Supporting Social Emotional Learning
Elementary school students created social stories using Adobe Spark Video to support social skills development and reinforce tools and strategies to decrease anxiety within and outside of the classroom. The student-created videos were saved to Google Drive where they were organized by topic to serve as a resource for teachers, students and parents. This student-centered approach helped build confidence and allowed students to learn from one another. The process of planning and making videos was highly engaging and allowed students to practice expected behaviors and discuss strategies in a small group setting.
Adobe Spark Video
Video creation does not have to be complicated or expensive. Adobe Spark Video is a free, web-based tool with an intuitive interface that results in polished videos which can be uploaded to Adobe Spark and shared with a link or downloaded and saved as an MP4 video format. For our use, we downloaded the video files to store on Google Drive. Adobe Spark Video allows users to select a theme, add still photos and/or video clips, text, icons and voice over. Students narrate each slide individually, which makes it simple to re-record without the need to start over. Click the image below to access an Adobe Spark Video Cheat Sheet I created.
Sample Student-Created Social Stories Videos
Working in small groups, students selected a target social skill and created a short social story. Students brainstormed how they could best illustrate the parts of their story using still images. With the support of a teacher, students built a storyboard to plan out their video. Click HERE to access a more detailed Storyboard template from Adobe. Adobe Spark Video is available for free for iPad as a stand-alone App as well as a Chromebook compatible website. NOTE: Adobe Spark Video currently requires account holders to be age 13+. A teacher created the account and monitored student use. Videos were not shared via Adobe’s online community, but were saved directly to Google Drive. Take a look at the examples below:
[divider]
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Jess Ostuni, my friend and Lynnfield School Psychologist for collaborating with me on this project!
