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By Tamara Henry
''Notions that the arts are frivolous add-ons to a serious curriculum couldn't be further from the truth,'' says James Catterall, education professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, who coordinated the research.
The report is based on an analysis of 62 studies of various categories of art -- ranging from dance, drama, music and visual arts -- by nearly 100 researchers. It's the first to combine all the arts and make comparisons with academic achievement, performance on standardized tests, improvements in social skills and student motivation.
Catterall says the studies suggest that arts education may be especially helpful to poor students and those in need of remedial instruction.
''While education in the arts is no magic bullet for what ails many schools, the arts warrant a place in the curriculum because of their intimate ties to most everything we want for our children and schools,'' Catterall says.
The report took two years to produce, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education.
Gerald Sroufe of the American Educational Research Association describes the report as ''a benchmark'' and ''a starting place for future research in the arts because it represents a fairly comprehensive picture of what research-based knowledge exists.'' However, he says, the report is ''necessarily a thin volume, including some rather thin studies.''
Eileen Mason of the National Endowment for the Arts says that President Bush has requested $11 million to support arts education projects.
''We are eager for more research,'' Mason says. ''We want to learn more about how we can best convey to our children the knowledge and skills required to create, perform and respond to the arts. At the same time, we need to know more about how the arts help to develop other capacities of our children, such as language, reading and spatial reasoning.''
School officials often complain that arts programs tend to be the first cut in schools facing budget deficits.
G. Thomas Houlihan, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, acknowledges that many school superintendents, principals and teachers are unaware of the value of arts education.
He says copies of the report will be distributed to school leaders throughout the nation.
Houlihan says he was impressed by the one study finding that ''arts motivate and reach certain students.''
The Arts Education Partnership is a coalition of more than 100 national education, arts, philanthropic and government organizations. CCSSO and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies administer the partnership under a cooperative agreement with the Education Department and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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One of our new initiatives with The Director in the Classroom is the Preserving Culture project. Working with students and teachers in North America, Africa and Asia, we have been assisting in the creation of, I believe, a truly meaningful learning experience for students, parents, teachers and community. It is wrapped around this simple premise:
Invite students to preserve the stories of today for the students of the future.
In our work with schools from Alaska to Auckland, we have found that students and teachers are extremely excited, motivated and proud of the work that is coming out of this kind of filmmaking project.
The six main benefits of a Student Produced Cultural Preservation Project are:
• Developing bridges between the past and the present through the interaction of
student and family or community member.
Here’s how it works.
The Ten Steps to Creating Student Cultural Preservation Filmmaking Projects
1. Brain Storm Ideas for who to record (local artists, historians, family members, etc)
or what thematic ideas. (The history of the local railroad, immigration stories, etc).
Answer the question: What will this film be about?
So by doing this, what have we accomplished?
We have provided students with an authentic, real world experience and project which will benefit the students through increased awareness of the stories, culture and history of their community as well as benefiting the community as pieces of history are preserved for future learners. In this scenario, a student ten or twenty years from now who is creating a media project on, for example, farming in their community, could access and incorporate video footage of farms or of farmers circa 2005, though both farmers and farms may be long gone. And the sources of their learning, of their digital resources, are the students of today. Wouldn’t it be cool for students to put together a film project using footage from the past that their parents recorded as part of their own learning? This is part of the powerful long view potential of this project.
And the ambitious project continues by recording one story at a time. I encourage you to consider a filmmaking project like this with your students. Keep it simple. See what happens. And if you have any questions, give us a shout.
The Online Student Studio is accessed through The Director in the Classroom Website. The studio provides a pace for students to work together to create and plan their filmmaking projects online.
Students use the Resource section to explore the five phases of filmmaking; Development, PreProduction, Production, PostProduction and Distribution through video tutorials, downloadable forms and checklists, internal and external links, diagrams and photographs. An on-demand textbook designed for student learning in and out of the classroom.
In the Project section students work to reach consensus on their films’ Goal, Subject and Audience, and then collaborate on the sequences, scenes and shots that will make up their final film. They then create a shot list that details the specific camera shots, angles and lenses that will be required to achieve their vision. Students upload images into the Storyboard section to create a visual representation of their story. A production schedule is created that details who does what, when and where and with what required resources.
The Online Student Studio helps students succeed in their filmmaking project by guiding them through the critical planning process of filmmaking while at the same time reinforcing personal, interpersonal and collaborative skills.
Optional: Video Conference with Nikos Theodosakis (at your request)
Via a videoconference, Nikos is available as a resource to you or your students.
Whether you have questions about project design, equipment choices, or technical execution, Nikos can help find, provide or create solutions and ideas.
We have a multi camera videoconference studio featuring Polycom equipment as well as iSight cameras for informal web based meetings.
We have had many successful brainstorming and question and answer sessions with classrooms all around the world.
For more information on this or any other resources please email: resources@thedirectorintheclassroom.com
Instead of waiting to have your resource shipped to you, you can pay for the PDF online, receive an email and click on a link to download the resource directly to your computer.
Our first video PDF is on Preserving Culture. The document discusses why Preserving Culture is relevant and important in any school curriculum and provides guidance on how you can incorporate filmmaking as a way of exploring, documenting and preserving culture and history in your school and/or community.
The Preserving Your Culture PDF is available for purchase now! Just click here:
http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/preservingPDF.php
LeRoy is the Director of the Burninghill Foundation, a non-government organization of the University which is spearheading a campaign to encourage the use of digital media in the classroom. LeRoy asked Nikos to present a two hour presentation on how filmmaking inspires learning in the classroom, to an audience of high school teachers.
Steve Goodman, author of "Teaching Youth Media: A Critical Guide to Literacy, Video Production and Social Change" also presented via video conference from New York.
The conference was a success and The Director in the Classroom is continuing to work with LeRoy to develop a South Africa page for The Director in the Classroom website, which will host content and resources specific to using filmmaking in a classroom in South Africa.
Over the coming year LeRoy will work with The Director in the Classroom to create and develop the first annual student film festival. We hope to bring you an article next August to celebrate the launch of this exciting event!
As a result of this workshop and others around the United States and Canada we have developed a downloadable video PDF that is available for purchase through our site. The PDF provides a similar introduction to the value of using Preserving Culture Filmmaking Projects in the classroom and provides you with the steps on how to begin your own project. For more information on the PDF click here:
http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/preservingPDF.php
We look forward to viewing the first Preserving Your Culture Alaska video documents in the near future.
The publication will be ready in Fall 2006. For anyone interested in ordering a copy of The Director in the Classroom in Korean, please go to our international orders page.
http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/intlorder4.php
As we start to publish and present our materials in Asia, Europe and Africa, we look forward to expanding our role as "matchmaker" between classrooms around the world. If you are interested in collaborating on a filmmaking project with another classroom on this planet, let us know, and lets see if we can help connect you with another class. This is another free resource of The Director in the Classroom.
What are you looking for?
Getting Started helps you to - "Get Started" - using filmmaking in your classroom. It is designed so that you can ask questions about how to start using filmmaking in your classroom - you may have questions about what equipment to use, how to use filmmaking to teach mathematics, or how to encourage students to work together to create their own projects. The "Getting Started" section is your forum to ask all of these questions and more!
Click on the "Getting Started" section, and fill out the form provided. The form will be submitted to us here and all questions will be answered by Nikos Theodosakis and the Director in the Classroom team. We will email you a response directly as well as post your questions and answers in the Getting Started section - this way we will begin to build a resource for other teachers and educators who may be wondering the same thing that you are!
Help the resource grow, go ahead ask a question! And then get started!
After winning a $5000 Innovation Fund from my district
school board in April, my students and I were pumped
for another round of filmmaking in the following year.
The ’04-’05 school year therefore started with
anticipation, pride, and a sense of accomplishment.
Being a split grade class, it was good that the Gr. 8
students in the class already had some experience from
the year before; another round would certainly give
those students more opportunities to hone their
skills. The Gr. 7’s were very eager to learn. They had
never done filmmaking before in school.
I built filmmaking into the students’ timetable. Two
periods per week (120 minutes) were devoted to it.
With so much potential as a teaching approach,
whatever that was taught, learned and done in those
two periods did in fact cover the various curricula
(e.g., Language Arts, Drama, Computer & Technology,
and Mathematics). Those two periods were used for
formative assessment, feedback, and reinforcement of
skills as the students worked on their film projects.
Students first formed groups of six or seven and asked
to identify themselves with a name that would be used
as the name of their production company. After a
lesson on roles in filmmaking, they decided amongst
themselves who would do what. After lessons on
writing, story structure and screenplays during
regular Language Arts periods, students worked on
their story and script during those two filmmaking
periods. Naturally, drama periods were used to
practise acting skills and to look at more scripts. As
the scripts were close to completion, students were
taught how to do a storyboard, shot list and the use
of sound to enhance images.
I also put together a handbook for classroom
filmmaking that was over a hundred pages and each
student received one.
The various roles and responsibilities “kicked in”
after the completion of the story and its adaptation
into screenplay. If a student assumed a position of
much responsibility (e.g., director, production
manager), s/he was held accountable to the producer
(i.e., the teacher). It was a top-down model of
management to imitate Hollywood (the image of
Hollywood seems to motivate students). Although there
was a clear hierarchy, no one was allowed to be
treated with disrespect. This meant I had to supervise
diligently, be very alert to classroom dynamics, and
do conflict resolution. Even with that, some felt
their position was stressful.
Fake money was created and distributed for the purpose
of budgeting. For every $1000 earned, students could
exchange it for a draw ticket after the film festival
in June. I donated a cash prize of five $20 bills for
the draw. There was so much excitement during the draw
as you can imagine.
The common experience of filmmaking created bonds in
the class that would last a very long time. The
memories and thrills of the film festival were worth
the effort and hard work. We figure we were probably
one of the very few middle school classes in Canada
that had done so much filmmaking as regular
programming. The reason being that not a lot of
schools would have that much equipment. The students
in that particular class in the 2004-2005 school year
now all have a DVD to remember that year of their
lives in which they literally spent blood, sweat and
tears to finish their movie, and almost all of them
said they would do it all over again. I still believe
in the motivational power and educational value of
filmmaking. I just hope more classrooms can experience
its magic.
------------------------
Stephen Yuen
Thank you to Stephen for sharing his filmmaking success story with us!
The result of their first filmmaking project is the DVD: "Lincoln 'Railhead at Auburn Ravine Station' a collaborative project that tells the story of the Lincoln Railhead.
Students interviewed local historian Jerry Logan and visited the local musuem to record pictures and archives to include in their DVD.
The videos, photos and interviews brought to life the history and culture of Lincoln, California, as told through the eyes of its current students.
The video brought to life the history and culture of Dutch Flat as seen through the eyes of the children who live in the historic gold country of the Sierra mountain range, California.
The DVD was awarded a prize from the History Channel for the historical value of the film and the students and teachers involved with creating the DVD were rewarded with a trip to Washington D.C.
Congratulations Alta-Dutch Elementary School!
Interviewing people about their life gives us insight into the world that we live in. People's recollection of what they did, how they felt, and why they did the things they did remind us that history is not a thing which happened on its own, but rather, history is a series of personal experiences, created one at a time, by individuals, one decision at a time.
There have been hundreds of thousands of documentaries made that tell the stories of people and events. Many use the technique of interviews to give the audience insight and information about the subject that is being explored.
The people in your family, school and community are a great resource for discovering information on a variety of subjects ranging from historical events, the arts, geography, sports and much more. To make your interviewing experience the best that it can be, consider the following steps.
Step One: Establish who your subject is.
This will depend on what you are researching and the information that you would like to explore.
Step Two: Confirm your subject.
Once you have decided who you would like to interview phone or visit the person. Explain what your project is about and ask whether they would be interested in helping you by being interviewed.
Step Three: Permission
Make sure that your subject gives their permission to be interviewed and recorded on videotape. A simple permission form should be completed and filed before filming begins.
Step Four: Determining a good time and place for an interview
Ask your subject when it would be possible to interview them? Discuss where the interview should take place - this is where you can be creative and explore ideas for an interesting location.
Preparing Questions:
Before the day of the interview arrives prepare yourself by listing on paper a series of questions. You may, and should ask new questions that you had not prepared, but it is essential to have at least some questions ready to ask.
You may want to think of some introductory questions to start with, so that you get your subject used to being interviewed on camera, e.g. What is their name? Where were they born? etc.
Next consider some questions to ask that relate to what your project is about. Try and think of questions that will encourage your subject to tell stories and details about your project topic, instead of questions that may result in a 'yes' or 'no' answer.
Even though you have prepared questions in advance, one of the exciting things about interviewing someone is that you discover new things - so remember to let your subject expand on things that are relevant, and ask new questions you may not have thought of until the interview.
Planning:
Decide exactly what equipment you need and check that all of your equipment is in running order before you go to the interview.
Before you begin your interview determine what each person in your crew is responsible for - e.g. who will take care of the lighting?
Production:
Make sure that you arrive on time and have all the information, material and equipment you need. To set up the interview, determine where the subject is going to be - taking into consideration the technical aspects of sound and lighting.
Record a minute of test footage before you begin, to ensure that everything is working and that the lighting and sound is acceptable.
Now you are ready to start your interview!
Start your interview with your warm up questions so that the subject can get used to talking and can become less nervous. Make sure you listen to what your subject is saying and that you are not just reading off your list of questions. Take your time and remember to ask any new questions that you might think of at the time.
When the interview is finished be sure to thank your guest before they leave or if you are at their house, before you leave!
Congratulations - you have finished your first great interview!
Follow Up:
Write a thank-you letter to your subject and enclose any photos or videos that you wish to give them in appreciation of their time.
Thank you to Michal and Gloria of Poland, who feature in our photo.
Wendy Sheridan, Elise Soothill and Sharon Birdsall have been dedicated supporters of The Director in the Classroom over the past couple of years, using filmmaking to inspire their students in their classrooms. Wendy, Elise and Sharon now continue to represent The Director in the Classroom by distributing our books from New Zealand.
We also have an Australian representative, Clinton Isle, who has also been using The Director in the Classroom in his teaching. His company, Island Resouces, now distributes The Director in the Classroom books and posters in Australia.
The way to order our resource materials has not changed. All orders will continue to be received through The Director in the Classroom office and website
Good on ya! and Ka Kite!
"The Howe tornado documentary lesson will start in February. I plan on
sending district-wide notes and community flyers to encourage our
townspeople to contact me for a student-led interview. Our main focus
will be to tell the story from a handful of people's experiences and
point-of-view. For example, a couple from our community was scheduled
to get married that following weekend in a church that was completely
destroyed by the tornado . . . they will have a unique story to tell.
We will be creating two separate projects, the 1961 disaster and
the tornado preparedness video focusing on our new storm shelter (made possible by a FEMA grant). I will create an iDVD project with menus for the two stories
and a behind the scenes look at the student's attempt to document the
project. I think this project will be an awesome example of community-service
learning!"
We thank Tammy for sharing with us her project ideas and wish Howe Public Schools success in creating their living history video document.
If you or your school have project ideas or successes that you would like to share with us please email us at nikos@thedirectorintheclassroom.com
The senior students make arrangements to meet the new student and their parent three weeks before the student is due to start school. The students arrange for pre-school visits and discuss the elements of the video they have planned, gathering details to help them create their video project. The senior students take the project seriously, working together to write a script, creating storyboards, and conducting interviews in preparation for filming. Once the filming is complete the students work on school computers to edit and review the video, often using their own time to complete their project.
Completed video projects are screened at the school assembly, encouraging the whole school to celebrate the arrival of the new student. Every teacher and student learns to know the new entrant by face and name, helping to make the student feel welcomed and at ease in their new environment. In creating these video projects, not only is a child's first day recorded for parents and family to keep, but the new student feels secure and comfortable in their new surroundings especially while they are being guided and helped by their two senior student buddies.
The project has been a huge success with the students, parents and teachers of the school and community. Once the project is completed and screened, a copy is placed on the school intranet for other students to view and parents are presented with a copy to keep. Principal John Western says that "the whole process means all children are special from their first day at school and senior students learn skills that they will be able to apply to everyday life situations."
Marcin agreed to do an interview with us as a way of sharing the challenges and rewards he has experienced along the way.
TDIC: What age are the students that you teach and are they from a private or public school?
MK: My students are from 7 to 11 years old. They are from a public elementary school near 267 in Warsaw.
TDIC: How did you get started and why?
MK: A friend of mine from another town started to do filmmaking workshops for children and youth. I was unemployed at the time and thought that instead of wasting my time I should do something like this for free. I told my friend about my idea and asked if she knew of any "cultural house" that would be interested in my idea. Her mother was a teacher in a school and she sent me to the principal who, after reading my synopsis was very enthusiastic. So I got the job, and they even pay me!
TDIC: What are some of the challenges you have faced and how have you overcome them?
MK: My first challenge was the number of children I had in my class. In the beginning there were 18 students per hour, so it was impossible to do anything. The school ended up giving me more hours so I could split the children up into groups. Some kids resigned after some time, and at the end of the year only about 50% survived, so I was left with 35 children.
The other challenge was my lack of experience working with children. I needed time and advice about how to gain some authority. I like my students and am often too soft on them.
TDIC: What are some of the benefits or highlights that you have seen as a result of using filmmaking in your classroom?
MK: Many kids have talents they can't express in a typical school teaching program. Teaching art is often at the end of the list of goals in the school system. I'm tying to give my students a chance to use their own fascination with film. If one kid likes to draw - he becomes the "matte painter" if another student makes great animals with modeline, then she will make the puppets. Some of them have really good camera skills.
Kids have started to become more creative. Even if they are still copying motifs from Harry Potter or "The Incredibles", they think more than in the beginning of the adventure.
My personal satisfaction is that many children who never go to extra lessons have come to my class and have stayed and changed themselves. They have become more brave and more sociable. I know from other teachers and the parents of the students that I have become somebody important for many of these children.
TDIC: What are some of the topics or subjects that your students have covered using filmmaking in the classroom?
MK: This year I have been testing some things out. I've collected many resources from the internet and have had many consultations with professionals such as Nikos Theodosaskis. I have been trying to find what kids really like and how much they are able to understand. We have tried many topics of filmmaking, including acting (using dialogs, poems, doing panthomine and screenwriting). We've also done some simple special effects. My students have learnt a little about working on the set as Directors, camerapeople etc.
We have been working on some larger projects more recently, such as popular poems for children. We are still working on these at the moment. I decided to use a greenscreen to do this, the kids have been acting in front of it and they draw the sceneography in afterwards.
We also experimented with photography one day when our camcorder was broken. Instead of watching "Wallace and Gromit" for the n-th time I announced a photography session using my digital still camera. The children worked in pairs, one kid was the photographer and the other one a model. Even the 7 year olds made photos that had "something more."
TDIC: What has been the most enjoyable part of this learning process - for yourself and for your students?
MK: Children like it when something is happening. They like to have a camera in their hands, to draw, to act... There are moments when the troublemakers are quiet, the crew is focussed and we are shooting...It is the most exciting and enjoyable part. Well, maybe watching the dailies is more fun!
Personally, I like it when the students are giving me some cards or gadgets that they have made.
TDIC: What suggestions would you give to teachers who are interested in beginning to use filmmaking in their classroom?
MK: Hmm..hard question...do not overdose theory. There was a slogan once in Poland: "Bawiac uczyc" - "teaching by playing." Kids like to listen about the history of filmmaking, the anecdotes from the past etc, but only for a very short time. Many things are too abstract for them - e.g. they can understand why the greenscreen works, but they don't understand how or when to use closeup. Whatever they do there is a reason to be proud of them.
Sometimes its hard work, very hard work. Sometimes it is depressing when everything is falling apart, but the satisfaction is incredible.
TDIC: Why do you continue to use filmmaking in the classroom?
MK: I love this work. I don't know when, but it became a part of my way of life. I've learned a lot, about kids, about my work in schools. Some ideas I put away, and have tonnes of new ones. There is a lot to do...many films to be made, many Oscars to be won :)
In January I made a short film with three 9 year old boys about "the block", for a competition organized by the mayor of the district. We didn't win, but we did get a distinction.
Now I am working on a website which will be devoted to filmmaking in the classroom in Poland.
The students in the photos are Krzysztof, Kasia, Joasia (7 years old)
We would like to thank everyone who has submitted stories and videos to us - we appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and in recognition of your work we have created a "Thank you" section on our website.
Most recently...
Thank you to Stephen Yuen for sharing a DVD example of his student's work, as well as an engaging Documentary process of how to make a filmmaking project.
Thank you to Robert Greenberg from New York for sharing a DVD copy of the work that he did with his third graders at Murray Avenue Elementary School.
Thank you to Ivan Bradley from Lincoln High School, for sharing "Lincoln - Railhead at Auburn Ravine Station"
Thank you to Melissa Belle for sharing "An Old Town Through Young Eyes" with us - the students from Alta-Dutch Flat Elementary School who created this project were awarded a trip to Washington DC from the History Channel, in recognition of the important historical film resource that the class produced. |
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