Students in my Advanced Digital Media class are excited to learn video production skills, create videos for our school video show, and create short films for our district middle school film festival. Returning students serve as class leaders, in charge of approving and editing segments for our school video show, assisting new students with technical issues, and mentoring the new students.
They love learning new skills, learning how to work with professional video equipment, and producing the best work they can.
They also want to create a sense of community in our class by designing class hoodies, planning field trips and outside class opportunities, and planning, organizing, and running events to help raise funds to support our program. They also love doing things to support our school and community.
My Project
The goal of this project is to increase parent engagement and parent involvement as a way to get students more engaged. Students in my advanced digital media class and digital media classes are learning video production skills and digital storytelling. We are currently examining tv shows and movies that feature middle/high school students and have scenes that are set at school. Students are creating storyboards based on these and then will be working in groups to film their own versions.
Next, Students will find scenes from tv shows and movies featuring middle/high school students that have scenes set at home.
They will select a scene, create a storyboard, and then film these scenes at home. Students can have family members serve as cast or camera person while they direct and act or film as needed. This would be a great way for students to get parents and families involved and for families to see the skills their students are learning. I can assess student-submitted projects using a rubric created with students to see if they have learned key video production skills and digital storytelling concepts and measure growth when this assignment is repeated after we critique it in class.
This project is targeted at students in my digital media classes but could easily be adapted to any English or Language Arts class. Students could read a book that has scenes set at home, and then choose a scene to film at home and use their families as cast or production crew.
I am asking for a camera and we already have DVD copies of TV shows featuring middle/high school students. English teachers might need books to send home as well as camera equipment for families that don't have access.
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