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After reading the article: Digital Storytelling Finds Its Place In The Classroom by Tom Banaszewski I was "formerly" introduced to the term iMovie. I do not have a Mac and had no prior knowledge of what an iMovie was or how it worked, let alone how to incorporate its use in the classroom. So I did what anyone would do to find out information, I googled it. That search took me to an overwhelming number of sites to explore. I stuck with the Apple website where I learned the history(established in 1999), program knowledge, upgrades, and viewed tutorials and examples of iMovies. I was floored and now I want to purchase a Mac for this program alone :)
The first idea that came to mind about activites that could be enhanced by this piece of technology was field trips. Every year millions of students go on field trips ranging from a visit to the local pumpkin patch to a beach excursion. The first thing we tell all of our kids to do after returning to school is to, "Write a journal reflection on your field trip." These reflectionas are informative and do include great detail, but how much more"cool" and "exciting" would it be create an iMovie of your field trip instead? Talk about students being engaged!
Hands down by using iMovie the learning environment in your classroom will change. The author discussed the necessary forms of technology, time (6 months for all students to complete individual iMovies), and organization needed to complete such projects. Of course parental involvement would be necessary to help navigate the necessary needs of so many students.
But with all of that said, I would still be interested in giving it a try. First, I would have to educate myself about the ina and outs of the program. Then I would practice by making my own personal iMovies to gain confidence in my newfound abilities. And finally I would begin to introduce the concepts to my kids by showing them some of my samples and eventaully creating a class iMovie.
The author has great success with his students by incorpoarting digital storytelling. He explained how prior to iMovies 66% of his class believed that they were writers. After introducing iMovie 99% of his students beleived that they were writers. I hope that I too find the same success in my room as he did.