2011 Spring 8th graders Silent Films

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

My students created films that were inspired by the Silent Film genre.After analyzing the works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Birth of a Nation, they then broke up into groups of four to each fulfill a film makers role: Director, Producer, Cinematographer and Actor/Writer.

footballbulling843.mp4 Watch on Posterous

The students and I also had a great time going through various facets of the film making process, in particular, the acting games where they performed charades, pantomine and various other acting games to get them using their bodies to tell a story, rather than their voices.

jealousy.mp4 Watch on Posterous

I feel like my students got really frustrated with the whole editing process, as some of their files were deleted, misplaced or somehow just disappeared due to one reason or another. After doing this project two times already, I will instead make sure that the students simultaneously upload to Dropbox and Jaycut.

Who_run_this_.mp4 Watch on Posterous

But overall, I was really happy with the work they put out this time around. We got more videos than I did last time, in fact, I was able to get every student to upload their film to You Tube.

stop%20bullying%202.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Feel free to click on one of these files if you would like to download it. Or you can scroll through the You Tube versions on the Embedr playlist above.

when_hide_and_seek_gets_serious.mp4 Watch on Posterous

I was also pleased to see that the students were able to utilize the green screen / chroma key feature in Jaycut. The students who made the "Last Mountain Dew" video utilized it to take advantage of a rainy day and shoot inside, and the group who made "Hide and Go seek..." where able to send students in environments that they didn't think possible.

last_mountain_dew_ever.mp4 Watch on Posterous

running_away_from_school.mp4 Watch on Posterous

school_fun.mp4 Watch on Posterous

The%20Hounting.mp4 Watch on Posterous

The%20most%20messed%20up%20movie%20ever.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

2011 Spring 8th graders Silent Films

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

My students created films that were inspired by the Silent Film genre.After analyzing the works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Birth of a Nation, they then broke up into groups of four to each fulfill a film makers role: Director, Producer, Cinematographer and Actor/Writer.

footballbulling843.mp4 Watch on Posterous

The students and I also had a great time going through various facets of the film making process, in particular, the acting games where they performed charades, pantomine and various other acting games to get them using their bodies to tell a story, rather than their voices.

jealousy.mp4 Watch on Posterous

I feel like my students got really frustrated with the whole editing process, as some of their files were deleted, misplaced or somehow just disappeared due to one reason or another. After doing this project two times already, I will instead make sure that the students simultaneously upload to Dropbox and Jaycut.

Who_run_this_.mp4 Watch on Posterous

But overall, I was really happy with the work they put out this time around. We got more videos than I did last time, in fact, I was able to get every student to upload their film to You Tube.

stop%20bullying%202.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Feel free to click on one of these files if you would like to download it. Or you can scroll through the You Tube versions on the Embedr playlist above.

when_hide_and_seek_gets_serious.mp4 Watch on Posterous

I was also pleased to see that the students were able to utilize the green screen / chroma key feature in Jaycut. The students who made the "Last Mountain Dew" video utilized it to take advantage of a rainy day and shoot inside, and the group who made "Hide and Go seek..." where able to send students in environments that they didn't think possible.

last_mountain_dew_ever.mp4 Watch on Posterous

running_away_from_school.mp4 Watch on Posterous

school_fun.mp4 Watch on Posterous

The%20Hounting.mp4 Watch on Posterous

The%20most%20messed%20up%20movie%20ever.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

I got published in Ascent Aspirations Spring 2011 Anthology! (Check it out here)

Ascent Aspirations is an online and print magazine that was seeking a collection of short pieces or poetry that revolved around work. I thought this would be a great opportunity to gripe about an unfortunate point in my education career, but it was also a moment of humbling reflection.

Even though I had to pay 10$ for the fees, my work was accepted and printed into this international work. I am really happy to see this is the first time that I got something into an international print, and hopefully this will be just one more staple into hopefully getting a literary agent someday. 

 

Listed below is the short work "Teachers are Professionals (But When We Aren't, Kids Can Get Away With Murder)"which  I scanned the two pages in the printed book. You can also CLICK THIS LINK if you would like to order your own copy of the book.