Module 8

In this unit, we focused on video production and using video technology as a form of literary analysis. I know that I never enjoyed making videos in high school, and they always turned out to be painful, stressful experiences. However, the activities we discussed seemed to have more guidelines and purpose, so I can see how video production can be a valuable form of assessment that I would definitely consider using in an English classroom. From Gura’s chapters and in our in-class discussions, I gained a nice handful of practical tools and activities that take literary analysis to another level.

Our main form of assessment in this module was the Vine project. So far, this has been my favorite activity, and I had a lot of fun creating a short video. Because a Vine is only six seconds long, students have to really focus on consolidating their theme in a short amount of time. You have to fit in a lot of analysis per shot, so I thought this assignment forces students to demonstrate critical thinking skills. We chose not to use sound, but Vine gives you the opportunity to add music to your video, and that can involve even more critical thinking to select an appropriate song. Because the technology is so relevant to students, I feel that this is an engaging project that students will actually enjoy producing, so I definitely see tons of value in Vine.

We also discussed the digital book trailer, which I have created in another class. For this, students use video production with text, voice-overs, and music to convince an audience to read a book. Students must justify their artistic choices and provide a rationale of why they did what they did, so there’s always a bit of writing involved in these assignments. I feel this activity can provide a nice entrance into a discussion on argument or persuasion because students have to make different appeals to their audience in order to make them want to read a book.

Lastly, we discussed using video production as a way to provide feedback to students. While most of these other assignments are student-produced, this gives the teacher an opportunity to use this technology as well. Instead of simple notes in the margins, teachers can screencast the student work and talk through it. I feel like this could be a useful assessment medium because it’s almost like a one-sided conference. It can sometimes be challenging to understand what a teacher means when they make a one word statement in red pen, so this allows teachers to fully explain their feedback.