Wow! That's just about all I can say about these book report trailers.

Sometimes you get an idea and it seems like it might be pretty cool.

I really liked what my Apple Distinguished Educator buddy Sean Junkins had created when he used Discovery Education footage to make historic movie trailers.

Since we don't have access to Discovery Education anymore, I was perplexed how I could do something similar with our kids. Coincidentally at about the same time I was thinking how kids still need chances to do old fashion arts and crafts and little skits. Somehow this project ended up lending itself to the best of both worlds. They would use the Apple iMovie app's trailer building capabilities but would have to get really creative on how they would produce the footage. It was completely open-ended but after a week of brainstorming we had really focus on the project being do-able.

The other guidelines were:
A) Trailers had to provide important information about the plot or focus on character traits.
B) Trailers could not be "spoilers" for anyone who had not yet read them.
C) Trailers had to be non-violent.
D) Several students could work together and there was no limit on the number of projects in which students could participate. Students could work solo but all students had to be included in meaningful ways.
E) This was basically an introduction/exploration activity and I didn't fully know what we would accomplish so there wasn't a set evaluation rubric beyond my formative checkups along the way.

The results were mind-blowing. Here is one on the Hunger Games Trilogy's Mocking Jay. More can be found in the project's album on Vimeo.



My biggest reflection on this project is that you never know how a project might go. Sometimes they flop but as long as you salvage the key points, that is okay. Sometimes you get way more than you ever expect. Also, don't think this is rocket science and beyond your capabilities. I completely left completion of it up to the kids (with some progress monitoring and coaching along the way) but it was them who knocked this thing out of the park.