Starting at the Start: Unlocking the K-5 Moviemaking Mind

Starting at the Start:Unlocking the K-5 Moviemaking MindMichael Schoonmaker

Definitions and Assumptions

Where am I coming from? A production-centered academic Interchangeable terms: Moviemaking, Videomaking, Mediamaking, Media Production, ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)What is a movie making mind? Expansion chamber, new/old discourse, multiple intelligences, the “movies in our head”

What about the “unlocking” part?

Part invitation – encourage young learners to reveal and share their stories and visual/aural imaginationPart courage – because it could be messy. We need to consider the benefits of not holding students to form…similar to inventive spelling…encourage the expression, then deal with the form…form may frighten the child’s voice away.

Unlocking the Moviemaking MindKindergarten

Exercising Development (Conservation, concrete thought, abstract thought, difficult concepts)Starting at the start. Can you imagine what we can expect later if we engage the students earlier?

Kindergarten

Unlocking the Moviemaking MindFirst Grade

The value in seeing (and hearing) oneself - conceiving an Organic AestheticCapturing, documenting and preserving individualityEncouraging Critical thinking: new experiences, expanding minds, increasing brainpowerHealthy images and icons of school experience

First Grade

Unlocking the Moviemaking MindSecond Grade

Enabling teachers in their search for the right medium to communicate a particular ideaCreating re-usable mediaExercising writing and storytelling skillsBehavior therapy

Second Grade

Unlocking the Moviemaking MindThird Grade

Making real connections to core educational subjectsClass bonding and collaborationSeeing media production as discourse (not just another subject)

Third Grade

Unlocking the Moviemaking MindFourth Grade

Videomaking as motivation for curricular involvement – Making the idea of “Research” relevant to 4th graders.Mediamaking used in solving problems: catching things that you can’t in other instructional ways

Fourth Grade

Unlocking the Moviemaking MindFifth Grade

Giving kids their wings (toward lifelong learning) Using video to enhance expression – writing poems vs. “videoing” poemsThings they are going to remember are things that they do! (Confucius – I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand!) Leveling the playing field – shiny penny. (expanding the intelligence playing field)

Fifth Grade