Twenty-First-Century Literacy: Lights, Camera, Action!

We have a very exciting announcement to share!

Students in the Hive (aka the Studio 17 Production Studio) have been working very hard over the last several weeks to produce the first of five episodes of a TV production titled Ever Wonder? With the support and generosity of the B.E.S.T. organization, we were awarded a grant that has allowed us to rethink literacy and embed opportunities for students to develop twenty-first-century literacy skills into our existing curriculum. Our intent is to utilize film-making technology as a means to help students develop some of these important skills. We see this as an innovative, rigorous, engaging, and authentic way for students to interact with curriculum content.

Leveraging students’ inherent interest in YouTube videos, TV, and films is the key to creating an inviting and engaging literacy experience. Students will learn the many roles required to produce a feature film, documentary, series, interview, and/or commercial, and create a variety of digital video products for a public audience. Utilizing this process will not only allow us to bolster the development of key language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) but hone in on multimodal literacy skills as well (linguistic, visual, oral, gestural, and spatial). Film-making allows students to explore new pathways for learning and allows teachers the opportunity to discover student interests and contributions, and identify and nurture hidden talents.

This type of learning experience inspires and encourages creativity and problem-solving, maximizes flexible thinking, and provides endless opportunities for meaningful collaboration while allowing students to develop an understanding and appreciation for diverse student perspectives. Students will have opportunities to explore and develop a deeper understanding of curriculum content as well as important issues that exist in our school, local, national, and global communities.  An added bonus is that producing episodes related to previously learned curriculum content provides students with an opportunity to engage in retrieval practice - the act of deliberately recalling information, which forces us to pull our knowledge “out” and examine what we know or something we have already learned. It’s an all-around win!

The first of five episodes can be viewed below. Stay tuned for future episodes to be released in the coming weeks. Enjoy!