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February, 2008 |
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Hart-Ransom Middle School Profile |
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“Video is where ‘it’s at’ with students today. It is their world: they are the YouTube generation.” Sara Martin believes that in order to reach kids today you have to adjust your teaching to hook them in and using video is one method to do that. She goes on to explain that video production, from start to finish, is one of the most cross-curricular programs you can use in schools. It involves so many disciplines, from planning and writing, to filming and editing. It’s visual, auditory, hands-on and it’s logical progression engages high level thinking skills as students synthesis their project; they arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up and write. “I can’t think of too many other projects that involve all those disciplines, says Ms. Martin, teacher at Hart-Ransom Middle School.
Video production is a cooperative effort. Learning to work together is an important skill that students need to develop to help them prepare for the workforce. She loves technology when it can be used to connect students to the real world-giving them an authentic audience is so motivating. When kids have an authentic audience they work harder, learn a lot more, connect more with their others, and are just more successful all around! Finally, video editing is just a whole lot of fun!
With a limited budget and virtually no space, the kids at Hart-Ransom put out awesome programming. Spend a few minutes and visit Sara’s video production club with us.
SVN: Tell us, Sara, about your background and how you decided to start teaching TV/Video production? SM: I have been teaching computer literacy at Hart-Ransom School for 11 years. Prior to that, I taught 5th grade. I got my undergraduate degree at UC Davis and recently completed my masters in Educational Technology. I teach students in grades 4 – 8 in a pull out program. I spend most of my time with 7th and 8th graders, all of whom take my class for 2 – 3 days a week all year long. I teach all Office Applications, Internet Safety and use, website design, Flash, Photoshop Elements, and now, this year, I have introduced video editing with Photoshop Premier Elements. Six years ago my work with Photoshop Elements was recognized by Adobe and I was asked to become an Adobe Education Leader. One of the best things about being an Ed Leader is the opportunity to network with other Ed Leaders from around the country and around the world. I had the good fortune to meet Rob Zdrojewski from Amherst Middle School in New York (see Amherst TechTV profile). He shared with me his successful news broadcast and I was motivated to try a news show at my middle school. I was also motivated this year to begin video editing at our school for a number of other reasons.
SVN: How did you obtain initial funding for your program? How do you fund the class now? SM: The video editing is part of my regular computer literacy classes so no additional funding was necessary. However, I am offering an after school class on video editing as part of our after school “Arts in Action” program. That class is funded through a grant from the state of California and runs two days a week for an hour. The news show is filmed, edited and produced either before school, during break or during lunch. I volunteer my time for the news show. SVN: Did you have equipment available? SM: I think of our program as the low budget, no frills introduction to video! It’s amazing what you can do with just a little money! We didn’t have computers capable of handling video editing, software, or cameras until last spring. We didn’t have our news room studio equipment until this fall. I am currently purchasing additional cameras (inexpensive Aipteks) to put in the hands of my video editing class members next month. Funding is a common obstacle in education but you can often find the money you need in unexpected places. At the end of last year, our after school program had a little extra money. Since the computer lab is used after school for that program we were able to use some of that money to upgrade the lab computers. During the upgrade, we purchased computers with capacity for video editing. We also purchased a site license for Adobe Premier Elements. At the end of the year I used money from technology budget to purchase 6 more digital cameras with video capabilities. Our first video project this fall utilized these cameras. I had the students film short video clips using the digital cameras and they also took still shots. Using Premier Elements they created videos that were combinations of video and stills, often with a pan and zoom affect. That way their video were smaller in size than a full video and our school server could handle 180 student projects (all 7th and 8th graders) This fall, I was able to use “Arts in Action” state grant money to buy what I needed for the news studio since that equipment will be used in the after school program. I am anticipating needing another camera and an additional tripod so I recently requested money for that from our Parent Teacher Club. I am waiting to hear back from them. Money for the additional Aiptek video cameras came from state grant money. SVN: How many kids are in the TV/Video Production classes? How is it broken down? Is it a multi-year program? SM: We are just starting our news show. To date, we have produced 5 weekly news shows. I decided to start small, taking baby steps to get started. I announced the project to all my 7th and 8th graders and encouraged them to apply. One difficulty we face is the time that we meet. Most of our kids take the bus to school. Students applying for the news team had to be able to get to school by 7:30 am on Thursdays and Fridays. For most of them that meant they needed to be able to get a ride to school from their parents. Each student completed an application, got parent permission, and 3 teacher recommendations. Only 8 students applied (six boys and two girls). They all were qualified, and I was able to accept them all. |
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