I-Movies

Rather than completing a traditional book report, we were required to create an I-movie based on a book our group read related to education. My group read the book Stand for the Best: What I Learned after Leaving My Job as CEO of H&R Block to Become a Teacher and Founder of an Inner-City Charter School by Thomas Bloch. Thomas was a CEO at H and R Bloch, the tax firm founded by his father. Thomas chose to leave his position and go back to college to become a teacher. He was not satisfied with his job and felt the need to do something different with his life. He also went on to found a charter school to help inner city students succeed and be on a college bound track. I was inspired by his story and amazed at how much he gave up to help these students succeed.
Creating an I-movie is definitely a more exciting assignment than writing a traditional book report. However, I don't feel that I learned more through this assignment than I would have with a book report. Our group didn't have a clear direction with our film and it turned out to take a lot of time for those members in our group who knew how to work the I-movie software. I can see myself using Imovies in my classroom in the future and I think it could be used very effectively and the students would be actively involved in the learning process if executed correctly.