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January 14, 2008 10:33 AM
Qwest Grant - Thurston H.S.
On a weekly basis, as students stream into the classroom, someone comments on the large check displayed proudly on the back wall of my classroom, and there is a sense of mixed excitement and anticipation that comes with my explanation of the project the check makes possible.
Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Storymapping Project will challenge Thurston High School students to share stories of the place they call home. This concept of story mapping, www.storymapping.org/, involves students in the process of going out into their community, unearthing stories connected to specific places in Springfield, interviewing those involved in the stories, turning it into a digital story format, and then publishing via Google Earth to share the stories.
As a culminating part of this project, students will share the stories they find by inviting the community to attend a special screening of Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Story Mapping Project. In addition, the stories will be available online for others to see; this interactive map of Springfield with digital stories that can be clicked and viewed will only be the first in what, I hope, will become a larger collection of stories created by Springfield students about their community.
I plan to implement this unit by guiding students, working independently or in small groups of two or three, through the following stages:
1. Discovery. Students will choose to share either a story of place already familiar or find a new story of place. Through this process of discovery students will research their community using the internet, books, the local newspaper, school yearbooks, and other resources. In addition, they will find community members knowledgeable about the places found within Springfield and will conduct interviews with these individuals.
2. Scriptwriting. Students will work through the stages of the writing process, writing a script about their place story using information gathered in the interview and research process.
3. Storyboarding. Students will plan and organize the images, script voiceover, transitions, music/sound effects, and special effects that will later be blended together to create a digital story about the place they chose to tell a story about.
4. Gathering Resources. Students will collect and digitize video, photographs, and audio files that contribute to the story.
5. Movie Making. Students will work through the movie editing process using iMovie technology to blend all the elements together in the creation of a three to five minute digital story.
6. Publishing. Students will participate in planning and presenting their stories during a movie premiere. In addition, students will assist in the creation of the Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Story Mapping Project website where their stories will be made available to the public via Google Earth.
In February, the first group of students, about 120 sophomores, will begin storymapping. After receiving the first grant payment in December, I was able to order all items necessary for student recording and editing kits, a digital projector and mounting system, and additional recording and editing accessories. Five student recording kits for student use in school and available for student check out to provide students with quality products to capture audio and/or video interviews, photographs, video clips, and audio music clips. Each recording kit, packed in a protective photo/video carrying case will include one iPod nano equipped with a microphone and a Canon digital camera. In addition, five classroom editing kits, including microphones and headphones, will enable students to listen to, record, and edit audio elements.
Posted by ginnyhoke on January 14, 2008 at 10:33 AM in Ed Tech Grants | Comments (0)
