Midsummer Teacher Reflections
by Steve Goodman

At EVC, we believe there is no better way to teach students the power of storytelling and community inquiry than to give them the experience of becoming researchers, producers, authors, and editors. And the same is true for teachers. They need to first experience the process for themselves as learners before they can “own” and effectively facilitate this inquiry-based documentary method with their students.

And so each summer, teachers come to EVC from New York City and from across the country to participate in our “Youth Powered Video” institutes where they experience the process of community documentary production and learn to use it as a powerful strategy for teaching their students critical and creative thinking, 21st century literacy, and civic engagement skills. We follow-up these institutes with coaching and professional development support in the classroom. What follows are some educators' notes from the field reflecting on EVC's impact on teachers in our summer institutes, and on their students when they bring EVC's methods back to their classroom.

 

Reflections from Myra Goldberg, Sarah Lawrence College Faculty

I hired EVC to teach aspiring principals in a program I run for Bank Street College and Sarah Lawrence College because I'd seen the superb work EVC does with high school students. So my students, first and second years in a graduate leadership program, went to EVC to make videos for two weeks in the summer. The resulting videos were funny, sad, silly, wise, and unexpected. The aspiring principals in the program learned to work together, conceive an idea and carry it through, interview strangers, use cameras, and edit what they'd done. They brought technical skills, people skills, research skills, and a model program back to their schools that can be duplicated at small expense in almost any kind of institution.

The EVC program can take place after school, between semesters, in the summer, and serves as well as a perfect introduction to the subject teachers and students fear most – expository writing – which like the documentary essay, but in a more abstract form, calls for a theme, research, argumentation, sense of audience, and editing. Finally, it teaches students how to address the world and its problems, using their knowledge to change minds, an experience, no one, in any field, should be without. I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the outcomes of the program and am excited to see how this next generation of principals will harness the power of EVC’s methods to teach students in the new schools they will lead. I look forward to working with EVC again next year.

 

Reflections from Judith Hemans, GED ACCESS Math Teacher and Participant in EVC Program

“I want to make a memory.” “Can I borrow a camera?” With these simple words, Shawn fought through his insecurity about his English as a second language skills to express his desire to document his classroom experiences using the technology skills he is mastering in the Access/EVC documentary class. As I watched him leave the room with a determination and a confident stride, I was reminded of the two areas where Shawn has his greatest interest and does his best work, the universal languages – mathematics and digital technology. With a camera in hand, Shawn has transformed himself from an ESL student. At a recent school event attended by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, one of the guests, observing Shawn’s EVC press credentials and no doubt, professional demeanor, commented, “Oh, EVC is taping this event also.” We replied, "Yes, and he’s one of our students, too.”

Jessica is another student who has found an outlet for her creativity through her work in the documentary class. She has a fondness for language and oral expression, skills that are not apparent in her mathematics classes. When our group embarked on its first two community inquiry projects around the questions of teen suicide and perceptions about the GED test, Jessica was inspired. She developed interview questions, scouted potential interviewees, and exhibited mastery of interview skills. As our project deadline for school wide screening approached rapidly, she and four classmates worked feverishly to learn the basics of editing and producing a rough cut. The students held themselves to a high standard and volunteered to stay late after the class ended to polish the rough cut to their satisfaction. Since more time was not possible that evening, they came to school early the next morning to complete the task. It was the first time all year that Jessica came to school early.

We realize that in the 21st century marketplace, our students will need to think critically, rekindle their passion for learning, and develop a literacy and facility in all matters digital. And so, in order to teach them those skills, we teachers need to step up into this century and understand, like with EVC’s curriculum, that there is more to teaching and learning than the answer key in the back. Students such as Jessica and Shawn inspire me in knowing that the marketplace will be that much richer for the memories they make for us all.

 

Reflections from EVC Institute Teacher Portfolio Presentations

Literacy Coach, New York City

Engagement is a major emphasis for teachers and principals now. So I think EVC’s [engagement] rubric is really great. It’s such an "eduspeak" term, and it's sometimes so vague what engagement is. And so to have concrete examples within the rubric of areas of engagement to address is very applicable to teaching in general.

TV/ Documentary Arts Teacher, St. Paul, Minnesota

The thing that I learned this week about myself is that collaboration is a real challenge for me...It made me feel more empathetic to my students about how hard that can be. And I really also think there is a parallel to teaching – some kind of tension between asking questions vs. making statements. And so I really struggled when we were collaborating to figure out when it was time to speak up and when it was time to step back, when it was time to kind of assert my interests and when it was time to elicit other people’s thoughts. I think it’s the same when you’re working with students and when you’re in the role of facilitating...I really like this model. I will remember it when putting together my lesson plans and adapting or using the ones that are from EVC...I think that’s going to be really helpful for me to bring back.

English Language Arts Teacher, New York City

I look at our final production, and I feel totally confident that I can do every aspect of this with my students – from the interviewing, camera work and even the editing.

 

 

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