The Media Spot

Yesterday we wrapped up a high-paced media education program at Good Shepherd Services camp, with an end-of-summer video exhibition at PS 32 in Brooklyn. For 3 weeks in August, I worked with groups of middle schoolers and "tweens" as part of the camp's "choices" hour at the end of each day. Different groups of campers made 2-day commitments to planning, shooting and editing short videos that were projected at yesterday's assembly for the camp community.

8th grade students choose a side on the future of Puerto Rico. Should it become independent, remain a commonwealth of the U.S., or become a U.S. State? Each group conducted research, designed a logo, and searched the Internet for images to help make their case. One group even wrote a rap! They wrote scripts, storyboarded, operated the camera and sound equipment, and edited the video (see TMS Live! for documentary footage). The projects were screened around the school, and audiences were polled aferwards on where they stood on the Puerto Rican question. Who do you think won?

For their Puerto Rican Pride assembly, 8th graders edited images of themselves into photos featuring Puerto Rican cultural and historical scenes and figures. These photos accompanied video interviews in which the students told original stories linking them to the action in the photos.

8th graders mapped out and shot a documentary tour of their neighborhood in the South Bronx.

Students from The Atlanta School (GA) collaborated with 8th graders from Community School 211 (Bronx, NY) to script and produce 3 videos using 3 different styles of filmmaking in one day at The Bronx Zoo.

8th graders adapted a scene from S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders through storyboarding and translation of descriptive text to images.

Students adapted a portion of the novel Maniac McGee for video by drawing storyboards that would capture the essence of the descriptive language.