Student Video
Since 2019, I have been learning to teach video storytelling to high school students. First, I was assigned a course that was designed to be about fifty-fifty photography and video, and then I created curriculum for a course that is video start-to-finish. We currently focus on documentary-style storytelling rather than film narratives, as my connections in journalism education have helped me to find the resources I’ve needed to plan course content. Since I’ve started advising the school newspaper, students in the video course have an opportunity to submit their finished stories for editorial consideration to the publication.
I owe much of my capacity to teach video to a week spent in Springfield, Missouri at the Academy for Scholastic Broadcasting in summer 2019. I’ve got a long way to go before I consider myself a video education expert—but ASB provided a strong foundation to build on.
Here are a few sample projects that have worked well for my students.
Humans of Strath Haven
Students create 60-second video interviews with members of the school community. They must use correct interview framing and a sufficient amount of b-roll for visual interest. This project comprises one of our weekly practice options in the video course. Videos are shared on our Humans of Strath Haven instagram account.
How-To Videos
Students create an explainer video that demonstrates a process thoroughly. They learn how to create voiceovers and utilize sequences and basic graphics.
Elective Promotion
Students team up with an electives teacher to create a video that explains the value of taking their class. Teachers were grateful to have these videos during the pandemic, when we did not have in-person ‘elective fairs’ and it was harder to create visual hooks for each class. The model stuck, and now teachers ask us to create these videos whenever their course needs an update.
Student-Produced Stories
As the course progresses, students build greater independence towards determining their own story topics and production styles. Here are a few of my favorite recent student projects. With similar durations, studio tools, production resources, and rubrics, students produce a remarkable variety of work.
Streams & Event Coverage
Our current multi-camera setup is a portable SlingStudio, a single camcorder, and a few iPhones, that we race around the venue. Still, with some student collaboration and creativity, we’ve been able to make live streams and event coverage work. From playoff soccer during the pandemic to coverage of the 6-hour 2020 graduation, much of this work has been based in problem-solving, and the experience has been both stressful and rewarding.