DIRECTIONS

For this assignment, your task is to create an audio/video portrait or documentary about some aspect of literacy that is associated with your chosen teaching field. The audio/video essay can focus on a person (a teacher or a student—but not your tutee), a literacy learning environment, a literacy practice or trend or value. Your project should help class members gain a broader understanding of literacy.

You can do this project individually or as part of a two-member team.

This project should not simply record and reproduce sounds or videotaped scenes. Rather, it should use sound and video to tell a story, make meaning about, create some commentary on, offer some insight into your literacy practices and values as they are associated with your chosen field.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, it should help listeners/viewers reflect on what they are hearing.

Other than these requirements, the assignment is wide open—and purposefully so! I want you to exercise your own creativity in the service of teaching us all something about literacy. Here are some ideas about possible projects:

• an audio/video essay about how different people define literacy in your educational field.

• an audio/video essay about a person who has some unusual/interesting literacy skills or values in your field.

• an audio/video essay about a teacher in your field/member of your family who values literacy.

• an audio/video essay about a literacy trend or value in our culture or in your chosen field.

• and audio/video essay about an aspect of literacy/a literacy practice that is important to you.

If you are unfamiliar with sound and video essays listen or view the following student-produced examples, they bear multiple examinations.

Audio:

"Music Literacy in My Family," Sonya Borton <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Audiolouisville.html>

"I take thee: A Reflection on Gay Marriage" Molly Hyenga and Alex Ilyasova. <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/CindyMovies/Movies.html>

"Reading People " Christy Oslund
<http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Audiociwic.html>

"Choral Singing as Literacy" Lisa Dunnebach
<http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/CindyMovies/Movies.html

Video

"How Do Do Read a Fighter," Aly Klugow <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videomtu.html>

"A Day," Jeffrey Allen <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videomtu.html>

"Read Me," Elisa Norris <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videociwic.html>

"My Grandmother," karen Springstein <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videociwic.html>

"Literacy on the Bus," Elizabeth Powell <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/VideoLouisville.html>

Now, create your own audio or video project—on some aspect of literacy as it intersects with your educational field.

Your final project should be less than 5 minutes in its final edited form—but this criterion is flexible and provided only so that you have some idea about my expectations.

FOR AUDIO:

If you choose to create an audio essay, you will need to record some sound on digital sound recording equipment. See me to check out a minidisc digital audio recorder and microphone.

You will need time to learn how to work the blessed thing, so plan ahead to read the documentation.

You will also need to buy a set of inexpensive headphones.

You will also need to learn how to download the raw audio file from the minidisc recorder onto a computer. I will demonstrate in class how to do this.

Finally, you will need to edit the sound you record, cutting out the parts that you don't need, re-arranging the parts that you do need, and changing the volume or gain of your audiofile.For this purpose, you will be using the program called Audacity. Documentation on Audacity is available at <http://audacity.sourceforge.net/docs1.1/contents.html>. SAVE OFTEN—AUDACITY IS A FREEWARE PROGRAM AND CAN PROVE UNSTABLE WITH LARGER FILES.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

• Choose the computer on which you are going to work with Audacity carefully:

• Once you start, you must complete your project on the same machine.

• Until your project is completed, Audacity files must be kept in the exact same place--on the same computer and all in one single folder.

• Do not change the name of any file or folder--ever!

 

FOR VIDEO:

For this assignment, you will probably need to do several of the following tasks:

• record some video (use a digital video camera)

• use some digitized images (use a digital camera or download from a collection on the web)

• use some music or sound (use a minidisc player to record sound and or download music/sound from the Internet)

See me to check out a digital video camera, a digital still camera, or a digital audio recorder and microphone. You will need time to learn how to work these pieces of equipment, so plan ahead to read the documentation.

You will also need to buy a set of inexpensive headphones.

You will also need to learn how to download stuff:

• download the raw video from a digital camera onto a computer,

• download digital photographs from a still camera onto a computer, and

• download any raw audio you want to use from a digital recorder onto a computer.

I will demonstrate in class how to do these things in class at various times.

Finally, you will need to edit both the video and the sound you want to use, cutting out the parts that you don't need, re-arranging the parts that you do need, and layering these semiotic components in ULead's Movie Studio. You may also need to edit your sound using Audacity.

Make sure to cite/document/acknowledge the sources of any video/audio/still images/narration that you use in the credits of your movie.

Make sure to include a title screen for your video.

GOALS

• To create an audio project that helps members of the class gain additional insight on literacy.

• To explore and effectively use a form of digital literacy and a different modality than alphabetic literacy.

•To create a comment on literacy that is inventive/creative/ insightful.

HINTS FOR SUCCESS

• Make sure to plan for your audio/video project. If you are interviewing someone, write out questions beforehand and share them with the person(s) you are interviewing. Scout your location (at the exact time of your intended recording!) very carefully. Make a list of sounds/people/activities you need to record in order to document the event/trend on which you are focusing.

• Make sure you know how to use your recording equipment! Read the documentation!

--always use the headphones when recording to hear what is being captured

--make sure to check the volume (gain) levels before starting

--make sure to have fresh batteries in your mic, minidisc player and/or camera (if it runs on batteries)

--make sure you are not recording sounds (e.g., air conditioning hum, a lawn mower going by, a nearby source of electrical power, ambient noise in a room) that will obscure or contaminate the sounds you want to capture•

• Schedule more time that you think you need for editing--it always takes much much longer than the original recording!!

• Before you edit--draw a visual plan of how you want the essay to be structured--what anecdotes go where, where you are going to include images, silence, music, narration, etc. Identify when and where you are going to layer these elements to create a rich texture for your project. Here is an example of a visual plan for an sudio essay. And here is an example of a visual plan for a video essay

• Make sure to provide some kind of focused reflective frame for your project--some way of helping listeners/viewers understand what they are hearing, why it is significant, and what you are trying to convey about your subject

• Select/edit/winnow! Make sure your sound composition is tightly and effectively composed. Cut everything that doesn't directly contribute to your intended message.

• SAVE OFTEN, SAVE OFTEN, SAVE OFTEN!!!

• BACK UP YOUR WORK, BACK UP YOUR WORK, BACK UP YOUR WORK!!! Save various parts of your work (audio, video, stills) on portable memory devices, CDs, DVDs—whatever you can have access to and can use.

• See the evaluation sheet below for the criteria on which this assignment will be graded.

EVALUATION

Evidence of careful planning and scheduling.

1––––––––––2––––––––––3––––––––––4––––––––––5

Comment:

 

 

Increases understanding of literacy.

1––––––––––2––––––––––3––––––––––4––––––––––5

Comment:

 

 

Creativity and Insight

1––––––––––2––––––––––3––––––––––4––––––––––5

 

Comment:

 

Grade:

F..................D....................C.....................B...................A