My students need 13 tripods, 15 smartphone mounts, and a binding machine, covers, and binding combs for self-published curriculum materials in order to create animations in my art room.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students love smartphone technology to the point of distraction. They are also struggling with interpersonal skills and often get involved in physical fights. I want to harness this fascination with technology and use it to teach conflict resolution through animations created on smartphones.
I teach in a high-poverty, African American school in a large urban school district.
Twenty-three percent of our city's public schools report that bullying occurs among students on a daily or weekly basis. Some schools have gang problems; others have interracial conflicts; others have typical teenage conflicts between different cliques, but our students too often resort to physical violence. Orchestrated fights are common as are impromptu ones; and the leading cause of death in our youth between the ages 15 and 24. The year 2013 saw a spike in homicide numbers to 235 murders. Per capita murder rates here are almost ten times the rate in New York City.
My students love working with contemporary media and respond well to film and video in the classroom. Our school is a free public college and career prep academy, but many students have not had much background in fine arts due to limited funding for the arts. Using contemporary technology is a surefire way to increase their interest.
My Project
My students need tripods, smartphone mounts, and materials for self-published curriculum materials. I want to use the binding machine to self-publish an animation curriculum which taps into smartphone prevalence in the classroom teaches conflict resolution. Students will use the workbooks to reflect on problems individually, design paper avatars to represent behavior patterns. We need the tripods and smart phone clips in order to hold the phones steady enough to shoot the animations, which will be digitally edited. Once films are edited the project will culminate in a group screening, and the opportunity to reflect on possible conflict resolution patterns in a large group setting. Students will learn basic video editing, photography, animation and character design skills, but more importantly they will learn to reflect on and solve conflicts before they escalate. Inspired students will share the program with other schools and grade levels and create a movement that uses 21st century technology such as videography and animation to improve our community one classroom at a time.
Our students need your help to engage with the arts, contemporary media, and conflict resolution skills!
We can't do it without your support to purchase specialty tools. Tripods and phone mounts will put animation tools in the hands of students and empower them to take their skills home; published toolkits and lesson seeds will help students meet challenging goals. Help bring peace and mindfulness to our community while supporting the visual arts in an under-resourced urban school district.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Gambino and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
