Using the Kinect Green Screen in an English Class

I think you know by now that I have a soft spot for the Kinect being used in education. So when I saw Rachael Millar's guest post on James Edwards' blog, well...

Using the KINECT Green Screen in English [Class]

My Year 8 English class are working on a unit called News in the 20^th and 21^st Century, so I thought an excellent way to make it 21^st Century would be to use the KINECT Green Screen to let the pupils be ‘real’ news reporters. Pupils prepared news reports in groups of 4, including anchors and weather people. I uploaded two images: one of a newsroom, and the other of a generic weather map of the UK. The groups then used these backdrops to perform their reports.

The buzz that the group received from the satisfaction of performing their reports in front of the Green Screen was palpable, and certainly ignited their interest in the subject and gave them the added incentive to really put on a polished performance. With a smaller group you could also use the full 5 image slots to create a backdrop for an ‘on location’ reporter which would add to the professionalism of the whole project.

All in all using the KINECT added an element of professionalism which helped the pupils take pride in their work. I will certainly be looking to use the KINECT again: In the English classroom I am planning on using it to let pupils prepare Speaking and Listening presentations, the backdrop illustrating any point the pupils wish to emphasis; and in the I.L. (Integrated Learning)  classroom I plan to use it to allow pupils to create short Documentaries which track the progress of a river. A video of part of the lesson can be found below:

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You can download the KINECT Green Screen form here for free:

http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/Tutorials/Details/4ae64231-4bc3-4cec-a9a2-497e747516f7

Project Information URL: http://techlemur.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/using-the-kinect-green-screen-in-english/

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