Life of Bus One

Outsider Jeans

2010 Parkway Digital Film Festival Gallery

Authentic Audience – MP3 file

I’ve written about it before, and I’ve been trying to think about what I want to say about the work that students did for it.  The stories that we heard about the work that students did was amazing and I’m hoping to get some of those stories out, but, for now, until I decide what I really want to say about it, I’m going to refrain other than to say it was a good night. From watching my own kids walk down the red carpet, to the pride I felt knowing that we had over 1300 people in attendance as we honored the work of approximately 1000 kids, I just simply still don’t know what is the most important piece to chronicle.  So, as I think, I hope you enjoy some of the films.

Develop proficiency with the tools of technology

In many cases, one of the main goals that teachers had when they started their film festival projects was to get students familiar with the tools of technology.  Focusing on the tools is a starting point in many cases, but once we got beyond how to edit video and where to begin a project, we started to focus more on the evaluating the sources that were found.  The process became as important as the final product.  We looked at the literary skills that were involved in working through the problems, evaluating possible solutions and working together to become creators rather than simply consumers of information.

Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally

One of the biggest successes of the film festival process was the collaborative nature of the work. While some were individual submissions, the vast majority were done as a group.  They worked thorough many problems and found solutions that were acceptable for all involved.  Additionally, many came away with a new understanding of the possibilities of working together.  When talking with students about what they learned, they weren’t just focused on their own part of the project.  They were learning from each other and, in many cases, stopped relying on their teachers as the sole people with the correct answers.

Design and share information for global communities that have a variety of purposes

Students who participated in the film festival were creating content that would be viewed by a greater audience.  The students were expanding their realm and evaluating the purpose of their films and the response their films would have on the audience both in the festival and later online as they were archived in a gallery.

Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneously presented information

Again, because of the nature of this project, information came from internet sites, databases, books, video, interviews, etc.  This proved to be beneficial for teachers as they asked their students to evaluate the reliability of the informaiton they found as they worked through their research process. Then, in most cases, students took that information and created their own meaning from it.  This new meaning resulted in a transformational experience in which students were not simply consumers of the information, but made it relevant to their own world and work.  Through those projects, students had a far deeper understanding of the material, had exercised their higher-order thinking skills, and created a relevant product that they were proud of.  One example of this is “The Great Car Robbery” created by a group of high school students who were studying the Niobe Myth.

Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts

One of the things that we’ve asked some of the students to do is to reflect on the experience.  We’ve gotten a variety of responses but mostly, because of our medium, students talked about the challenges of technology and  video editing.  However, when pushed, those who’s projects were of high quality realized that they learned a great deal through their projects that had nothing to do with the technical process of making the video.  They were working with concepts, solving problems and working together as they analyzed and reconstituted the information in a meaningful format.

Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by complex environments

Probably one of the biggest questions that students and teachers had when working with the materials had to do with copywrite and fair use.  Because the films that would be shown at the festival would also be shown on the Higher Educagtion Channel, we worked to compile a list of resources teachers could use that wouldn’t violate copywrite.  This was tough for many teachers who believe in and use fair use in their classrooms.  However, it was a great opportunity to model real world methods and have conversations about the implications of using the work of others.  This is something that we’re still trying to work out right now.  One of the things that I hope to accomplish this year is to provide other ways to find music, pictures and video for use in films.  I’m not sure what this will look like, but I want to show students that there are a number of places that provide royalty-free materials that we can use.  This was a learning experience for both student and teacher.  Truly, some didn’t think it was worth it.  However, I think it’s important to model ethical use of information as we work with students.  The film festival was a great vehicle to do just that.

I’ve been meaning to write about the Film Festival for awhile now and just haven’t made myself do it.  Looking at the NCTE Framework as a tool to think through the process and the projects provides some insight into how effective it might be in the classroom.  There are many changes that will be made this year and the framework will help to work through some of the issues that might be important.

We went so that we could get some pointers and ideas on how to run our own festival happening in about one month.  While our scope is different (ours is grades K-12 and district wide, while AHA encompasses two high school classes) and we are not awarding prizes for our festival, the meaning is still the same, we want to celebrate student work through video.  I learned a lot yesterday and, as I was driving home (and laying in bed awake thinking about the day) I began to think about the quality of the films that the students in Effingham had created.  To be frank… they were outstanding.  They were still student films and they are definitely still learning, but as I thought about many of the student films that I’ve seen in my years teaching, I think these are among the best.  Not because of the equipment that they used, nor because of the fact that Joe and Craig are both film makers. No, these students understood that film making is really storytelling.  They were telling a story and that was the focus of the entire class.

The technical capacity to make films is getting significantly lower.  With cell phones capable of capturing video to Flip cameras to more traditional video cameras, the equipment is getting cheaper.  Nearly every computer out there has a video editing application built into the operating system and now there are even online video creation tools that can be used.  The rules have changed when it comes to the tools.  However, the methods of storytelling remains very much unchanged.  So that makes me wonder (yet again) do the tools really matter?  There will always be technical obstacles that must be addressed, but does learning what to click on in Movie Maker, iMovie, Premiere or Final Cut Pro really what we should be teaching, or should we be more focused on the process of storytelling?  Yes, learning the program has it’s place, but when you’re telling a story, what do you focus on, the tool or the process?  For me it’s always been process.  Technical details can be worked out and many times, I’m not the one to figure it out.  If I can teach the process, regardless of what tool is chosen, the story can be told.  It just makes me wonder, how many districts are teaching the tool rather than the process when it comes to digital storytelling?  And for those that are, how can that mindset be changed?

Additional information about the AHA Film Festival can be found here:

• Online Student Film Festival
• AHA YouTube Channel
• Main AHA Film Festival Page

Upon leaving that meeting I went to one of the elementary schools in our district because the Higher Education Channel was coming to our district to do a “Behind the Minds” filming of some of our students as they work on their films for our upcoming Film Festival. Since this was my brain child, I wanted to be there as students talked about their films and were interviewed for the show. Jennifer Young (another TIS) and I were there to supervise and help the students as they worked on their films. These were fifth grade students who had done a presentation earlier in the year in which they became a person who has had a profound affect on society and who stood for something great. Anne Frank, Jane Goodall were among the people they chose and they had footage of them acting the part of these figures. Now they were in the process of whittling down their films to meet our two minute guidelines. During their interviews they discussed problem solving, collaboration and storyboarding as they described the process. They used film terms and talked at great length about what they wanted to say through their films. The entire process was nothing short of awesome. Watching students talk about and reflect on their process was truly transformative and they were very eloquent in their discussions. Through the work of Jennifer Young (another TIS), the morning was a success.

Upon leaving the elementary school, I accompanied the film crew to one of our high schools where they interviewed two junior girls about a sociology project that they embarked on last semester. They too were eloquent in their discussion, but one thing they said really stuck with me. “In all of our other classes, we had to do PowerPoints.” While I’m not completely against PowerPoint, it was clear, when talking to these students, that PowerPoint is an overused presentation technique in their school. They relished the opportunity to do something more meaningful and, as I watched their video, I think they succeeded. Their video was compelling and far more intriguing than any PowerPoint that I’ve ever seen. When they were done, I was interviewed in regards to the details and origins of the Film Festival. It was a great day. Watching students grades 5 and 11 talk about their learning really made me proud of what we’ve done to facilitate the Film Festival in our district and making it about the celebration of student work. I guess more than anything, I’m continually impressed with the abilities of today’s students. The show should air in the next few weeks and will be available online. I’ll post again when it can be viewed.

As a classroom teacher, I always enjoyed creating video projects with my students.  We did audio and video podcasting and other films when they lent themselves to the curriculum.  Last year I was helping Melissa Pomerantz do a documentary film with one of her classes and in our conversations we talked about ways in which to get this film out to the world. Thus began the brainstorm for a student film festival.  I pitched it to my boss who liked the idea and then I took it before the rest of my team members hoping that they’d all be into it too. They were and thus the Parkway Digital Film Festival was born.

I am happy to announce that the film festival is coming to fruition beginning with our official announcement today as seen in the video I’ve posted below.  I’m really excited about the possibilities of this and will probably be writing a lot about it between now and April. I put the video of Susan (a colleague) together and have it hosted on Parkway Digital (our district YouTube that we built to share video).