TEACHING MIDDLE SCHOOLERS FILM
The Lessons Learned Along the Way
Inevitably, not everything I had planned for this class worked out. One major shortcoming was the field trip documentary project. The kids went on a field trip every week, and my plan was for them to record b-roll from each trip and create a mini-documentary as their final project. However, I did not go on the field trips, so I was not able to supervise their filming. Though they got some good shots, most of it was not usable due to the fact that a few kids just filmed for 10 minutes straight. Understandable if you're a kid wanting to capture everything, but it makes me shudder at the mere thought of uploading that much footage to those old Macs to even begin to sort through it!
We also simply ran out of time on that project, which was a shame. The kids had begun to do supplementary research to write the script, and were enjoying it, but it never fully materialized. My takeaway from this is that it's good to plan a lot of projects, but be realistic about the kids' work pace--five projects in twenty days is a lot. I should have planned a smaller project as a backup in case we had extra time instead of trying to cram in an additional project from the get-go.
Almost daily teaching this class I had to make small adjustments to my plans--be it changing the order of activities, fixing malfunctioning equipment, or creating a new role for a student to play on the production team when they weren't comfortable with others. Some days it was too hot to safely film outside, which set back our filming schedule as it would with any professional production. The students in my class also had different needs. They ranged in age and maturity level from about 10 to 15, and some had limited English language ability or other special needs. I often had to think on the spot to adapt lessons when they weren't clicking with the kids, a skill that I improved on as the days went by.
I also regret that I was unable to better involve my assistants. I had one to two AmeriCorp staff counselors helping out with the classes, but they usually just watched until a kid misbehaved, or they went to supervise a group of kids filming in the hallway. I was so overwhelmed by planning the class itself that I didn't have the mental energy or time to come up with a more productive role for the AmeriCorp members or show them more about the cameras or editing software so that they could be of better assistance to the kids. I was also uncomfortable because they were both older than me, and I was afraid to come off as rude by delegating tasks. I am very thankful for their help, but I do wish I had been able to involve them more as part of teaching is working together and being able to lead a team.
I share where I went wrong with this class so that you can learn from these mistakes, but also for you to understand that even if you mess up, the class can still turn out well. Even though not everything went perfectly, teaching this class was a great experience and I know the students learned a lot. Aside from gaining film making skills, they learned how to work in a team and think creatively, and got passionate about journalism. I hope this website has served as a guide and inspiration to anyone looking to teach middle schoolers film, or journalism, or film journalism. Thanks for visiting my site, and if you have any questions or curiosities, please reach out!