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By Michael Schoonmaker, Author, Cameras in the Classroom Where to begin with K-5 school video? My three boys are pretty much “grown up” now (ages 21, 19 and 15), but there was a time not long ago when they were among the little people. By little people, I’m referring to children in the K-5 grade range – somewhere between emerging child and emerging young adult: the picture that comes to mind when you say, “kid.” When it comes to school video, these little people are not that easy to figure out. What can we hope to accomplish using video with kids? They are works in progress when it comes to basic communication skills like listening, speaking and writing and they are not quite aware of the idea of process—a concept so inherent in video practices (training, planning, collaboration) beyond simple and repetitive rules like, “No talking,” or “Stay in line.” Like the little people themselves, I began my school video experiences in kindergarten. I was not immediately successful. Although I left each experience saying to myself, “there’s something there!” I didn’t really understand what “that something” was, and it was frustrating. My basic approach was to illuminate kids on the magic and processes of video. I was the expert with all the knowledge and they were the little people with their blank canvas of media understanding. I had so much to impart, but when I set out to impart it, something didn’t feel right. I was missing something. They were restless, even on the indifferent side when it came to my presentations. Maybe they were just too little. A couple of years went by and I ended up well into the second grade before I began to figure out just what I had been doing wrong , and it was not that they were too little to understand. It turns out I was the one who didn’t understand. A television network came to town and shot a news magazine exposé on the subject of kids and sex, particularly the damage of their overexposure to sex through media. The network ended up observing and interviewing many of the same children I had been working with over the years. On a personal level, I felt threatened. The subject was a volatile one and I worried that the producers (who I knew nothing about) were in a position of misrepresenting these children. I worried that they would embarrass them and their school. In the end, they did. In addition to the embarrassment, it was the way that the producers did it that illuminated to me—like a mirror of my own treatment of the K-5 kids—what happens when you don’t pay attention to the little people. The producers got what they were looking for: a scathing indictment on media’s role in exposing kids to sex. But they didn’t listen to the kids as they were collecting what they needed. In short, the kids were talking about sex and media, but they were also demonstrating a surprising critical awareness of sex beyond its surface. For instance, while they were participating in the experiments and interviews, they were simultaneously demonstrating their awareness of moral codes and social nuances around sex in society. They were not just aware of sex. They were discussing it in a mature and articulate manner. But the producers were oblivious to this because they were operating on the same premise as I had, that when it came to their subject matter (in this case an adult concept of sex) they were all-knowing and the kids were a blank canvas. The fact was that kids were far from “blank” on the issue of sex and they had something to say about it, not just as innocent children, but also as young, thoughtful and involved citizens. The adults producing the news magazine exposé simply didn’t have the time or interest to recognize or appreciate this. The good news is, educators do! I thought back to my own ways of dealing with little people, not just in the inappropriateness of my “shock and awe” lectures on video in kindergarten classrooms, but also as a parent. One of my very favorite things in the world to do is to compile stories from our old home videos, especially for big events and family milestones like birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. The most time consuming part of the process is looking through all the video to find the shots to use. There are usually dozens and dozens of tapes, and hours and hours of footage on each tape. Regardless of what footage is ultimately used (or not), the tapes have to be mined through to find the right shots for the person or subject matter of the video. This process of reviewing footage always becomes surreal for me. After about the second tape, I actually feel like I’m going back in time – like a time machine. I’m not only engaged in the task of finding shots. I’m also reliving preserved moments in time and I feel like I’m there, at that first birthday party or that exciting Christmas morning or that hot summer day when the little kids made their own little video moment that I didn’t quite have time to see back then. I find myself reliving these home video moments from a different perspective. I hear my old self in the background, behind the video camera, but I also truly listen and pay attention to what I have filmed—this time not caught up in the busyness and technology of capturing the moment, rather savoring this precious moment and seeing so much more than I did then. I see them asking questions I never heard before. I see parts of them and their personalities I never took the time to see at the time. It’s like they (the grown-up 21, 19 and 15 year-olds) were there all the time. What I realize when I’m in the moment of this glorious time machine is that the little people are much more like the “big people” they will become than they are different. Sure there are tremendous physical differences, but at a very basic level these little people foreshadow what the older versions have indeed become in their ultimate personalities, quirks, mannerisms. I just didn’t realize it when it was happening. In other words, kids are not blank slates. They bring something to the table even though that “something” may be difficult to see or appreciate at first. The key in working with them is to not forget that. What does all this have to do with the subject of, “Where to begin with K-5 school video?” For starters, we can help little people: · See themselves: Children are figuring out who they are at the same time teachers are. Watch what happens when you simple show kids a live picture of themselves in a classroom (ironically, a place where they are accustomed to seeing others rather than themselves). They come alive! · Express themselves: Children have much to say if we will listen. Some of it may have nothing to do with a lesson plan, but with patience and guidance most of it can. · Participate interactively in the learning process: Think of video as an ally in learning, a way to exchange between teacher and learner – rather than a one-way pipeline. · Tap into their visual energy: They have much to say beyond the bounds that we place them in. They are enormously creative if given the chance. Level their playing field in the classroom: Children who have been labeled as “special needs” or simply sluggish learners tend to show uncharacteristic strength when given the opportunity to participate in visual activities. In many ways, K-5 video is like being an atomic scientist and doing all your work based on things like atoms that you can not truly see, but you won’t be successful unless you believe they are there. If we choose to believe that the K-5 kids have something to say about who they are and what they are learning in school, and we use a little imagination (and certainly a high dose of patience!) we can accomplish a whole lot more than just gathering precious pictures and sounds. Michael Schoonmaker is Chairman of the Television-Radio-Film Department at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, and author of the book, Cameras in the Classroom: Education the Post-TV Generation. . He began his production career with MTV, then joined NBC’s Olympic production unit. He has taught television and filmmaking courses at the University for twenty years, and worked with K-12 teachers and students for the past fourteen. |
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Video K-5: What About the Little People? |
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Available now at The Broadcast Bookstore |
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May, 2008 |
