The Story Behind the Video 2 Project
Students in a Language Arts class decided to produce news videos that could be used to inform students of events at the school, to recruit prospective students, and to orient students new to the school.
The students worked initially as a whole class group and then both individually and in groups. They received advice and feedback from the teacher and their peers. The students also obtained assistance from other school personnel. Much of the work was done at school; however, for the technical production of the videos the students had access to the video editing equipment in the school district’s instructional television department. They were trained in the use of the equipment by district personnel.
The project extended over several months. It occupied parts of several periods each week as well as considerable time outside class. The students' original plan was to produce one video for each reporting period. However, they learned that bringing each video to completion took more time than they had expected. They also had to work around the problem of limited availability of equipment. Eventually they managed to produce two videos, building on their experience with the first one to produce an improved product with their second attempt.
The written work produced as part of Applied Learning projects commonly contains some errors. Documentation of these projects includes notes, journal entries and plans that students produced as working documents for their personal use. These kinds of documents were not prepared with the expectation of eventual publication and they have not been revised for inclusion in this book.
It is expected that finished work produced as part of an Applied Learning project will contain virtually error free writing.
| The documentation presented from this project is not a comprehensive record of all work done as part of the project. It would be neither reasonable nor appropriate to ask students to keep detailed written records of every aspect of a project. This would defeat part of the purpose of Applied Learning which is for students to put their academic learning to work and to learn from projects that connect what they do at school to the demands of the twenty-first century workplace. Some of these standards lend themselves to assessment through observation and other less formal methods rather than through written work. |
What the
work show
The proposal contends that many of the students and their parents do not know “about what’s going on at our school.” Secondly, too many students at feeder schools are choosing to attend other middle schools. Thirdly, students new to the school have a “scary” time adjusting. The students proposed to address the problem by producing a video. The proposal includes evidence of background research and planning.
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The proposal
for the purchase of a video camera was written to the principal
rather than to an organization beyond the school. Nevertheless,
it expresses the request clearly for its purpose and audience and
is written in an appropriate style for a proposal of this sort.
It opens with a summary of the proposal; makes good use of headings
to organize the sections of the proposal; and restricts itself to
information that is pertinent to the proposal.
This comparison
chart records the findings of the students’ research into video
cameras as background for their proposal.
The letter
to a business to request funding for a video camera is expressed
clearly and is written in a style appropriate to its purpose and
audience. The students attached their proposal to the brief letter
rather than attempting to summarize it in the body of the letter.
This strategy is typical of formal business correspondence.
The business
was unable to comply with the students’ request but responded
with an offer of an alternative solution.
| This project illustrates a standard-setting
performance for the following parts of the standards: |
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 b |
Communication: Conduct formal written correspondence. |
 a |
Learning and Self-management: Learn from models. |
| b |
Learning and Self-management: Develop and maintain a schedule of work activities. |
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Learning and Self-management: Set learning goals and review progress. |
 a |
Working With Others: Take responsibility for a component of a team project. |
a
Learning and Self-management Tools and Techniques: The student
learns from models; that is, the student:
- consults with or observes other students and adults at work, and identifies the main features of what they do and the way they go about their work;
- identifies models for the results of project work, such as professionally produced publications, and analyzes their qualities;
- uses what he or she learns from models to assist in planning and conducting project activities.
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The
students learned video recording/editing skills from a professional media
specialist. This student’s log provides evidence that the students
had a clear goal of learning how to use the equipment. After mistakes
made early in the training, the students monitored their progress and
“realized we needed more instruction.” They negotiated additional
training and reported beginning to do “real editing” later in
the week. This is an example of students assuming responsibility for the
direction of their learning.
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The students produced these rubrics for their own use and did not revise them for publication.
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The students used “Good Morning, America” as a model for
their work. The documents provide evidence of the students’
analysis of the qualities of the program, their use of the analysis
to develop a rubric for evaluating their own production, and the
evaluation of their work based on the elements of that rubric.
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The students used a number of strategies for scheduling their work activities.
Several documents show students working in teams and having a clear sense of the general task and also of each individual member’s part of the task.
Even though the work demonstrates recognition of individual responsibility and obvious agreement among group members, there is also the recognition that things could have been better. This log entry includes a suggestion for more efficient use of time through better communication among the several teams, possibly through the use of a bulletin board to share the schedules for all of the groups. |
This calendar
was the method adopted by one student to schedule the work activities
associated with the project as well as other commitments and events.
Another
student used her log entry to establish a schedule of the work
that needed to be done and incorporated a calendar into her plan.
This log
produced by a third student offers suggestions for ways of improving
the efficiency of the project’s operations to overcome clashes
in the schedules of the various groups.
The “JOBS
LIST” shows how the project was divided into components with
small groups of students taking responsibility for each component.
This student’s
log makes explicit reference to the need for teamwork in order
to get the work done.
