May 2008 — 21st-Century Classroom
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Show and Tell
An Introduction to Moviemaking
AT INTERNATIONAL POLYTECHNIC HIGH
SCHOOL in Pomona, CA, Sean Daly, a 10thgrade
world history teacher, is using the American
Film Institute's (AFI) federally funded Screen
Education program to help students tell stories through the magic
of moviemaking, in a joint project with the school's other 10thgrade
teachers intended to engage students
in learning about the Industrial Revolution.
The students are tasked with examining the
ethical considerations of invention and
technology as reflected in Mary Shelley's
classic 19th-century novel, Frankenstein.
They spend a semester working in teams of
four or five, creating a three-minute movie
depiction of a scene in the novel.
"It's really easy to tell whether the kids have read the book," Daly says. "They have to be able to get deep into it to be able to adapt it, translating their vision to film and understanding such filmmaking concepts as foreshadowing and flashbacks."
The project is introduced at the beginning of the semester, with Daly taking several hours of classroom time to explain the concepts of filmmaking. "We use the AFI program to introduce all the film terminology, roles, and practices to the students so they can create their films. Almost all of our students come into our class with only an appreciation of film, not knowledge of how it is created. Students take the roles of directors, producers, editors, production assistants, wardrobe, makeup, visual effects, etc., to complete their films. We also have a viewing at the end much like a Hollywood premiere."
On the last day of school, the students come together to share their work.
"This approach is an easy way to motivate students, because there's a role for everyone," says Daly, explaining that artistic students can storyboard and the techies can handle the editing, for example. "Instead of my standing up and lecturing to them, the students are learning on their own."
Digital storytelling is a modern take on an oral and written tradition that traces back to early human history as a way of passing down institutional knowledge and beliefs from generation to generation. Proponents of the methodology, such as Marla Davenport, director of learning and technology at TIES (Technology Information Education Services), an education technology collaborative of 38 Minnesota school districts, believe that merging technology and curriculum in this way allows learners to retain information on multiple levels, which makes retrieval easier.
"On a given topic, kids can create their own stories, using the internet to bring in their own videos and graphics," Davenport says. "When that story is communicated to someone else, the child has a much more meaningful experience."
