Exploring
|
With the projects Our Civil Rights History: Revisited, Civil Rights: Through Our Eyes, and Social Change in Our Community I (Sophia Petrovcic) have been working with elementary and middle school students to expand their ideas of community and social justice through digital storytelling. The goal of these projects was to enhance the students' understanding of what they learn in school and what they see happening in their community, while also learning the skills of filmmaking, writing, music, and dance to find new outlets for their creative voices.
Over the course of 6 weeks I, along with video production (Eloe Gill-Williams) and sound editing (Elijah Autry) assistants, led workshop-style classes at King and Peninsula two days each week. The outcome are three very different student-produced music videos that reflect the personalities of each class and what they find important in their education and community. Please explore more about each of the projects, and watch the videos through the links at the bottom of this page! |
Our Civil Rights history: RevisitedMartin Luther King Jr. School students from Ms. Putney's 5th Grade class explored and embodied important moments from Civil Rights Movement history by recreating images of local and national figures and events.
|
Civil Rights History: Through our EyesThe 5th Graders at King School dive into Civil Rights history again, this time retelling the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement through their own words, music, dance, and art, in a student-produced music video. Above is a short "trailer" for the video.
|
Social Change in our communityThrough the Caldera Arts program within Peninsula School, 5th-8th graders in two different classes created music videos about what is important in their school community, and ideas about how to make these positive social changes happen. Above is short "trailer" for the video.
|
Reflection
I loved making these projects with the students. Although at times it was extremely challenging to facilitate the work of 25 students in a classroom, the reward was being able to see the students really owning their role as videographer or dancer, or writer/music maker and having fun in the classroom. The most powerful result of this project was hearing the voices of students who are often left out, forgotten, or struggle to find their place in the school setting. It takes a lot of courage to write an original piece of music and perform it for your classmates, or to direct your peers in a scene, or to perform dance choreography that you made up, so to see students take on these challenges and feel successful is a very important part of why I do these projects.
The intersection of the arts and public school education has always been an important aspect of my life, and something that I believe can leave a positive impact on the lives of so many students, and open their eyes to new ways of self expression and personal success. This belief has led me to work on, envision, and create numerous projects for connecting youth with various art disciplines. With Civil Rights: Through Our Eyes and Change in Our Community I was excited to take on the challenge of combining multiple disciplines into one project that allows students to take their learning, literally, into their own hands and bodies. I found that this approach to learning helped to address multiple styles of learning and also helped to expand concepts of what can happen in the public school classroom when students are given the opportunity to explore through creativity.
The intersection of the arts and public school education has always been an important aspect of my life, and something that I believe can leave a positive impact on the lives of so many students, and open their eyes to new ways of self expression and personal success. This belief has led me to work on, envision, and create numerous projects for connecting youth with various art disciplines. With Civil Rights: Through Our Eyes and Change in Our Community I was excited to take on the challenge of combining multiple disciplines into one project that allows students to take their learning, literally, into their own hands and bodies. I found that this approach to learning helped to address multiple styles of learning and also helped to expand concepts of what can happen in the public school classroom when students are given the opportunity to explore through creativity.