My Project Pitch

(**example for students**) For my 20Time Project, I will be learning how to create a quality YouTube video. I picked this project for a few reasons. First, since I’ve put a lot of work, research, and planning into creating this project, I wanted to have some way of documenting its triumphs and roadblocks. Second, although I have posted videos to YouTube, I have not edited video and added music. The closest I have come to doing anything like this was when I created my daughter’s graduation video.

Audience and Mentors: The audience for my project is primarily colleagues. I will share it with my fellow English teachers at MHS in addition to some teachers in other districts who are curious about 20-Time. In addition, I will likely use the video to show future students some examples of 20-Time Projects. Possible mentors for my project include Mr. Fries, who teaches Digital Design, and Mr. May, the Media Specialist.

Timeline: Using the backward planning model, I came up with the following tentative timeline:

January 28-29: Record some students’ pitches

January 15-22: Touch base with mentor, research how to make videos and watch other quality videos.

February: Continue recording students at various stages in project, take pics of blogs, etc.

March: Continue researching and working with mentor

April: Begin putting video together

May: Final product can’t be finished until students do Ted Talks. Video completion set for 5/19. Will be able to show partial video prior to that.

Potential Resources:

• Mr. May, Media Specialist
• Mr. Fries, Digital Design teacher
• Digital Design students
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-make-a-youtube-video/
• "How to Make Money from Viral Videos" by Dan Fletcher (found on InfOhio)
• http://www.makeyoutubevideo.com/
• Several YouTube videos

If I create a completed video, I will consider myself successful, even if it isn’t that great. Since it will be my first time, I realize it won’t be perfect. In addition, I can always go back and make some changes to improve it. Next, I will show the video to several people, including my mentor and my family to get their honest feedback. Finally, I will show the video to my students, the stars of the video. All of this feedback will help me determine if it is a quality video. The ultimate success will be feeling proud enough of the video to share it with colleagues.