Activities and Projects for Your Classroom: Video Productions

Here are some ideas to get you started thinking about classroom video projects:

Training tapes. Create a videotape explaining to the next class how your class did something (for example, using the computer to create T-shirt iron-on transfers).

Video storytelling. Create a video with no words, and then have students make up stories to go with the video.

Regional news broadcasts. Create news segments that summarize school or local events. Language classes might use this activity as a way to make practical use of the language skills they are learning.

Conversational language situations. Have students prepare videos to demonstrate conversational German, Spanish, or another language through meeting the family of a friend, ordering in a restaurant, buying a bus ticket, or asking directions to a local historical site.

Extending classroom resources or opportunities. Bring an experience to students that would not be possible for them to experience directly.

Interviews with local experts. Arrange to video local people who have specific expertise.

Portfolios. Accumulate segments of oral reading over the course of a year.

Documentaries. Present a local issue, and examine both sides of it.

Video autobiographies. Students present themselves, including comments from significant people in their lives.

Public service announcements. Create appeals for community action or awareness on such issues as alcohol abuse or household recycling.

Time-lapse studies. Record the process of a major local construction project or the development of a butterfly, for example.

Critique performances. Record musical, theater, or athletic events for later analysis and evaluation.

Video yearbook. Publish a video version of the yearbook.

Extracurricular highlights. Provide a summary of the experiences of an athletic team, the group responsible for a play, or a senior trip.

More suggestions for working with video