Page 148 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

106 Chapter 6: Real-World Writing

Visual Writing Projects

Here are more filming options you can do with your students in one or two class periods to building
their visual literary and writing skills:
Book Trailers: I often have students make a These informational texts could be used to teach,
book trailer for their favorite book. Any good pre- inform, or narrate content.
view needs a balance of words and images to invite Lego Movies: My son is obsessed with Legos,
others to read the book. which inspired me to ask him to help me create a
Character Music Videos: When my students Lego version of a few scenes from A Midsummer
read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Night’s Dream. We took still pictures of various
they work in small groups to select a character from Lego scenes and screencast the images and text
the text, choose a theme song for that character, together. Your students could do the same with any
and create a music video to convey his or her poem, book, or play. (See Chapter 5 for more about
characterization. If your students are musically how much fun Legos can be as a teaching tool to
inclined, you might even assign students to create spark creativity.)
their own song that represents the character. This Common Craft Videos: I love the ideas and im-
blends creative writing and filmmaking. ages presented in many the Common Craft videos.
Art Comes to Life: Inspired by a wordless Technically, these are screencasts of illustrated
picture book, students use an image from Chris presentations. You can have your students create
Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick as a Common Craft–style videos on their own or using
catalyst to create a video that expands on the mys- the Common Craft Cut Outs. You can sign up for
tery of the picture presented in the book. Students a free pack of twenty-five Cut Outs online or pay
can choose between making a silent film or one a fee to access the complete library available on
with dialogue. Common Craft.
Films Genre Project: I often give my students Interactive Adventure Video: YouTube has a
choices with the projects they create in my class- feature that allows you to link videos within videos.
room. When students are studying Shakespeare, I In the past, my students created a series of videos
give them the option to present a scene as a silent that analyzed critical theories of gender, race, and
film, rap, or musical. You can have students reenact class in Disney animation. We linked all the videos
a scene using any film genre. together, allowing viewers to choose customized
TED Talks: We all watch them. Have your paths for learning or investigation. The same could
students create a short TED talk about their own be done with story flow if students write a branch-
passion and interests. Sir Ken Robinson’s “Do ing story with multiple paths to different endings,
Schools Kill Creativity?” (2006) offers a catalyst for similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure series
students to craft their own TED talk on how to make of novels.
their school a better place. Stop Motion Animation: As detailed in Chapter
Prezi Screencasts: Students create a presen- 5, there are so many possibilities for students to
tation using Prezi or Microsoft PowerPoint and then create a stop motion animation to explain a con-
screencast themselves giving the presentation. cept, continue a story, and more.

Excerpted from Chapter 6, “Real-World Writing: Writing Skills to Succeed Beyond School.”

New Realms for Writing: Inspire Student Expression with Digital Age Formats 148