Digital Docs in a BoxMoviemaking in the history classroom

Dr. Kathy SwanUniversity of Kentucky

PART THREE: An Introduction to Digital Docs in a Box

A short but important history

The Genesis

What we have learned from 10+ studies in classrooms—including my own:

Opportunities: • Digital Docs are engaging and motivating; provide

opportunities for creative expression; allow students to engage more deeply in the subject matter than might otherwise have been possible.

Challenges:• Time (standards and accountability)• Technology (issues with the web and a myriad of other things)• Pedagogy (how to roll out moviemaking curriculum)

www.digitaldocsinabox.org

Moviemaking Kits include:

• Overview • Question• Documents• Images• Audio

Current kits• Civil Rights Movement

– How did the actions of young people after the Brown decision help continue the struggle for civil rights?

• Great Depression– How did photojournalism influence public opinion of the New Deal programs?

• Age of Imperialism– How did the need for natural resources in the age of industry ultimately drive

imperialism, domination of resource rich non-industrialized nations, in the various regions of the world from the mid to late 19th century and the early 20th century?

• Presidential Inaugurations– Have Inauguration Day ceremonies effectively embodied the principles of the US

Constitution?• Women’s Suffrage

– During the women’s suffrage movement, not unlike other movements, different factions arose that used various methods to fight for their cause. Evaluate how well the methods of each group helped in passing the 19th Amendment.

5 minutes to explore the site

www.digitaldocsinabox.org

Civil Rights Kit

Documents:

Images:

Audio:

Documentaries in the Classroom

Beware: Technology Eclipsing Content

Technology Complimenting Content

Step I: The Hook

July, 1963Medium: PhotographCourtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch

“It was high school, college, and elementary school young people who were in the front line of the school desegregation struggle. Lest it be forgotten. Opening of schools to Negroes for the first time in history required that there be young Negroes with the moral and physical courage to face the challenges and, all too frequently, the mortal dangers presented by mob resistance.” -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Step II: A Question

How did the actions of young people after the Brown decision help continue the struggle for civil rights?

Step III: Research from an archive

Take five minutes to read the following documents:

• ‘I was barely 14’• ‘I think we accomplished something’• ‘I refused to allow them to win’• ‘If they come into the restaurant we will

serve them’• ‘I remember what…..was happening’

Research, continued.

• LOC Primary Source Analysis Worksheets• Additional items: – Children of Struggle– Voices of Civil Rights– KY Oral History Civil Rights– LOC exhibits

Step IV: Storyboarding• The Script:

– Prewriting– Breaking the Narrative Down (4 x 6 index cards)– Use of primary sources—voices from the past– Narrative is compelling with a point of view– Teacher gives feedback here!

** Important note: All before fingers touch a keyboard!

Step IV: Storyboarding• The Visual

– Image archives• The Sound

– Sound archive

Tips: – Use of poster board! Post it notes and

scissors and glue--– Use of clips from other documentaries

to show technique– NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/10/16/us/1016-BALLOON_ready_index.html

** Important note: All before fingers touch a keyboard!

Step V: The Documentary

• Let’s make a movie!

PART Four: Wrapping it up

Digital Docs in a Box Under Construction

New grant for 2010: 8 more boxes of docs!

Additional help with moviemaking

www.ddguild.org

How does this fit in your class?

How can we make the Digital Docs in a Box site more useful?