sheppard News

Poem Source? Captioning?

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 21:06:36 GMT

Mary said: I am curious about the poem you used. Is there an original that you used as a springboard? I am also very curious about how you inserted the text over the images. What a great way to make the video inclusive. I know your purpose was to assist a hearing impaired student....

Thanks for your comments and questions, Mary --the poem was modeled on one that Karen Adams gave me --I'll put into my weblog for anyone who wants to use it. In regards to the captioning, the Pearson people completed that just on that one film, but in general I know it was accomplished the same way that the title and credits were, but then the text had to be incorporated into the time line of the film, just like the voiceover and the images were. Fran

Writing and the Digital Film Experience

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 18:16:04 GMT

The 6th grade students had several important writing experiences during their digital film experience:

The first one was basically a list of the "cultural universals" (elements that define a culture --examples might be art, music, movement/dance, food, costume, etc) and how they apeared in that student's life.
The creation of an individual poem that communicates at least five of these personal culture descriptions.
Table-group sharing of poem and revision of the poem; second drafts
Highliting of key nouns and verbs in poem lines to consider visual images that would accompany the thoughts exressed
Creation of the storyboard - the writing down of asset ideas to accompany segments of their poem lines.
After the group assignments were announced, the trios of students had to work together to look for a structure within which to integrate their poems (--this was easy for some groups, but harder for others whose members didn't write on the same cultural elements.)
Groups rewrote their group poem -- making it flow, giving it a beginning and end., creating their voice-over.
After making the films, I had the students write about the process. I asked them to consider what they learned, what was easy, hard, and what they would change about the experience

6th Graders Can be Film Makers!

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 16:17:34 GMT

Whew! We did it! By the end of September, fifty-nine 6th graders at Albany Middle School had made their first film! Talk about concentration--the students' faces and effort showed their commitment to their project, as they downloaded, uploaded, spliced, panned, dissolved, and per-fected their "Where I'm From" digital film. The Pearson professionals (Michael and Claron-and occasionally, David) were the maestros--with patience and good-humor, they guided, instructed, and rescued. Both the students and the teacher (me) learned new skills and tapped reserves of creativity.
"Such Concentration!"

One of the things I learned: get volunteers to help! At least twelve parents participated at one time of another over the two weeks that the students worked to gather their assets and/or integrate assets into their films. One retired parent came every day of the project, and scanned, took photos, and downloaded students' emailed assets to their folders (thank you, David Diaz!)
A couple of (hopefully) helpful ideas:

Create two classroom email locations to whcih students can email assets their assets (one alone will become too full!)
Write down instructions for asset gathering for students to review at home --otherwise they flounder. (Modify and use our version if you want--it's on the 'recent discussion page'. I'm trying to figure out how to make it more accessible. )

Here are a couple of the students poems. They were written individually, but later rewritten as group poems to use as the voice over for their films.

"Where I'm From" by Teo M

I am from the mosh pit where someone

            from the punk rock band
          dives
                 into
       the
                                   crowd

I am from the parents who translate from one to the other

from Spanish to English and such

I am from the ollies, kick flips, heel flips and 50-50s

I am from the unfinished yard work waiting for
my parents’ backs and hands

I am from the punk because of my dark clothes and bleached hair

I am from the carne asada burritos because of my late night dinners

I am from the pick ups that collect the sound out of my bass and

shoots them through my amplifier

I am from the soul of my band when we play together.

(Here's another:)

"Poem" by Jane

I am made of knitting needles

Wooden, strong, and thin.

And soft yarn and sockinette stitches

From Loud screaming,

Smiling faces, of six-year-olds.

Listening far beyond beyond

To my father’s er-hu play

Soulful, imperfect songs,

Like Life.

Of black paint, wet in a bottle

Not yet in its true form

Mixes of blue, gray, silver, and mystery

What is life anyway

It’s wondering

Wandering

Laughing

Hoping

Life has no meaning

If you know everything.

So leave some questions to ponder

Pearson meeting

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 20:44:33 GMT

Thursday, 9/15, David and Michael came to AMS. After checking out the electrical outlets in my classroom, it became apparant that we would need a way for the students to save their files digitally as they collect their assets. Because the classroom technology is antiquated (Windows 98-and mostly dead computers) we're trying to figure out whether the server in the library can be temporarily brought into the class for students to store their info on. Stacy is hugely helpful -- she's got more technical knowledge and experience than I have, and is so willing to help and teach.

What I have to do first is set up small groups (three students each--a weak, a strong, and a middle) and then get these groups made into ready files on the server for students to be able to put digital photos, video, and writing into.

I also have to contact my adult volunteers and schedule help with photo/video taking. This "week-before" is all about students capturing their assets --they should bring in their first draft of their writing on Monday; on Tuesday they'll highlite the key words (nouns, verbs) of their poem that they can capture visually. I figure this process of gathering their pictures (using digital camera, video camera, magazine,etc pictures which can be scanned) will take the rest of the week. If possible, by Friday, trios of students will work together to integrate their poems and think about the bigger picture of their digital film.

whew--I've bit off a big chunk --but I'm excited.

Saturday 9/16 Galileo workshop

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 20:09:29 GMT

whew --now I think I know how to post a news item!

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 20:00:40 GMT

Guiding Questions

Fran Sheppard — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:33:07 GMT

click here to read TI2005 Guiding Questions

T.I. Collaboration

Fran Sheppard — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 05:16:39 GMT

On the first day of the institute, I was so glad to see that I was to be seated next to Stacy. She's been the "new" librarian at AMS for two years, but we hadn't gotten to spend any time together. Our intense T.I. week of focused work, our sharing of our personal films, and our assistance to each other have changed our relationship. Now I see that we can be a team. Collaboration builds respect and understanding between people.
During our "Peer Revision" stage of writing the narratives for our films, our table decided to read aloud and rspond orally to the drafts. We "honored" the writer by hearing her read her work aloud, and then giving her positive and constructive comments. I'm so glad we did; our sense of community deepened sooner because of that sharing, and the quality of feedback was greater. Later as we were working on the technical aspects of our films, each of us asked for and gave assistance to the others. This was invaluable to me, because so often the questions I had could be quickly answered by someone else who had had a little more experience, or a was a step ahead of me in the process. On the other hand, I could help someone else because I had learned another aspect earlier (specifically the scanner, in my case!) So we accomplished so much more as a team!

day 3 Its Taking Shape!

Fran Sheppard — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 23:57:40 GMT

Deciding to cut my film in half was the best advice I could've been given. The length of my narrative evolved from over ten minutes, down to six and a half, and now to about three minutes. The span of my story started off huge: like my whole life and everything I've ever learned about love. Ha! Now my topic is much more managable -- and while it's going to be a little embarassing to have people actually see my film (which may appear pretty narcisstic because it's focused on my childhood) --it represents a ton of learning and enjoyment. Yay!

Now that I understand a little of the process of film making, I want to make a film of my husband paragliding. I love the sky and the mountains and the sea that are usually the backdrops for his colorful wing. I just wish the Pearson folks could back me up on my next project the way they have on this first one! At least they'll be with me as my 6th graders try a first stab at film making this September. I figure the stduents will work in partners and interview each other and illustrate their short introductory films with photos from their home life and their interests. Should be fun --and I'll get to reinforce what I've been learning too!

It Worked!

pat delaney — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 19:55:06 GMT

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