Are you looking for an exciting way to get your students to write? Well, you might only be a few clicks away from getting some great compositions from your kids.

Movie Maker is a great software program that comes with most PC's and allows students to bring their writing alive. Before assigning a Movie Maker project educators should create their own mini-movie so that they are familiar with the basics of Movie Maker and to give their class an idea of what your expectations are.

Here are some tips about teaching students how use Movie Maker.

1) Have students plan their stories on paper or using brainstorming software like Inspiration before introducing them to Movie Maker.

2) Show your short movie to the class and demonstrate how to insert text, pictures and sounds in Movie Maker.

3) Have students plan out their story frame by frame and plan out how they will use sound, music and pictures to enhance their movies.

4) Students should first enter their text into movie maker and then add fonts, backgrounds, pictures and sounds.

5) Once students understand how to perform a task have them teach other students. This will save you time and you will find that some students will discover features that you didn't even know about.

6) If you have microphones for your computers students can even narrate their own movies.

Movie Maker is another program that can also be a useful tool for students with learning disabilities since they allow students to create projects without a large amount of writing or reading.

Lucas Kent is an experienced educator and author of 6 Steps to Success in Teaching with Technology which in now available on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com and many other online bookstores.

His website http://MrKent.Net - Teaching with Technology Made Simple is designed to help schools and educators implement technology effectively into their educational practices.

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