New
York State Funding
for Arts Education
Partnerships - SAP
PS
27 with Digital Story Workshop
- "
Digital Story Workshop and
Writing Extensions"
The
Big Idea of this year-long
video and bookmaking project
was to bring three classes
of young children’s
thoughts
and ideas to
life through a series of “video
stories” and “story
picture books,” as
extensions of the pre-K -
1
curricula, and to thus
encourage dramatic/imaginative
play, empower children to
improvise and develop their
own stories,
help children
develop their oral language
skills, and facilitate social
and emotional growth. The
teaching artists were Kristin
Eno from Digital Story Workshop
and Terry Solowey, Educational
Media Specialist and Writer, Writing
Extensions.
Inquiry
questions that guided the
partnership:
1.
How
can
our
video
project
expand
upon
the
questions
the
children
are
exploring
in
their “What
is
Essential
for
Life” Unit?
How
can
we
provide
a meaningful
arena
for
students
to
think
about
living
organisms’ natural
life
cycles
and
relationship
to
the
children
themselves?
2.
How
do
we
as
educators
make
time
in
our
busy
schedules,
and
amidst
the
many
academic
standards
we
must
address,
to
not
only
allow
and
support
students’ play
but
to
help
them
learn
from
it?
3.
How can we build upon what
we did together last year,
using further explorations
with video, and new explorations
with picture story books?
4.
How can the teachers in our
grade team and early childhood
unit incorporate free play
into their schedules and guide
their students to learn through
their play?
The
team of two teaching artists,
five teachers and three specialists
spent one hour planning per
month, and smaller groups
met several times over the
course of the year to do
further planning. Professional
development provided more
structure for the team as
well.
Part
I: October - December
• 11 small groups meet together with TA's to tell stories.
• All groups play in Coffey Park while Kristin videotapes.
• The three classes take a walking trip to Red Hook’s Added Value
Community Farm; Kristin videotapes.
• All groups narrate/dictate stories about the videos while watching their
respective footage.
• All classes view final videos and see those from groups other than their
own, and respond by making collages using printed video stills.
The
first video followed the
children along as they made
authentic explorations of
the natural world (ie: discovering
seeds, worms and
mushrooms,
playing in the leaves), and
in so doing, gave the children
and
teachers more tangible
moments including children’s
questions and
stories
about plants and animals.
Part
II: January - April
• Art teacher asks children think back to Coffey Park and make drawings
about their time there. Kristin helps children transfer these drawings
to fabric with the help of an overhead projector.
• The children help sew the shapes onto the backdrop for their second
video, Puppets and Planes.
• Kristin records all groups playing with their puppets and planes and
their new backdrop.
• All groups dictate pre- and post-Puppets and Planes stories to Terry.
• All classes view final videos and see those from groups other than their
own and respond, drawing illustrations and reflecting on what they saw. Teachers
write down short descriptions for the children.
• A book study group called “You Can’t Say You Can’t
Play,” after one of veteran kindergarten teacher and writer Vivian Paley’s
books, meets weekly in April and May to read her book Play: A Child’s
Work, and discusses it and various other articles on play by Richard Lewis,
in relation to what they are doing in their classrooms.
| The
children exhibited
powerful memories of
their time in Coffey
Park up until the very
last month of school. After
a viewing of the Coffey
Park videos, one Pre-K
group went to hide
out under a classroom
table to recreate a
scene in their video. |
|
|
Part
III: May - June
• The school invites Vivian Gussin Paley to give a keynote address at
the school. She works with the EK class while Kristin videotapes. Her presentation
validates the role of play in early childhood. The children, the teachers who
ate lunch with Vivian in the library, the teachers and high school students
who gave her a walking tour of Red Hook, and the crowd who attended the keynote
after school were part of a legendary day at the school.
• Kristin shows Added Value Farm footage to children and asks them to
narrate their Fall field trip.
• Kids
Art Field
Trip
- All
classes
go to
Rotunda
to see
their
work
on display.
• All
classes
view
their
videos
from
the whole
year.
A
highlight from the teachers'
discussion with Vivian:
"My
first approach, in terms
of using play as a starting
point for whatever kind
of lesson you want to
teach, is very literal.
That is, to put it briefly,
you listen always, notebook
in hand, you listen for
a piece of play, a piece
of dialog, or a piece
of action. Now you’ve
got something concrete...You
say something like, 'I
heard Jeremy say this,
before, on the playground,
and it made me think
of this. Can we act out
what Jeremy was doing?'
And bring in your math,
your science, . . . Now
this is just the first
step….to show
how vitally interested
you are in every child’s
exact language, exact
interests; . . . we’re
actually discussing things
children have said, pretended
to be. It’s a kind
of game we play, that
the teacher can play.
Because the question
is, how can I bring it
in? Don’t think
that the child will say
to you, as adults often
say to the child, 'Well,
how is that relevant?
Why are you telling us
about your Aunt Suzie’s
canary, when we’re
talking about. . .' Because
the child thinks anything
anyone says is relevant.
Or why would they have
said it?"
This
year video explorations went
deeper and were more
connected
to the children’s authentic
imaginative play. While
we were
guided by our
framework of the Toys and What
is Essential for Life? curricula,
we opened ourselves up in
each play experience to having
the
children direct the play
and storytelling themselves.
Teachers began to see the
value of play through this
project,
as
supplemented by the
preparation
for Vivian Paley’s
visit. The videos gave the
teachers
a novel opportunity
to listen to the whole child
and to take cues
from
their play, which they then
began to incorporate into
their
classrooms, in
their own ways.
Each
child from the three classes
went home at the end of the
year with a book including
not only his/her pre-post
video stories and illustrations,
but all of those from his/her
group. Terry Solowey
worked tirelessly to transcribe
the stories, copy the illustrations,
and put the books together. Kristin,
teachers, and parents participated
in the bookmaking. Teachers
and parents alike were thrilled
at this new addition to the
project.
Reflections:
"I
gather that children in
Red Hook have not had enough
play time outside, as evidenced
by their complete wonder
at the sight of worms,
seed pods, and various
plants. But they are very
much at home playing in
and around trees, grass
and flowers. I am
grateful to the medium
of video and to that of
story dictation for being
able to capture some of
their profound statements
about the natural world
and their relationship
to it. I think about O.,
English language learner
in EK, speaking rapid English
to his friends when he
discovered and took care of
a worm. After placing the
worm in a hole in the base
of a tree, he told A.,
another Spanish/English
speaker, that this was “su
casa,” to which she
responded with a happy,
knowing laugh. Then he
said to the rest of the
group, when one of the
children tried to pry the
worm from the hole, “No,
leave it! He wants to be
there forever!” O.'s
relationship with the worm
became for me a metaphor
for the children’s
relationship with nature.The
beautiful thing was that,
though our time was limited,
they found ways to create
whole epic adventures.
"Even
at the young age of 4, children
are equipped to ask questions
and find out answers about
technology, and to become
empowered through media literacy
curricula. This can only
prove to benefit them down
the road, as they are faced
with various challenges both
in school and at home, where
media plays a huge roll in
their upbringing." --
Kristin Eno
"I
wanted to give the children
the opportunity to tell their
authentic stories in more
than one way, to extend their
opportunities for expression.
. . The children were becoming
junior film critics. They
reviewed their video stories,
collaborated on group-dictated
stories in addition to their
own individual ones, and
were able to use their critical-
thinking and problem-solving
skills to give feedback to
each other. The teachers
expressed excitement as they
viewed the kids in their
video play and read their
dictated stories. They were
thrilled to see how many
of the children had grown
in their language development
and creative expression,
along with their self-esteem.
As the kids grew with it,
the teachers did too! The
teachers saw the value of
it – crossing curricula
and how much it helped kids
come out of themselves – be
themselves.
--
Terry Solowey
"I
found that growth is gradual
and understanding can occur
through play. We are social
creatures that long to learn
and interact with one another. So
for a second year I had the
chance to watch students
view themselves in their
play as they were learning
and creating images in their
minds. The recordings of
their work were a tool and
art making all at once."
-- Teacher Shariffa Martinez
"School is more than reading and writing. It is about developing
the whole child. I learned that it is hard work, viewing and processing kids’ thinking. -- Teacher
Aneesha Jacko
"The
very clear way that the arts
and literacy were bridged
helped to deepen students’ understanding
of themselves as artists
and literate human beings
and also to improve teachers’ creativity.
The focus on oral storytelling
was so important as a foundation
for our early childhood students
as writers. I think
it was fun. And
kids’ lives aren’t
fun enough. The project helped
to prod and push teachers
to incorporate young children’s
natural instincts to make
sense of their lives through
play and storytelling into
their schedules. I think
it had a powerful effect."
-- Principal Sara
Barnes
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