Sunday, January 9, 2011

Lesson Plans On Film Making In The Elementary Classroom

By Brandie Watson


There is no medium more ideal for storytelling than film. In a classroom setting, lesson plans on film making can be an excellent teaching tool to promote and support literacy attainment in elementary schools. Lessons can be as simple or as detailed as teachers want, and can be easily adapted to suit interests, thematic content and student abilities. The process itself can be broken into many different stages, and is a resourceful strategy for teaching with many assessment opportunities.

Through collaboration, students will develop their writing skills as they plan out their film. Teachers can break down the components of the writing process by planning teachable portions, such as teaching story structure through brainstorms in groups. Students will also write scripts, which allow for more teachable points such as voice tone. An example of this might be a documentary, where an anchor person may use formal voice tone, whereas an interviewee may use informal voice tone. There is also an opportunity for unconfident writers and visual learners to meaningfully participate when a storyboard is illustrated.

Film making can also assist with reading. During collaborative work, students are constantly reading the work of others, as well as interpreting what has been written, and re-reading their own work as the project progresses. Students who act in the resultant film will also need to read the script.

For those students who are less confident or speak English as a second language, filmmaking can greatly help with listening and speaking by providing a well structured and planned environment. Confident students will also relish the opportunity to excel. Valid assessments will also be easier to obtain when listening and speaking activities are recorded in the form of storyboards and the film itself.

Students will also rapidly learn about such viewing conventions as audience as they construct a viewing project. Although viewing has traditionally been difficult to assess, much like speaking and listening, evidence of understanding will be very clear in the resultant film.

Collecting the resources needed for a film project may seem like a daunting task, and teachers may avoid this type of project because of this seeming difficulty. Teachers who are not comfortable with the technological requirements may similarly avoid filmmaking. It is, however, not too difficult. Webcams and personal cameras are well equipped to deal with video footage, and students often own camcorders that can also be used. Whilst doing post-production editing on a computer is fantastic, it is not a vital necessity, especially when camcorders are used. Students and teachers may simply need to spend additional time on planning and preparation before filming.

If teachers do decide to use editing programs on the computer, students may feel much more motivated to edit their work after filming. Evaluation of their own work and the work of other students will occur as editing progresses and the finished film is viewed.

Lesson plans on film making clearly have their advantages as far as supporting a thorough and interesting literacy program. The scope for inventive ways to break down the project is so great that this type of planning will suit any teacher, regardless of experience or budget.




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