This workshop will demonstrate possibilities for educating preservice and inservice teachers about integrating participatory practices across the school curriculum. As Nicole Mirra (2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2016) has beautifully documented in her series of DML blog posts on developing teacher education coursework around multimodal literacies, we are only beginning to explore how to create teacher professional development around “strong, technology-enriched pedagogy” within schools.
Specifically, we’ll engage participants in a cycle of “Tabletop Movie Making” in which we introduce the basics of video making and the vocabulary of film. As Huerta (2015) writes, the collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking and “pitching” of filmmaking in classrooms is distinctly meta-cognitive work for all students, especially those with special needs.
We will use iPads, miniature diorama set construction, puppet-like character creation, and script development in a series of “build/make/ break” exercises. Small groups will each produce a short video incorporating a range of shots, editing techniques, and voice-over audio recording. Participants will pass through the 5 active verbs of the method: write, build, shoot, edit and share.
The presenters have teamed to offer these rapid-iterative, collaborative, and creative sessions across preservice and inservice teacher education courses on one university campus. One presenter has also done multiple Tabletop Movie Making workshops across school and community settings. Dreamworks animation used these methods for internal professional development with staff. He has also trained over 500 Los Angeles teachers to bring video work into the classroom in partnership with Los Angeles County Museum of Art Art + Film Institute (which has adopted Tabletop MovieMaking as their core method for educator workshops).
In the 90 minutes, we will provide context of the “why” of film-making in K-12 schools and in teacher education, produce the videos through a progression of exercises, screen the videos, and then reflect and discuss together the integration of these methods across the curriculum.
We will provide iPads, all “analog” materials for set and character construction, and other equipment.
