Feature Articles
School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXIII, Number 4/December 2006
Fighting the Civil War with Primary Resources
by Alan McCarthy and Sandra Sterne
Alan McCarthy is the instructional technology coordinator (Email: alan_mccarthy@apsva.us) and Sandra Sterne is the library media specialist (Email: sandra_sterne@apsva.us) at Long Branch Elementary School in Arlington, VA.
The calendar was creeping into June. It was late spring, a time when many students' thoughts were sliding toward summer vacation. But it wasn't a problem in Lori Lowe's classroom. Her students had bigger things on their minds-like whether or not the Civil War would turn out the way they hoped.
For many weeks, these fourth graders had been producing a sixteen-minute film documentary about America's bloodiest conflict. They had researched, written a script, recorded a soundtrack, and labored to fit together images gathered from the Library of Congress. The images were the key because they would tell the tale as much as the words.
These images-photos, drawings, maps, and posters-have a lot to say. They are all primary resources, artifacts derived directly from the time they describe and straight from the war itself. Their detail is revealing, their authenticity empowering.
With resources like these, students know they have done something more than play at filmmaking. They feel they are on par with Ken Burns, a man whose name they have all come to recognize. They feel a connection with his vision. They can appreciate the struggles of other artists and scholars, and they feel the happy anticipation of premiering their work.
The audience includes Dr. Mark Johnston, Arlington, Virginia's Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, and Dr. Rhonda Clevenson, Program Director for Adventure of the American Mind Northern Virginia Partnership. They and others have come to share in the excitement and to celebrate this achievement. The screen and projector are in place. The DVD is set to go. All that is left now is to press play…
Seeing the finished work of these students is impressive. Titles drift. Photographs bleed, float, and slide one into the next. Captions describe important places and events. The sound of an antique fiddle sings a sober melody. But to watch the film is to observe only half the story.
Like many large projects, this one began with collaboration. It started with workshops arranged by Liz Hannegan, our district's Supervisor of Library and Information Services, and conducted by personnel from An Adventure of the American Mind, a grant funded program promoting the use of the Library of Congress' digital primary resources within educational curricula. The workshops highlighted the materials available on the Library of Congress website and how to locate them. The collections are enormous, covering a vast range of topics but specifically those connected with the American legacy. Anyone can access them, but training is a big help. We quickly found a theme for introducing the resources to our staff. The Civil War is a cornerstone of Virginia's fourth grade curriculum and the Library of Congress offerings on the subject are extensive.
Back at school, we plotted our next move. We needed a project that would dramatically package the materials we'd found and emphasize their efficacy. As our school's instructional technology coordinator and library media specialist, we wanted to introduce these digital resources to our colleagues. We agreed that a documentary film would be the best vehicle to meet our needs for three reasons. First, video is an excellent hook for our media-conscious students. It excites their creativity in ways that paper and pencil generally do not. Secondly, the documentary would be made with still images allowing students to control and edit their films. Finally, a Civil War documentary would result in a product that could be readily duplicated and shared with others, thereby lending a greater degree of authenticity to the students' work.
As we began assembling our team, we needed a class to pilot our project. Fourth grade teacher Lori Lowe was willing to let us test our idea with her students. We recognized a number of strong, independent learners in her group and knew they would be an asset in our experimentation. One of our goals was authentic learning, and we wanted the students to script their own film.
To help with the scripting process we recruited our school's writing specialist, Erin Watson. Her role would be to guide students through the writing process and to assist them in transforming their carefully researched, but disjointed facts into a polished script.
Dr. Rhonda Clevenson, Program Director for Adventure of the American Mind Northern Virginia Partnership, rescued us more than once as we groped our way through the Library of Congress' apparently limitless online resources chasing after just the right map or photograph or bit of music. With the support of these talented colleagues, we were ready to proceed.
Our first decision as executive producers was to download appropriate material beforehand. Recognizing the enormous scope of the available materials, we concluded that it would be impractical to expect students to sift through so much. It would prove too easy to get sidetracked and, in the interest of time, we wanted students to focus on understanding content rather than seeking it out. We examined our district's curriculum guide and noted the relevant objectives. These considerations address causes and effects as well as key figures and events of the Civil War. We searched the Library of Congress website for photos, maps, and other digitized artifacts relevant to the objectives and downloaded anything that seemed pertinent. We didn't want just enough material; we wanted more than enough. It would be up to the students to decide which images belonged in their film and which did not. To facilitate student decision making, we labeled all images and organized them into folders on our network's shared directory. Confident that we had ample material, it was time to introduce the project to the students.
We knew we would be asking a lot and wanted to get the students as excited as possible. Their excitement would need to sustain them through the challenging weeks ahead. As a hook, we showed them a Civil War video as an introduction to the subject and format. We also showed them an interactive documentary tool on the PBS website based on the Ken Burn's Civil War documentary which lets users select narrative, images, and a musical score to construct a mini-documentary. The model was very similar to what we hoped to achieve albeit on a smaller and more restricted scale, and it also gave the children an insight into what they would be doing. Their response was overwhelmingly favorable. They could not wait to begin.
Research was handled in the library media center where content was determined by the district's learning objectives. These were separated into four categories: people, places, events, and issues. We elicited prior knowledge from the students concerning the listed topics. Concepts, personalities, and events were then each assigned to an interested student. The student's job was to gather as much information as possible on the topic using books, encyclopedias, and prescreened Web sources. The wording of the objectives served as the focus for research. Beyond that, the film would be a creative undertaking and the students would determine what aspects of the topic most appealed to them.
We took scripting seriously. The script would be the measure of student understanding and of the film's value to other classes. Mrs. Watson utilized a projector and laptop with Kidspiration software to collect the facts from the young researchers. Through an ongoing dialogue, the facts were sorted into a rough chronological order and built into complete sentences. Students asked tough questions. Having bought into the project, they now took interest in acquiring a full understanding of the subject. Throughout the process, new thoughts were interjected wherever students recognized a connection. In this way, each student became familiar with the full picture.
Students made a special effort to include poignant quotations from historical personages because they had seen for themselves the power of direct quotations when they viewed other documentaries. Students took home printouts of the rough script to review and edit. They gathered one last time to put the finishing touches to their script being careful to include only the information they could be sure of. A familiar mantra was "Do you think, or do you know?".
We wanted each student to own the film; therefore, it was essential that each child had a speaking role. We divided the script into topical sections. The classroom teacher identified our more confident speakers, those who might prove shy, and those who were working on their English. Roles were then assigned accordingly to ensure that each student would be challenged but not daunted. Some became narrators while others assumed the roles of significant personalities. Our Abraham Lincoln proved to be a born thespian. We provided the children with tips on projecting their voices and enunciating. Time was taken in class for practice and an assignment was given to continue practicing at home in front of parents, friends, or a mirror. They were well prepared for their big recording session.
The film's narration would drive the film. We recorded it on school computers. Many software applications exist for recording sound; we opted for Felt Tip Software's Sound Studio which was already loaded on our computers. In no particular order, we recorded each student reading his or her part. If they stumbled, they tried again. Individual recordings were then compiled into a single file using the same software.
To further engage their imaginations, we took the students into the gym to record some sound effects. They stomped in place while their young commander shouted marching orders. A few digital cannon blasts were added later. The narration and marching sound files were then placed along with the organized images on our network's shared directory. Everything was now in place for production.
Our ultimate goal was a single film, but we had twenty junior producers with whom to work. This was a challenge. We decided to match students up in pairs. Each pair would produce their own version of the film to take home. They would use the same narrative and choose from among the many images obtained from the Library of Congress. In this way, each film would tell the same story but would uniquely express it through different choices of photos, maps, and artifacts. In the end, we would be able to take the best bits of each film and blend them into one exemplary work to be shared with other classes.
Students began production by exploring the images housed on our shared directory. Following a printout of their script, they clicked through folders while discussing images and making note of items they wanted to use in their films. Once they felt comfortable with the file organization, they opened their movie editing software. At Long Branch that means working with Apple's free iMovie software. For those working with a PC, Microsoft's Movie Maker would serve the same purpose.
We instructed each pair of producers to select from between five to seven images for each section of the script. They were able to click and drag their selections directly into the movie software. At this point, sequence was not especially relevant. Having acquired the desired images, they next created titles and section headings for their movies. They had free choice of fonts and title effects with the caveat that they needed to consider their audience. Overly decorative fonts might be difficult to read. Elaborate title effects might convey the wrong message. Given the serious nature of the subject, the emphasis was on appropriate choices.
Narration came next. Again, the narration had already been recorded, compiled, and placed in the shared directory. Every student had contributed to the script. Every student's voice could be heard in the recording. All that was necessary was for each pair to click and drag the sound file from the shared directory into the film. The entire process required only a few minutes.
The most demanding portion of the project came next. Titles, pictures, and narration were all loaded into the movie, but they were not in synch. Images and titles did not yet correspond to the narration. Synchronizing audio and video required that the students work sequentially from beginning to end, adjusting the timing and order of each image so that it corresponded with the film's narration. Fortunately, we were working with still images so adjusting timing was as easy as double-clicking a photo and changing its duration. Even so, it took a lot of trial and error to get the timing exact, and we had to be careful not to wear down student enthusiasm.
Finally, we were at the polishing stage. Effects, transitions, and music were all added. Students animated still shots using the "Ken Burns Effect," an option built into their software that allows for dramatic panning and zooming. They also added transitions between images and titles being careful to choose effects that would underscore the serious nature of their work rather than trivialize it. A credit sequence was built for them. We saw no reason to make each team keyboard in the lengthy and identical bibliographic information. This movie file was placed in the shared directory for them to drag into their film. Finally, students selected appropriate Civil War era music downloaded from the Library of Congress website. They dragged this into their film for the credit sequence and moved the sound file containing their own marching into the opening title sequence. The films were then published as digital video and burned onto DVDs for the students to take home. A class version was distilled from the best of each production and shared with our special guests.
The premiere showing the final results of all this hard work has ended. For a moment, there is silence then applause. The students exalt. Adults congratulate them on the excellence of their work. Dr. Johnston suggests that Ken Burns may be in trouble and offers the possibility of airing the film on the county's cable access channel. The mood is jubilant.
Following a celebratory snack of donuts and juice, we take time to debrief. Using the primary resources has been a tremendous success. The authenticity of the materials has conveyed a rich context of detail inspiring student imaginations and engaging their talents for reason. The students appreciate the professional caliber of the materials. They have been working with resources worthy of a professional and consequently feel professional themselves. Judging from the conversations, the children express a firm grasp of the people, places, and events they have studied. More importantly they demonstrate a mature understanding of the larger and subtler issues involved. Even without this discussion, their mastery of the content is evident from test scores. Having lived and breathed the Civil War, the content belongs to them. As one student puts it, "When we got ready to take the test on the Civil War I was a bit worried. But then when I saw the questions I said, 'This is easy. I learned all this making the movie.'"
The completed documentary is viewable online (http://www.arlington.k12.va.us/
schools/longbranch/book_shelf/book_media/Lowe_Civil_War_05.mov).