Page 31 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

microphone, you should pay attention to the background noise. If you’re not
careful, you’ll have a disruptive background noise after you’re done recording,
and you can’t do much about it after that. Avoid recording outside if at all pos -
sible: wind is recording’s worst nightmare, and even if there is very little wind,
recording without getting a whooshing noise is extremely difficult.

8. Invite students to help record videos.

Students are the most creative people in the school, especially if you make it
a place where they can safely take risks. They are fearless and come up with
amazing ideas for videos. I love to bring students into any video I can. Every
once in a while, a random student will appear in one of my announcement
videos. Chances are that student happened to come into my room during my
planning period to ask me a question or drop off something from the office. If
I’m recording, I’ll make that student a part of my video.
On one occasion, I had a student who wasn’t interested in my class at all. He
wasn’t a fan of reading and didn’t want to participate in the lessons. He was
constantly trying to goof off or make noises to get others off track. One day
after school, I was getting ready to record a video when I saw him wandering
around in the halls. I pulled him into my room and asked if he would be my
cameraman for the day. I didn’t really need one—a tripod would have done just
as well—but I knew this would be a great opportunity to connect. At the end
of the video, I added a clip of him and a shout-out to my rock-star cameraman.
The next day, when I showed the video to the class, he was stoked. He had so
much pride in that video and wanted to show it off to everyone. After that, he
wanted to help out more and started looking for ways to contribute in class.
He became an active member of the classroom instead of a passive bystander.
Rainbows and sunshine didn’t instantly fall from the heavens—he still didn’t
like reading—but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

9. Record everywhere.

A haunted prison, the White House, Diagon Alley at Universal Studios: I have
recorded videos for my students in all of these places. I constantly record vid -
eos anytime I go anywhere. Vacations, work trips, ghost hunts—any new place
is a great opportunity. Most of the time it just takes five minutes to shoot a
quick video. Sometimes I record random stock footage I may want to include in

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Awesome Sauce: Create Videos to Inspire Students, Engage Parents and Save You Time 31