A Big Surprise on the Farm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4976884228779219701

Here's the link to my video. To preface my video, I have to tell you how it started out. I had my camera and tripod set up in the back of the third grade classroom. I had shown the teacher what button to push. I gave her the nod to start and my camera said "Low Battery!" I had checked them beforehand and they had more than half the charge. GRRRR! My teacher hurried and grabbed the batteries from her camera. I switched them out and the same thing "Low Battery." I said, "Oh forget it, I'll go ahead and tell my story now and record it another time." The class had been waiting patiently, so I began telling my story, without the video.

The teacher disappeared for a couple of minutes and came back with two more batteries. I stopped my story, switched the batteries, and tried to keep going with my story. I had already described the warm sun on the fields, the birds chirping in the trees, and the rustling leaves. I didn't want to say all of that again, but I knew I had to say a bit of it for my video. I'm a bit flustered at the very beginning because of the battery drama and not wanting to start all the over on my story. I also kept expecting the batteries to die in the middle of my story.

It ended up going great, much better than the first time I told it. The kids in the class had fun with the animal sounds. We had practiced beforehand and I had told them to only do the sounds for a couple of seconds. There was one point when I had to remind them of that.

I know that I didn't follow my story word for word, but I certainly remembered most of it. The teacher was impressed that I had remembered all of the details. She told me that she had never been a good storyteller and that she thought I was great. She told me that she knew how important the video was to me and that's why she went looking for more batteries. I really appreciated that. It was important to me, but I was trying not to stress out. I had 27 kids waiting patiently for me to tell my story.

The kids loved my stuffed animals. By holding the animals up, they could remember to do their animal sounds. It was good for me to have them as props. It kept my hands busy and it also helped me remember the story. I didn't really give the animals different voices like I had wanted to, except for the horse. I made him move slowly just by the tone and speed of my voice.

I'm glad it's over and it's better than the first time I had to record my story and it's better than the first time I told this particular story. I feel more confident in my storytelling abilities and using the techniques that I have learned. I could really enjoy doing this if it was the right kind of story and the right audience.