Green Screen Brings New Life To Presentations At Livermore School

LIVERMORE, CA - From Livermore School District: Michelle Seugling, Teacher on Special Assignment at Junction Avenue K-8, reminds the room full of students to keep the noise down while she films. The students are already politely quiet, save for the muted patter of fingers on keys, so rather than stopping a conversation, they silence their Chromebooks. Most are still focused on tuning up or rehearsing scripts, while others who have had their fill of preparation are taking a break with coding drills or putting together animated book reports. Today, Ms. Brecht’s 4th-grade class is presenting reports on California regions - a typical 4th-grade report - but as familiar as this presentation feels, there are some notable novel qualities, and what stands out most is how thrilled the students are about it.

The students are creating a California tourism video. They sit in four groups, representing the coastal, desert, mountain, and valley regions of California. With a green screen, an iPad, and an easy-to-use app, they are each going to record a presentation on their topic and then get superimposed over an image they found of their topic online. The students are invested in every aspect of the project, inside and out. “They are all so excited to see how it looks after everything is finished,” said Brecht, and the care toward the final product lends itself to a proactive approach from the students themselves.

“We want to foster independent learners at our schools,” said Seugling. She is a member of the UNITE Team at the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD), who count among their goals producing students who play an active role in the learning process. By utilizing technology that makes education more accessible, students discover and collaborate on knowledge rather than relying solely on a teacher in front of the class to feed it to them. Curricula is not replaced, but lessons are enhanced.

Using the LVJUSD-student network, the students conducted their own research, putting to use all the things they learned in class about the Golden State up to that point to guide them through the information. “We’ve spent about three weeks on California in this class,” said Brecht. “And now they get to become the experts of their region.” Through Google Classroom students and teachers can share information with the entire class. Everything becomes relevant. Instead of discarding research not pertinent to their individual topic, students contribute to the project and teach one another.

The excitement for this project comes from creating something whole together, everyone an integral and equal part of the process. They want everyone to do well and encourage and assist each other throughout. Soft-spoken students suddenly project. When groups finish delivering their presentation to the camera the entire room applauds. At the conclusion of the project they will get to see the finished product. While appreciating what they made together they will undoubtedly soak up every moment of the presentations, seeing themselves and their peers in the effort behind the creation, and they might surprise themselves by how much they learned along the way.

Image via Livermore School District