Lights,+Camera,+Learn

=Marco Torres and Students= //Teacher, Creative Director, Media Coach, Sylmar, CA//

Turning Classrooms into Learning Studios: Lights, Camera, Learn®
I need to give you a little background first. We divide the workshops between the two of us before we go to a conference. We both know that these choices aren’t definite, upon arrival or after hearing other attendees’ feedback, we can change our minds. On the first day of the conference, there was an announcement about substitutions in the program. Because of illness, a presenter would not be there. The ‘subs’ were Marco Torres’ former students. I decided to take a chance. It was a chance that paid rich dividends. Hearing these four bright, articulate young people talk about their experiences within the SFETT community was amazing. The heartfelt stories that they told about their lives after graduation and their continued commitment to their neighborhoods and families were uplifting. They didn’t give the audience any ‘tips or tricks’, ‘how to hints’ or ‘tech specs’ on how they made their movies. They gave us the end product of this technology- a display of successful college students making their way in the world. Consuelo said that no one ever came up to her and said ‘I liked the report you did for class’ but that they would tell her they loved her movie about the first woman cable car driver. Miguel talked about the inspiration for his first film – a teacher questioning him about the truthfulness of a report he wrote about his family. This propelled him to complete a 4 minute gem of a video. Isaac shared the difficulty of moving away from the SFETT community and how being able to return and help other students is an important part of his life. Rosa explained how humble she felt when she hears the empathic comments and applause from the educators in the audience. Here are some links to the SFETT Film Festival Site. I haven’t had the time to preview all the movies, or to even track down the ones that these remarkable young people shared with us at the conference, but I certainly hope that they will inspire you to have your students' work ‘live longer than a paper in class’. SFETT http://www.sfett.com/ George Lucas Educational Foundation Article http://www.edutopia.org/node/980 Joyce Valenza's Article "Learning on Other Channels" about Marco's Presentation in [|School Library Journal] Marco's "Where Am I?" Video - The elevators at the hotel were confusing! media type="youtube" key="ysmEF8ILCiE"
 * “iCan" is a short film festival produced by students from San Fernando, CA, USA. The movies are projects for school assignments as well as projects for community building. Digital storytelling is our way of promoting the arts, celebrating our culture, and improving our communications with you: the world. We hope you enjoy our efforts. Thank you, from the San Fernando Education Technology Team**