Telling Our Stories: Using iMovie to Support Student Learning and Expression Presented by: Lori Klaus, 4th Grade Teacher- Cornelius Elementary School Brenda LeCarno- 4th Grade Student Teacher- Cornelius Elementary School |
||||||||||||||||
|
"Each of us has stories to tell about our
lives, our memories, and our dreams. Sharing our stories, and listening
to each other, helps us to understand who we are."
What:From: Who Belongs Here: An American Story
“Storytelling is one of the most basic
ways of sharing knowledge, of making sense of experiences, and of
seeing oneself in relation to others.”
Dr. Lori
Phillips, Director, Pacific Center for the Arts and Humanities in
EducationThis integrated language arts/ social studies project will be completed by a fourth grade class at Cornelius Elementary School. The students will explore storytelling, a means of communication and expression that has been practiced all over the world. The project gives these students, who are from diverse cultural and family backgrounds, an opportunity to share their own stories in this ancient format while learning to use current technology to document their stories. Why: The importance of a project like this lies in the possibility of creating self-reflective learners. Our hope is that each student will see his or her value within the context of a community of learners. The children at Cornelius Elementary come from a population that is not shown much respect in business, the media, and popular culture. It is a population of poverty, where most, but not all, are relatively recent arrivals to the U.S. For many, the home language is Spanish and parents work at low-wage agricultural and industrial jobs. For the English-speaking children, poverty is a ruling influence in their lives. The children mostly live in an aging trailer park or in government-subsidized apartments and manufactured homes. For any student, learning does not progress until there is a sense of belonging, safety, comfort, and self-worth. As teachers, our first job is to establish a climate that fosters these feelings. Only from that platform can we hope to push and encourage students to learn and grow. How: The iMovie project, “Telling Our Stories,” will build on a foundation that was laid in the fall. We studied immigration, a theme that recurs throughout the year with units on the Westward Movement and on animal adaptations. Each student completed a packet of papers that had him/her reflect on his/her own family. Students were encouraged to gather family stories, and to write and draw about their backgrounds. As a class, we read many beautiful picture books that tell the stories of different immigrants: Greek, Italian, Irish, Mexican, Chinese, Russian, and Cuban. Many of the activities referred back to these stories and helped make connections between the children in the story and our students’ lives. As a final project, Mrs. LeCarno taught an art lesson where children used photocopies of family pictures to create a collage. Using those colorized pictures along with a border of symbols from their culture, students were able to artistically represent their heritage. During the project, the children were eager to talk about the collage and what it meant, as well as why they chose to use certain symbols and pictures. The children demonstrated that they had an intense need to tell about themselves. We hope to use these collages to get students thinking about their own stories and committing them first onto paper, then into digital video formats. They will learn about the elements that make up a good story and the parts of their own lives that are important to share. After an introduction to storytelling, each student will complete a writing piece that focuses on the details of his or her own life. Next, the children will practice telling their stories, which will include speaking skills, while giving feedback to peers. Students will also be encouraged to collect any artifacts that are of importance in conveying their stories. In the next part of the process, students will counsel with Mrs. LeCarno or Mrs. Klaus, review previously completed work about their families and heritage, and plan a short (1-2 minute) presentation. Next, each student will be recorded with a digital camcorder as he or she presents this information. The digital video footage from each student will then be compiled and edited using iMovie on classroom computers. The resulting compilation of stories will be shared and discussed. Each child will have a DVD or video to take home showing the work. The storytelling experience and resulting documentation of classroom culture will serve as a means of empowering students, communicating the value of diversity and promoting feelings of individuality as well as a sense of belonging. |
||||||||||||||||
| Download
Lesson Plans for: Heritage Collage |
||||||||||||||||
Links for using
storytelling in the classroom:
Frameworks for
understanding poverty:
Links for using
digital documentation in the classroom:
|