Weather Videos en Français

Description of Task:

During our weather unit students worked to create real weather reports in French.  Here is how we were able to do this:

1. Students watched the weather in French from this website: La Chaîne Météo.  After watching the video, students discussed what they understood and what elements made this like weather reports that we hear in English (talking about multiple days, talking about multiple places, an introduction, a goodbye)
2. Students chose groups to create a weather report with.  Students used Météo France to read the weather in French.  With their groups, students chose multiple days and/or places to include in their report.  Students worked together to summarize the weather they read about in words they had learned.
3. Students worked together to write a script for their project.  Students worked on memorizing this script.
4. Students went to the library to work with the school librarian to find Creative Commons pictures to use in their videos.  Students learned how to collect pictures to share with a group by using Google Docs and Flickr.
5. Students recorded their skits in front of a blue screen so they could insert the pictures they found behind themselves during the editing process.
6. Students learned how to use WeVideo to remove the blue screen from their video and replace it with the pictures they found.  
7. Students finalized creating their weather videos in WeVideo.  Students used a variety of elements including: transitions, words, and final credits.
8. We watched all the videos as a class.  Students critiqued each other videos.

Example of Student Work:

How does this fit with the SAM-R model?

The use of technology allows for a completely new task to be created that would not be possible without technology.  This fits the Redefinition mode of SAM-R.

Some elements that allowed for the new task to be made are:

• Online access to French weather and news.  Without broadband Internet and individual learning devices, students would not have been able to access the weather in French cities in real time.  Students would not have been able to choose whichever city they were interested in.  Without technology, students would have to use teacher-created materials or old resources.
• Use of WeVideo allowed students to incorporate actual pictures into the project.  Without technology, students might have drawn pictures.  The use of technology gave the project a realism that could not be achieved without it.
• Use of WeVideo allowed student work to be edit by the students.  By uploading the video to WeVideo, students were able to add transitions, words, and pictures to create a more realistic product.
• Use of WeVideo allowed work to be shared.  Because the videos are hosted online, student work can be shared with parents.  Without technology, students would have presented skits to the class, something that parents would not be able to watch.