Using Digital Video to Teach Reading and Language Arts
Barry Sponder and Cathy Kurkjian

As media systems enter our consciousness at breathtaking speeds, one innovation after another becomes “the standard, state–of–the-art gizmo” only to be supplanted by bigger, better, and often cheaper technologies, seemingly in the blink of an eye. While adapting to new media systems is almost like trying to jump onto a moving train, manufacturers are getting smarter about making their systems more user–friendly and classroom–ready. A case in point is the currently “hot” technology–Digital Video (DV) that offers a remarkably simple-to-use, yet powerful tool for teaching and reinforcing language arts instruction.
In this article we describe Digital Video technology and provide our readers with scenarios for its use in the Reading and Language Arts Classroom. We highlight the work of English teacher David Bengtson at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle High School in Long Prairie, Minnesota, and artist-in-residence, Mike Hazard, in their creation of videopoems. We highlight the work of middle school teacher Beth Dayton at Sayville Middle School in Long Island, New York in her creation of a Multimedia project entitled, “A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grade Student.”

What Can Digital Video Do?
Digital Video (DV), using computerized camcorders and peripherals, is quickly supplanting the old VHS and Super-8 as the new standard video format. With the price of a low end DV camcorder well under $1000, the introduction and market penetration of DV resembles the remarkable vinyl to tape to CD–ROM transformation of the recent past. Unlike other video systems Digital Video uses digital (1s and 0s) to represent video rather than analog signals, making the picture much better than most previous video systems.
The lure of video in the classroom has been present ever since the widespread availability of camcorders made it possible for teachers to use them in for instruction. Many teachers took advantage of video for a variety of activities for their students such as writing and taping plays, creating group presentations and archiving various experiences including field trips. Students have made their own documentaries and recorded important classroom experiences on videotape.
The significant difference between digital video and previous formats is the built in capability of connecting DV camcorders to classroom computers and the ease of editing this video for instruction or presentation. Digital video is a powerful tool for helping students to learn because it gives them the ability to perform the full range of video production.

Hooking Up Digital Video
Digital video offers users a superior broadcast–quality picture that can be transferred directly from a DV camcorder to a computer equipped with an IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port. In addition, a DV camcorder can be hooked up to a standard VCR enabling the digital video to be rerecorded as a VHS tape. All the appropriate cords and cables are usually included with the camcorder making the technical tasks of getting the system up and working more user–friendly than ever. Digital videotape is widely available although a bit pricier than standard videocasettes. The basics of the using a Digital Video Camcorder are similar to previous formats although there are additional features built into DV cams including Liquid Crystal Display screens (LCD) and many video functions that make the camera double as an easy-to-use editing station.

How Do You Do It?
Although the basics of Digital Video are similar to previous video formats, it is important to familiarize oneself with the standard features of DV camcorders. In addition to capturing video, DV camcorders operate like a VCR when hooked up to a computer or a television set. DV camcorders also have single picture functions that allow the user to take many snapshots and view them on the computer screen.
The DV camcorder records in the standard fashion and when the scene is complete the video should be transferred to the computer. After the IEEE 1394 cable is connected to the camcorder and the computer, a software application such as IMOVIE for the Macintosh or Adobe Premiere for Windows, is opened and receives the video, displayed on the screen. Pressing play on the camcorder results in the video appearing on the computer screen and automatically captured on the computer. Different scenes are stored on the computer and can be arranged in any order. Most software programs have built-in titling and transition effects which make the movie appear professionally edited. The powerful entry level software allows users to create stunning movies.

DV Supporting the Language Arts: Videopoems
Cin(E)-poetry, video poetry or poetry video are terms which refer to an artform which combines the visual images, sounds, music with the text of a poem to create its own unique work of art. One of the major goals of The National Poetry Association (www.nationalpoetry.org) is to preserve and promote Cin(E)-poetry as an artform. As new digital technologies come into play this artform becomes a feasible way for teachers to help students experience the composing and reading/viewing of poetry in an exciting new format.
The viewing and creation of videopoems hold important learning opportunities for students. In the process of translating a poem into this new genre, students have an authentic reason for rereading and rethinking and reliving the meaning of a poem. Moreover, the creation of videopoems necessitates the collaborative construction of a shared meaning of a poem. Rather than asking students to guess what the "correct" interpretation of a poem is, students must go back into the poem, revisiting it to justify their interpretations. Students must be creative problem solvers as they imaginatively work towards capturing the literal and figurative meaning of a poem.
Creating videopoems can be a powerful a vehicle for honing visual literacy skills. Through the viewing and creating of videopoems teachers can support their students' awareness of how combining media impacts the viewer. In turn this heightened awareness can help our students to become savvy multimedia communicators and critical consumers of visual texts.

The Creation of a Videopoem in a Real life Scenario

At Dusk
By David Bengtson
What is beyond the pale lens of the moon, beyond the point at the end of gravel, beyond the bent of wire trees? What is beyond the dark fields in fall, behind the tunnel of grasses, beyond the intersection ahead, the car careening around the corner, horn blaring, the stone shot out by a tire lost in a wake of swirling dust, beyond that primitive particle spinning slowly closer, closer, suspended for a moment like a harsh word?
He rubs his hand across the tiny crater in the glass, looks at the white dust on the tip of his finger.

The prose poem "At Dusk" written by English teacher, David Bengtson, at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle High School in Long Prairie, Minnesota, was a source of inspiration for the making of the videopoem, "At the Crossroads." Bengtson and high school students enrolled in his Film/Video and Poetry course worked in collaboration with video artist and poet, Mike Hazard, to create this multimedia project. In the videopoem “At the Crossroads” we are able to simultaneously see figurative and literal images depicting the poem, hear music, sounds, and the words of the poet.

"At the Crossroads" starts out as the viewer looks up into the pensive face of a man who is playing a tune on his accordion. The sky behind him frames him in blue as he plays his melancholy song. As the poet reads his work the point of view shifts to show the accordion man from behind, standing at a crossroads at dusk facing the setting sun. There is a curving road before him. Beyond the road to his side there is a shadowed farmhouse and to the other, a single telephone pole. There are shots that focus up into gnarled trees, across barren fields, and into "tunnels" of yellow grass. A car approaches the curve, the horn sounds, and there is a crunching of gravel underneath its tires. The melancholy song continues throughout accompanying the narration. The videopoem captures the reflection of dusky fields through the rearview mirror of car combined with a view through a shattered windshield. Then there are close ups of a broken steering wheel and a crater in a shattered windshield. The videopoem ends at the crossroads as it started, with a solitary figure of a man standing at the crossroads. The viewer looks up and into the face of the accordion man who is framed by blue sky and hears his music. (See videotaped stills in Figures 1 - 4)



Figure 1 The Accordion Man Figure 2 The Rearview Mirror

Figure 3 The gnarled tree Figure 4 The broken wheel

Hazard defines a videopoem as a work of art that combines poetry and video in order to inform, move and inspire. How did the inspiring "At the Crossroads" come about? What was involved in creating this videopoem? Bengtson speaks for himself as walks us through the process in his own words.


The Making of “At the Crossroads”
By David Bengtson

Video artist Mike Hazard has a collection of my prose poems. He selected “At Dusk” for this year’s project. We began, in class, by watching and discussing the eight video poems that had been made during the previous residencies with Mike Hazard, so we had some idea of the progression of the productions over the years...and of any images or sounds that seemed to be recurring.

We then read and reread the text of the poem. We began to collect a list of images and sounds that we thought might perhaps find their way into the video. The list contained images and sounds that were tied literally to the text, as well as many that were more figurative. That’s part of the plan, at this point. John Rezmerski says in his poem “Second Childhood” that “Puberty binds our minds to our eyeballs.” So what we must do at the beginning of a project like this is unbind the mind, begin to think figuratively. Let the imagination loose. If the poem has a tree in it, does this mean the video poem must also have a tree? Maybe. Maybe not. Our responsibility is to interpret the poem, and, at the same time, be true to the poem. So we must try to open the doors and windows of the poem...to look in the dark corners of the poem...and find what’s there. At the same time, Mike was creating his own lists to share with us when he arrived.

Once Mike is in the school for a week, he becomes the director of the production. The students become artistic consultants, decision makers, cast (if needed), and crew. As the writer of the poem, I am able to veto suggestions that I feel betray the poem. So, we become a collaborative team. This year’s residency was split. Mike was here October 16-18 (Monday-Wednesday) and October 23-25 (the following Monday-Wednesday). On the first day, we reread the poem, talked about ideas, and recorded a reading of the poem. (Actually, we recorded 11 takes and decided to use take #3.) During the first three days, we also began gathering most of the shots we would need. This was done at an auto junkyard on the edge of town, at some locations out in the country, and at a location about two miles north of town where two gravel roads cross.

Because we were using a Final Cut Pro editing system, we were able to project a frame from each of the 40-or-so shots on a large monitor at the front of the classroom. Mike could click on each frame and show the class the entire shot. In this way, the members of the class could select the shots they felt were the most effective...and suggest how these shots could be combined in sequences to support the spoken text of the poem.

One suggestion that I made was to have my friend Juergen Brunkhorst play his accordion for the production. For some reason, I heard accordion music. Juergen was ready and willing to play a song which he said could be used at either a happy or sad event, depending upon the tempo at which the piece was
played.

Because the setting of the poem is an “intersection,” we decided to tape Juergen at an intersection, a crossroads, a place where two roads intersect. This led to an exploration of the importance of the “crossroads” in stories and tales. In some stories the crossroads is a place where someone encounters a life-changing decision. Sometimes this involves an encounter, a contest with a trickster, a shapeshifter, someone perhaps not entirely of this world. We read excerpts from Thunder Knocking on the Door: A Blusical Tale of Rhythm and the Blues by Keith Glover. This play, produced recently at the Guthrie Theater, deals with precisely such an encounter at a crossroads. Eventually, at Mike’s suggestion, the title of the poem was changed to “At the Crossroads.” This seemed to make sense. The original title, “At Dusk,” identified only time of day. The new title identified location, which, given the direction the production was moving, was more significant. This change also helped in the selection and arrangement of shots.

We began to see that lines, crossed lines, and circles were being repeated so that two motifs were beginning to develop. In the second shot of the video, both of these images are present--the intersecting lines in the telephone pole and the figure of

Juergen playing the accordion...and the circle of the setting sun. At other times in the video, these images come together in the same shot--the steering wheel in the smashed car, for example. Even in the accordion we have horizontal and vertical lines--and the black circles, the buttons played with the left hand.

We talked about the meaning associated with the vertical line--power, strength--and the meaning associated with the horizontal line--submission. We talked about what happens when vertical and horizontal lines intersect--we have conflict. We also talked about the meaning of the circular image--no beginning, no ending, the cycle of life, things begin, things end, things begin again. So, near the end, in the broken glass of a windshield, we see what looks like a mouth wide open and screaming. The next shot is Juergen’s face, alive and covered with a warm light.

We talked about images that are literally presented (“the dark fields in fall,” “the tunnel of grasses,” “the car careening around the corner, horn blaring”)--and images that are only suggested. For example, we don’t ever see the man in the video look “at the white dust on the tip of his finger.” But we do see, for a brief moment, the finger of the accordion player touching the black button on the accordion. We talked about how using dissolves as the transitional device created even more of a connection between the shots.

By Tuesday, October 24, Mike had three different edits ready to show the class. We talked about what worked in each one and what didn’t work. On Wednesday, October 25, we watched the final version--or as final a version as it is possible to create in such a short period of time.

Each time we have worked on a project like this, I am amazed at how what we have when we’re done is so different from anything I might have envisioned before we began. This is a tribute to those who have collaborated on the projects--and a tribute to the imagination.

Clearly, the creation of and the viewing of videopoems provided powerfully authentic learning opportunities for the students at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle High School. While the actual editing of "At the Crossroads" was done outside of class by Hazard, the students in Bengtson's class were involved in the selection process and provided feedback on initial edits. And, whenever possible Hazard involved interested students in the process.
Bengtson reports that "At the Crosswords" is the most polished videopoem yet and he attributes this to the to the mini digital video and Final Cut Pro editing tools. He explains that use of these editing tools requires a tutorial and expertise. Before the residency Hazard participated in an intensive tutorial on using this equipment and was assisted during the residency by a few technically advanced students. While learning to use the Final Cut Pro editing tools requires training, Bengtson holds that the results justify the effort and plans to learn how to do it himself with the assistance of more technically advanced students at his school.

DV as it supports the Language Arts: School/Community Projects
DV technology lends itself to the creation of projects that can extend beyond the individual classroom to serve a broader audience and or purpose. Beth Dayton collaborated with her sixth grade students in the creation of a multimedia project entitled, “A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader. The intent of this multimedia project making use of digital technology was to familiarize future sixth graders with the normal school day routine at Sayville Middle School in Long Island, New York. Dayton explains that sixth grade is a transitional year requiring students to adjust to a variety of new situations and as future students consider the prospect of switching from elementary to middle school they sometimes become anxious about making the change. The goal of this project was to calm their fears by giving them a better understanding of what it is like to live “A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader.”
The production provides us with a taste of what it is like to be a sixth grader. It highlights all the core subjects, the choices of Specials. It takes the viewer to lunch, and provides tidbits of information about which prospective sixth graders are eager to know. And finally, it introduces the viewers to the sixth grade teachers, guidance counselors, and administration. (See Figures 5-7). Dayton takes us on her journey in the creation of this project.

Figure 5 The School Figure 6 Social Studies

Figure 7 Band

The Making of “A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader”
By Beth Dayton

The Dream
This project first became a dream when I went to an
in-service program about a new software package that was being added to our network. We were shown how the programs worked and then given some time to explore on our own. This was when I first began thinking about how I could incorporate this exciting program called Multimedia Workshop into my classroom. Being a math teacher, I began thinking about how my class could use this program to help others since there was no real mathematical application that I could find. This is where the thought came about of showing people what it was like to be a sixth grader at Sayville Middle School. From this point, and after many conversations with my principal, other teachers, and my students, we began our multimedia journey.

The Process
As an introduction to the program, I showed my students a "demo" that was already created. This illustrated the many features the program could perform. (e.g. movies, sounds, pictures, graphics, photos, and text.) Then I presented them with the idea of "A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader," a presentation that would be used for the fifth graders at orientation. The idea was a hit! Together we brainstormed what information should be included. And from our list, we divided our school day, and hence our class, into 6 different groups.

Each group was responsible for its own part of the school day, taking digital pictures, videotaping, choosing sounds, and creating text. But before anyone sat in front of a computer or handled any electronic equipment, the groups had to develop a storyboard on paper. This gave them an outline of what they wanted to present, and helped them to decide upon the pictures, words, and sounds they could incorporate.

The students thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of using high tech equipment such as digital cameras, camcorders, boom boxes, and computers. With careful supervision, the students compiled a plethora of pictures and videotape recordings that would help to create their section. Once they had their footage, they began their task of importing their images into the computers.

The Benefits
There were many benefits in creating "A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader." First, the students became familiar with the program Multimedia Workshop. They were able to see how text, graphics, and sounds work together to form a technological production. They were also able to become familiar with the computer, the program, and their uses. The students felt tremendous excitement as well as great pride when they saw there project put together. And most importantly, students, as well as teachers, were excited about using Multimedia Workshop to make other presentations for other areas of the curriculum.

Dayton found this project to be so beneficial for her students, and for the audience it served that she has decided to collaborate on a new “ A Day in the Life of a Sixth Grader” at the school at which she is currently teaching.


Other Hypothetical Scenarios For Using DV in the English/ Language Arts Classroom
Mrs. Jones assigns small groups of students to work together to create a multimedia HyperStudio book report. As part of the project each group of students is required to work together to create a separate HyperStudio slide for characters, setting and the author's style of writing. To maximize the multimedia nature of HyperStudio, Mrs. Jones encourages the groups to select a short but important scene from their books to perform and videotape. Together each group writes a script for their performance. Additionally, in preparation for the videotaping they create a treatment for their performance. The treatment is the overall description of the master plan for the video. It includes summary of the scene, action, characters and the locations, and it explains what the students plan to show the audience, from the beginning to the end of the taping. Mrs. Jones supports her students in this process of thinking about their videotaped presentation. She plans to have her students insert their script as well as the digital clip into their HyperStudio project.
One group of students decides to create a HyperStudio Book report for Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In this novel the characters live and work in a colonial village as if it were really 1840. While the parents know that it is really 1996, the children in the village do not. The students select a scene in which the mother in the story explains to her daughter that it is really 1996. In preparation for the videotaping a script for the scene and a treatment plan for the videotaping are developed.
Mrs. Jones has the necessary equipment and has familiarized herself with the DV camcorder as well as the computer editing software that she finds surprisingly easy to use, easy enough for the students with only a minimum of instruction. The children use the camera to record the action and then they edit the video on the computer. Mrs. Jones then imports the video into HyperStudio and asks the children to include their scripts in the program as well.
Mrs. Jones also decides to utilize Digital Video with students’ creative writing projects. She asks them to envision the world in twenty-five years and write down all the great changes that will take place. She then asks them to use the DV camcorder to make a movie showing what things will be like in the future. Students use the camcorder and transfer them to the computer and make movies illustrating their ideas of the future. Some students put their movies into HyperStudio while others bring them into PowerPoint presentations.
Mrs. Jones likes their work and gives them feedback and assistance. She has her students form “evaluation” groups to give feedback and critiques to each other. Mrs. Jones asks them to write their feedback and comments so that students can really benefit from their reflections and ideas.

Summary
Digital Video is an exciting technology that offers language arts teachers many options for reinforcing student learning and skill development. As a hot medium, digital video allows users to create professionally appearing movies that help to motivate students and develop their expressive abilities.
While more schools are acquiring DV equipment, teachers are often scrambling to find significant uses for its unique set of attributes, although the uses for this new technology seem endless. The examples provided are just a few of the unlimited instructional options DV technology can offer to support and enhance the Language Arts.