Film making is, in principle, a creative group project. And, while most students respond really positively to creative opportunities, we consistently notice that student production teams have difficulty developing and sharing a unified vision. We have production teams work on screenplays, shot plans, AV scripts and storyboards to try to address this. Every year, we … Continue reading The Look Book
Author: jthurstonmax
Re-visioning Accountability
One of the things we struggle with every year is the artificiality of accountability in a school setting. In MAX, we work very hard to replicate and imitate the dynamics of a professional work environment. We break students into production teams, we design communication systems and production assignments that are similar to those students will … Continue reading Re-visioning Accountability
A Case for Levity
...in which I reflect on the value of laughter as a curricular goal. Last week, our students presented their first semester projects, Tiny Historians, to a packed house in the school auditorium. A fairly typical scene: It's 7:00 pm on a school night. A theatre full of students, teachers, parents and friends bustle about socializing. … Continue reading A Case for Levity
Letting Go: Breaking Patterns of Silence
Projects are tricky things. If you don't have enough organized structure, students are unlikely to accomplish anything. Conversely, if you're too tied to a limited outcome, you risk silencing student voice, choice, and creativity. Organized structure is necessary. It provides students with manageable deadlines, and a pathway toward achievement. However, in project-based curriculum design it … Continue reading Letting Go: Breaking Patterns of Silence
The Synthesis Essay in MAX
Last semester, we focused our writing on descriptive and reflective writing techniques, and began looking at the structure and creation of synthesis prompts and essays. Synthesis essay prompts are extremely complex, and by researching and creating them, students gained insight into the purpose and function of the essay itself. A synthesis essay is an essay … Continue reading The Synthesis Essay in MAX
Semester 1: CAP–Civic Action Project
Media Academy students spent the bulk of semester 1 studying government and social organization. We looked at the structure of the US government and how all the parts of our government work together. We also looked at what happens to individuals in the absence of strong democratic values by studying 1984 by George Orwell, as … Continue reading Semester 1: CAP–Civic Action Project
