Notecard confession videos are a technique for telling a short narrative that elicits emotions and encourages continued reflection from viewers after the confession has been conveyed. In essence, the confession is a message the creator wants to share, but has never had the confidence to do so publicly.
While using the concept of emotional-based notecard confession videos provides opportunities to share worthwhile messages via a powerful communication strategy, adapting the confession concept to specific classroom learning (e.g., confessing as a famous or not-so-famous person in history) also proves worthwhile and engaging.
In Challenge 2 you will create a notecard confession video about a topic of interest or express your feelings about a personal or professional experience. For example:
- What are you passionate about as an educator or administrator that you have never voiced before?
- Whose student voice needs to be shared?
- What special lifelong learning moment can you convey to inspire others?
- How has facilitating a Genius Hour changed your view of learning?
- How as innovation been an unexpected pleasure to you and your learners?
In preparation for developing your notecard confession, be thinking about:
- How could you show evidence of your reflective thinking using 20-plus notecards?
- How could you capture your audience attention?
- How can you tell an impactful story that informs viewers about your topic or experience?
- How can you use emotion to trigger reflective thinking from viewers about your topic? What Creative Commons music can you add to enhance the emotion you are trying to evoke?
- How can you create a call to action based on your confession narrative?
Here are the How-to Steps for Creating a Notecard Confession Video:
- Choose your topic, remembering that it is needs to be something that you have never shared publicly (maybe you have shared with a friend, relative, or colleague, but never witt the world).
- Write a script based on the requirements (see below).
- Write your notecards’ text with a dark colored marker or Sharpie, preferably using print (versus cursive) writing so viewers can read the words easily.
- Record yourself as you show each notecard within the camera frame. (Note: give viewers enough time to read the words on each card.)
- Import your recorded video into an editing program or tool (e.g. iMovie, Move Maker).
- Edit video clip by cutting any unwanted footage out and/or adding introduction and outroduction segments, as well as any credits due (e.g., Creative Common music).
- You will need to upload the file to a video hosting platform, such as YouTube or Vimeo. Once uploaded, the file will receive an embed code, that you can copy and paste into your blog post.
Requirements for Your Notecard Confession:
- Must have at least 20 notecards
- Must include no more than 8 words per card
- Text on notecards must include evidence of your knowledge of the topic, your experience, and open-ended questions to encourage your viewers to think about the value of your topic’s focus and how it emotionally impacts you (and them).
- Must include music that supports your message and emotions, so please observe copyright! Check out some of the following sites for copyright-friendly music: AudioNautix- Music, SoundBible, Purple Planet, Tango Music, CCMixter.
To recap, follow these steps to complete this challenge:
- Create your Notecard Confessions video using your desired device/app.
- Write a new blog post: a) embed your video, and b) include a reflective narrative sharing what you learned from this challenge experience: pre-, during- and post-video production.
- Title, save, and publish your post.
After you have completed your challenge to create a Notecard Confession Video blog post, please include the URL link to your post with embedded confession video in the Leave a Reply comment section below to share with us and your documenting community. Check back regularly to see what others have posted!
Added Amplification: Tweet or share on Instagram the link to your Notecard Confession Video blog post, or create a short narrative mentioning the purpose of sharing your notecard confession and attach your Notecard Confession Video. Either way, be sure to include the hashtags #documenting4learning, #notecardconfession, and #DLBloggingChallenge2.
Take a look at a few examples of Notecard Confession Videos for inspiration:
This first video is an example of a notecard confession adaptation wherein a group of teachers created encouragement cards.
Here are two Notecard Confession resources that you may find helpful:
- How to make Note Card Confession style videos with your class… by Paul Bogush
- Note Card Confessions - Teaching with Emotion by Jill Weber