My students have developed their filmmaking skills, winning awards at film festivals and competitions, working with non-profit foundations, even being asked by our city to create instructional films! But a film is only as good as the audio that accompanies it. They need a high quality wireless mic.
Our suburban school is almost 20 years old.
We are a California Distinguished School and a National Blue Ribbon School. About 1/3 of our students are Hispanic, about 1/3 are white, about 10% are African American, and the remainder are a mixture of Asian, Native American, Pacific Islanders, and Filipino.
My 6th grade students are a mixture of skills, interests, abilities, personalities, races, languages, but they all share a few things in common: a natural sense of curiosity, a love of technology, and a desire to express their ideas and what they've learned in the form of film.
This past year my students produced nearly 30 films on a variety of topics: math instructional films, PSAs promoting digital citizenship, documentaries exploring the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II and the U.S. Rail Mail System, social impact project documentaries exploring Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties & the Constitution, seat belts on school buses, and battery disposal in our city.
My Project
This school year is going to be LOADED with even more filmmaking opportunities! Our city has requested my students create three instructional films showing residents how to dispose of household hazardous waste at our Special Waste Collection Center as well as our "Reuse Room" and the "Hard-to-Recycle" station. Our school district's transportation services department has asked us to create a series of public service announcements educating kids and adults about "The Danger Zone" surrounding a school bus. The goal: to teach riders and pedestrians how to stay safe in and around our district's 180 school buses. All of these projects provide students authentic learning experiences, integrating reading, writing, research, critical thinking with technology and storytelling. If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, a film must be worth even more. And if that film is accompanied by high quality audio captured from a wireless mic...well, that speaks volumes!
The films my students produce and the test scores they earn have convinced me that filmmaking is an effective teaching strategy.
(You can check out my students' work by visiting our YouTube Channel, Curiosity Films.) Audio is a critical component of a film, and a wireless microphone with a range of up to 300 feet will help make my students' productions look AND sound professional.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Mr. Bentley and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
