Lights, Camera, Education!

All right, all right, I'll admit that going to this session was purely self-indulgence. I had no delusions that I would be able to apply this video class to anything other than English. Indeed, Dave Watnee and Anita Musser, technology specialists for FCPS, explained film in terms of narrative: a shot equals a paragraph, a scene equals a chapter, and a movie equals a book.

And the American Film Institute program they explained included elements of the writing process. As a class, we actually did an activity that students could do. First, we freewrote to brainstorm: We had only 10 minutes to shoot a short film about a mysterious noise behind a door. Then after learning more about film shots, the equivalent of writing devices, we prewrote: We outlined the film in storyboard format. As we planned, we revised our initial brainstorming: We added more effective shots, especially to convey suspense or, in my group's case, comedy (let's just say our story was literally toilet humor). Next, we peer-revised: We traded storyboards and shot another group's film. Last, we published our work: We showed our films to the class for critique. The only step missing was time for the original group to redo the film after seeing the results of the peer shoot. And we did this all in three hours, roughly two blocks.

How, you ask, did we manage to complete such a tech-intensive activity in such a short amount of time? We went old school: The entire film had to be created shot for shot in real time, without the aid of editing software, then we simply hooked up each camera to the projector to show our films. At least for most typical assessments I can think of, outside of film class, this technique would work perfectly. Instead of students taking a test or quiz, they could have so much time to plan and make a film about a concept being taught. Maybe they document a scientific experiment. Maybe they create an educational film for children about angles. Maybe they recreate a scene from history. And having to plan and rationalize their shot choices increases the depth of their understanding.

But, of course, you could take any such activity to the next level, by allowing students to perfect their films through editing. Perhaps an "educational video" category could be added Festivid, Fred? And if that doesn't work, Dave Navis, of Hong Kong International School, would be happy to see more entries for his school's Virtual Film Festival. Much like with podcasting, film allows for an assessment format that goes beyond the teacher's eyes and therefore toward the student's interest.