I have co-taught this class two other times. One of the things I really enjoy about this program is it is entirely hands on. Students have full power over what materials they use, the story they tell and how they want to edit it. As teachers we begin the course explaining what stop animation is and how it is made. We show students examples of Stop Animation videos both from the web and from previous classes. Then we give a brief over view of how to set up the equipment and how to access the software. As teachers we model how to use the program and then students spend the rest of the first day exploring the program and making a test video.
After the day of exploration, students use a story map to plan out the contents of their video. Once the planning stage is complete, students gather materials from a variety of provided art materials. Some students use paper and pencil, some use clay, some use a mix of materials such as feathers, buttons, pipe cleaners and much more. We have also had students use legos and stuffed animals in the past to create their movies.
Students were focused and engaged during the whole practice. Every student was able to make more than one movie and the class even asked us to shorten the morning break so they could continue to work! Once students finish creating a video the videos are exported out of Sam Animation and saved as a completed movie. These movies were removed of any student identification and then posted on Youtube.
It's always impresses me with how much creativity our students are capable of and how quickly the time flies by when everybody is engaged.
