The reason I selected this lesson plan was because it struck me as something I would want to do with my future class. While animation can be fun, it might be daunting to some students. Claymation is a very accessible method and a good way to introduce students to the more complex ideas associated with animation. Giving students an opportunity to create their own characters and their own story would allow them to personalize the assignment. They would create something interesting for their portfolio, and something fun to show off to family and friends. Also, this assignment is so open-ended that it lends itself to collaboration with a variety of subjects. The potential cross-curricular benefits are worth considering.
The original lesson plan was devoid of any introductory material. While claymation was prevalent in cinema and TV before CGI became ubiquitous, I would not be surprised if high school aged students were unfamiliar with it. This necessitates an example video to show students the basics of animation with clay and stop-motion film, it's unique aesthetic, and it's limitations.
Technology plays a vital role in the completion of this assignment. Some of the technology featured includes youtube, digital cameras, photo processing software, script formatting apps, stop motion software, and video sharing applications. It is my belief that high school aged students of this generation and generations beyond will be most comfortable using technology to assist in the learning process. The nature of this assignment is such that technology isn't being used to supplement the learning process. Instead, it is the very core of the assignment - to familiarize students with the technology required to create a stop motion animation. Obviously there are peripheral goals such as character conceptualizing and script writing, but at it's core this is a lesson on a particular method of animating.
