view your video. Students will be able to follow these same directions at home. (You need to be aware that many schools block “You Tube” which makes the recording of videos impossible at school.)
With access to “You Tube” you will now open a browser, go to “You Tube” videos. At this point, explore the videos and find a video related to your project. Once you do this, you will need to go back to “Auto Screen Recorder. You may do this by holding down the Alt key and tabbing back to the Auto Screen recorder. Then you will want to click “Check fixed area.”
You will need to position the square over the You Tube recording and when finished press the spacebar. This locks the area of screen you want to record. NOW, you are ready to start recording.
Click the “Record Now” button and then press the “start” of the You Tube video. Click the “stop” button when you have captured the video you want.
Save the video clip to the same folder you placed everything else in. You can always size the clip in Movie Maker by clicking on the clip when it’s in the timeline. You will need to drag the arrow at the end or beginning of each clip to size it. In Movie Maker look under “Capture Video” and click “Import Video” then select and drag the clip to the timeline location. If any sound was recorded you have the option to mute the sound.
10 points – Add pictures – It generally works best to set a minimum limit on the number of pictures allowed but give no maximum number. You will find many students go way beyond expectations and they utilize an enormous number of pictures.
Once the projects were completed and presented, I had the students write a short essay stating their thoughts on the projects. The following are comments taken from student essays:
1- I loved watching the presentations of the projects. I learn so much more.
2- I think the move maker project was a lot of fun and I learned more about history through our songs. It was very unique.
3- I learned a lot about the movie maker program and the many effects. My favorite part was finding pictures to go with the movies. It was challenging but yet very rewarding.
4- The project taught me that music has a lot to do with history and what is going on in politics during a particular time.
5- I liked the freedom to choose my own song and add different pictures. It was a totally new experience that was very enhancing.
6- I wish we had done more of these!
7- It was different and it kept us busy. It was never boring and was actually pretty easy to do. It was not like having to make a poster or write an essay it was a fun way to learn.
8- When my project started to look good that was the BEST feeling!
9- I liked using Movie Maker because it teaches you things you never knew, like: importing video, pictures and even music.
10-The assignment was very enticing. I enjoyed doing my own video but I also thought it was especially fun to see everyone else’s. It was amazing to see that the songs really did relate to history once you broke them down into their lyrics. Just watching the project also got you to think about what was going on in society at that time. Most students choose great songs so even if you only listened to the music that also was fun. I probably will never listen to songs again the way I did before. Every time I listen to one of our songs today I am wondering what some other student will think about it in years to come.
Historical Songs:
1. Sting – All This Time 4:55
2. Bare Naked Ladies - Its All Been Done 3:24
3. Bangles - Walk Like and Egyptian 3:24
4. Steve Martin - King Tut 2:15
5. Monty Python - Knights of the Roundtable 1:07
6. They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) 2:38
7. Genesis - Eleventh Earl of Mar 7:44
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme Song 0:59
9. Hermans Hermits - Im Henry VIII I Am 1:52
10. Randy Newman - Great Nations of Europe 3:26
11. Monty Python - Oliver Cromwell 4:10
12. The Beatles - My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean 2:43
13. Al Stewart - Lord Grenville 4:52
14. Falco - Rock Me Amadeus (American version) 8:24
15. Monty Python - Decomposing Composers 2:46
16. Allan Sherman - You Went the Wrong Way, Old King Louie 3:20
17. Rush - Bastille Day 4:40
18. Judy Collins - Marat Sade 5:37
19. Al Stewart - The Palace of Versailles 5:19
20. Al Stewart -Roads to Moscow 7:58
21. Johnny Horton - Battle of New Orleans 2:33
22. ABBA - Waterloo 2:44
23. Randy Newman - Sail Away 2:51
24. Bill Hayes - The Ballad of Davey Crockett 2:26
25. They Might Be Giants - James K. Polk 3:05
26. The Village People - YMCA 4:48
27. Iron Maiden - The Trooper 4:12
28. The Clancy Brothers - The Patriot Game 3:44
29. Tony Rice - John Wilkes Booth 3:52
30. Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier 4:17
31. Billy Joel - The Ballad of Billy the Kid 5:44
32. Don McLean - Vincent (Starry Starry Night) 4:03
33. The Kinks - Victoria 3:40
34. Monty Python - Australian Beer Drinking Song 0:54
35. Neil Diamond - Coming to America 4:19
36. Franz Ferdinand - All for You, Sophia 2:59
37. Sting - Childrens Crusade 5:02
38. Ray Stevens - Snoopy vs. the Red Baron 3:09
39. The Farm - All Together Now 3:37
40. Boney M. - Rasputin 4:25
41. Al Stewart - The Last Day of June 1934 4:43
42. The Clash - Spanish Bombs 3:21
43. The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop 2:10
44. Iron Maiden - Aces High 4:33
45. Rush - Red Sector A 5:12
46. Remedy and Wu-Tang - Never Again 4:08
47. Robert Wyatt - Stalin Wasnt Stallin 3:23
48. The Beatles - Back in the USSR 2:43
49. The Kinks - Mr. Churchill Says 4:40
50. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil 6:27
51. Underworld - Underneath the Radar 6:05
52. Al Stewart - Post World War II Blues 4:24
53. Don McLean - American Pie 8:32
54. Elton John - Candle in the Wind (Original) 4:00
55. XTC - Living Through Another Cuba 4:42
56. Living Color - Cult of Personality 4:54
57. Paul Hardcastle - 19 (The Full Story) 7:30
58. Arlo Guthrie - The Alices Restaurant Massacree 18:36
59. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA 4:41
60. U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love) 3:50
61. Randy Newman - Lets Drop the Big One Now 2:01
62. Crosby, at al. - Four Dead in Ohio 2:58
63. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday 4:39
64. Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 6:18
65. Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon 7:05
66. Def Leppard - Gods of War 6:37
67. Bowling for Soup - 1985 3:14
6.8 USA for Africa We Are the World 7:07
69. The Clash - Washington Bullets 3:51
70. U2 - Silver and Gold 4:39
71. Jackson Browne - Lives in the Balance 4:16
72. Sting - Russians 3:57
73. Nina Hagen -99 Luft Balloons (German version) 3:56
74. Nina Hagen - 99 Red Balloons (American version) 3:54
75. Billy Joel - Allentown 3:49
76. Billy Joel - Leningrad 4:05
77. Billy Joel - We Didnt Start the Fire 4:50
78. Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now 2:32
79. Scorpions - Wind of Change 5:13
80. Elton John - Candle in the Wind (Redux) 3:57
81. Bruce Springsteen - American Skin (41 Shots) 8:44
82. Al Stewart - Nostradamus 9:42
83. Bob Dylan The Times They Are Changing 3:12
84. Sam Cooke - What A Wonderful World 2:08
Bill Burton
Sequoyah High School
Canton, Georgia 30115
http://mysite.cherokee.k12.ga.us/personal/bill_burton/site/default.aspx
williamburton75@gmail.com
