D.H. Stanton students become media moguls

Here’s an amazing story, courtesy of Brenda Street, media specialist at D. H. Stanton Elementary. Street helped lead the school’s participation in the International Student Media Festival, and you’ll be delighted at how well the students did.

Each spring there is a Georgia Student Media Festival sponsored by Georgia Association for Instructional Technology, Georgia Library Association and Georgia Public Broadcasting. Hundreds of students in all grades in Georgia produce media projects and submit them for judging. Projects scoring 96 or higher advance to the festival (headquartered in Bloomington, Ind.).

Ms. Street picks up the story, after the jump …

Student projects may be still photographs, movies, PowerPoint presentations or animated clips. Projects may be a public service announcement (PSA), an instructional piece or a purely informative one. Winners in the Georgia contest are permitted to move on to the international competition.

Realizing that student-created media — through its involvement in the world of computers, video, sound, and photography — is a proven avenue to increasing student participation in the classroom learning environment, I decided to try and motivate two small groups of students to create entries in the Georgia contest.

Warren Goetzel, of APS Media Services, promotes and encourages participation from our district, and he provided invaluable advice and support.

Working with three first-graders (pictured above), we created an instructional “PhotoStory” (PowerPoint with movement, voice and music) showing other students how to recognize geometric shapes in the world around them. The other project was created by four fourth-graders (pictured below), who created a PSA urging students to “go to school every day.”

These two projects earned scores of 99 and 100, respectively, in the Georgia competition, so we then were entered in the international competition. Neither the children nor I have ever had any formal training in media production, but we simply chose a message we wanted to put out there, and we followed the steps one would use to write an essay on a subject. Our equipment was simple: a laptop computer, a small Kodak Easy-Share camera, and a USB microphone that enabled the kids to narrate the story. The software we used was all free: Microsoft PhotoStory and Microsoft Paint. The children did it all. I was mainly there to help with the planning and supervise their use of the equipment.

Results of the international competition were announced Aug. 31, and both of our projects were declared winners. “Places” aren’t awarded — it’s just a list of schools around the country that submitted superior entries. Winners may be viewed here.

Here’s what we “get” for having been chosen as winners:

Our two entries will be screened at the International Student Media Festival to be held Oct. 29-31 in Louisville, Ky. Our school will be recognized and certificates will be issued to all students involved. A trophy for each winning project will be presented, and we will proudly display these in the foyer of our school.

I feel great satisfaction in having helped children express information, ideas, and opinions digitally. Children who have trouble communicating with paper and pencil are sometimes able to do this brilliantly with a camera and a computer. The excitement that success in this area generates shows me that this is an effective way to “reach” so many children who sit in the background at school.

Again, I must emphasize the help and encouragement provided by certain people at Atlanta Public Schools. They were proud of us before we’d really done anything! They just appreciated the fact that we were trying. We send a big “thank you” to:

* Warren Goetzel, managing director of Media Services
* Learning Technology Specialists Carmen Clark, Gina Wilson and Jan Dickerson

We must also mention our principal, Dr. Willie Davenport, who knows our students are capable of great things.

Again, thanks so much for your interest in our achievement. I urge all other schools to enter the Georgia competition this coming spring. You don’t need to be an expert, and you’ll have a terrific time with the children. I guarantee it!