Digital Composing in the ELA Classroom: Engaging Tools for Student Learning

International Society for Technology Education Sessions

NCTE thanks its partner, the International Society for Technology Education, for a 40-computer lab that enables exciting hands-on sessions, Saturday, November 17 and Sunday, November 18. At these NCTE and ISTE sessions, you will participate in innovative uses of technology to support student learning.

Digital Composing in the ELA Classroom: Engaging Tools for Student Learning (Secondary–College)
8:30–9:45 a.m.

In this workshop, teachers who are experienced with infusing digital learning tools into the ELA curriculum will provide opportunities for teachers to engage in samples of activities that have worked with their urban and suburban students, including digital video composing. They will also share examples of assignments, rubrics, and completed student work.

Presenters: Suzanne Miller, University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Jim Cercone, Cheektowaga High School, New York
Joel Malley, McKinley High School, Buffalo, New York
Elizabeth Rassler, Casey Middle School, Williamsville, New York

Javits Convention Center 1/05, Level 1

Poetry Interpretation Lesson Plans

Poetry Project Project Sheet and Rubric

Literary Elements: 20/20 Investigative Report, E! True Hollywood Story Lesson Plans

In the World Today - Quilt

Teacher Learning for New Times: Digital Video Composing as Multimodal Inquiry

Session F.29 - 8:00 am to 9:15 am Saturday, 11/17/2007

Abstract: English educators illustrate how they use digital video composing as a quintessential multimodal literacy practice in their teacher education classes. The session contributes to a model for integrating DV into English classes and provides practical course materials and DV examples to demonstrate this new practice in action.

Literacy practices have changed in the 21st century digital world. Adolescents carry these new digital literacies to school but often have to leave them outside the classroom door, like guns in the old West (Gee, 2004). Providing teachers with opportunities to learn these literacy practices and use them as learning tools in English classes is a solution examined in this session by three English educators using digital video composing as a quintessential multimodal literacy practice in their teacher education classes.

“Reading and Writing through Digital Video Composing”
- David Bruce, Kent State University

Students enrolled in an ELA methods teacher education course are introduced to the teaching of reading and writing broadly defined. One assignment is to complete the familiar task of reading and interpreting poems through the (often) less familiar mode of DV. In using DV, students create an interpretation of the poem that layers the purposeful use of images, ambient sound, music, graphics, text, transitions, movement, and special effects. Through the process of creating the video poems, students also examine the parallel composition processes to print, connect their work to the ELA content standards, as well as complete a heuristic to explicate their authorial intent. Handouts of assignments as well as examples of student work will be provided.

“Summer Camp for New Times: Preservice Teachers, Middle Schoolers, and Digital Video”
- Meg Callahan, University of Rochester
Embedded within a required teacher education course, preservice English teachers conduct a one-week summer camp for urban middle school students focusing on media literacy, technology, and environmental action. The work culminates in a showcase of student digital video Public Service Announcements, and a great deal of reflection about how multimodal literacies shape pedagogy and practice.

Undergirding the graduate course are four principles: (1) twenty-first century literacies are multimodal (Kress, 2000), thus media literacy IS contemporary literacy; (2) multimedia analysis and composition are best taught as integrated elements; (3) literacies are embedded in social contexts and practices, therefore classroom literacy pedagogy should have authentic purposes and audiences; (4) media literacy and technology are particularly suited to developing an interdependent community of learners. An outline and analysis of the graduate course, Integrating English and Technology, as well as examples of middle-school and graduate student PSA’s will be provided.

“Expanding Literacy: Digital Video Composing as Multimodal Literacy Practice”
- Suzanne M.Miller, University at Buffalo, SUNY
How, if at all, can a teacher education class focusing on digital video composing expand teachers’ notions of literacy? In this class, pre-service and in-service teachers engaged in composing of Digital Video (DV) in familiar genres (e.g., movie trailers on novels, uncommercials, 20-20 inquiries) related to the English curriculum. In their written reflections and interviews, teachers described DV production as an engaging flow experience that provided access to authentic multimodal design practice. Learning to combine the power of visual, written, and musical mediation for meaning-making and understanding, most teachers were able to move beyond traditional notions of literacy and learning. As they carried DV into their own classrooms, they found DV composing particularly effective as a literacy tool when students pursued a multimodal inquiry drawing on what they knew from their lives and from youth/media/popular culture. This class is based on the author’s work in the City Voices, City Visions Digital Video Composing project in the Buffalo Public Schools.

This session contributes to a model for integrating digital video as a quintessential multimodal literacy practice into English education courses and provides practical course materials and DV examples to exemplify this new practice in action.

I Am

I Am

I am (two special characteristics)

I wonder (something you are actually curious about)

I hear (an imaginary sound)

I see (an imaginary sight)

I want (an actual desire)

I am (the first line of the poem restated)

I pretend (something you actually pretend to do)

I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)

I touch (an imaginary touch)

I worry (something that really bothers you)

I cry (something that makes you very sad)

I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

I understand (something you know is true)

I say (something you believe in)

I dream (something you actually dream about)

I try (something you really make an effort about)

I hope (something you actually hope for)

I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

Poetry iMovie Project

Poetry Digital Video Group Project

Directions: Your group should have chosen a favorite poem, consisting of 8-10 lines, that you think has great imagery, similes, metaphors, themes, personification and any of the other poetic elements we have discussed. Now, your group will create a digital video in iMovie or Pinnacle Studio where you use images to turn your poem into a short film.

Your Task:

Part I: The DV Assignment (group grade)

Step 1: Re- read your poem as a group

Step 2:
A) Story board your movie. Include on your storyboard, the voice over lines from your poem. (Use the story board example to help guide you.)
B) Complete the necessary pre-filming requirements
- find images
- collect props for live clips

Step 3: Your group will create a movie 45-60 seconds in length. Your group must decide on your interpretation of the poem and use live, stock, and/or still footage that will convey the theme (main idea) and mood of your group’s poem. Understand that the primary purpose of creating a movie is to visually represent an idea (with the aid of sound and text). Therefore, every image you select for your movie must serve a specific purpose!


Movie Requirements

Your group must…
1. Storyboard your movie BEFORE videotaping.
2. Carefully select images that will convey the theme and mood of your specific poem.
3. Include an opening title screen with text.
4. Remember that your voice over narration should show your audience how your group interprets the poem. Read with dramatic expression and emphasis.
5. Include at least one visual representation of a poetic element (e.g., alliteration, simile, metaphor, imagery) and be able to explain it during your presentation of the film.
6. Include at least one live clip.
7. Select background music that helps convey the mood of your movie’s representation of your group’s poem.
8. Use at least three transitions.
9. Use at least one effect.
10. Limit the length of your iMovie to between 30-45 seconds.


Part II: Individual Written Response

Each group member must write a one-page, typed response to the poem. Your response should discuss what you think the poem means, your personal connections to the poem, and connections to the outside world (media, film, literature, politics, etc.). In the end, explain which images you thought were most useful in turning your film into a poem.

iMovie and Response are both due on December 15th!

Infusing Digital Video Composing Into the English Classroom To Meet Learning Standards

F.43 Infusing Digital Video Composing Into the English Classroom To Meet Learning Standards

Three secondary teachers will explain how by infusing digital technologies into their literature and writing curricula, they help students compose and create in the changing digital world. They will show how digital technology allows students to not only "speak" in voices of literary characters, but also helps them to develop their own voice in dealing with abstract concepts and sophisticated ideas.

Panel Presentation
"Literature Engagements through Digital Video: Process Drama in Reality-TV Confessionals"
- Dallas Belge: Math, Science, and Technology Preparatory School at Seneca, Buffalo, New York



"Digital Video as a Powerful Inquiry Tool: Expanding the Traditional Research Paper"
- Joel Malley, McKinley High School, Buffalo, New York

Joel Malley's "Handouts"





Speak Your Mind Project with storyboard.

















"Poetry in Motion: Digital Video as Multimodal Interpretation"
- Elizabeth Rassler, Williamsville Central School District, East Amherst, New York

Elizabeth Rassler's powerpoint presentation.

"I Am 2006"



Night Poems



Assorted Poems



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