Each year, we begin with two “training” projects.  Always tied to either the Social Studies or the English curriculum, these projects act as a way that our returning students help to train our new students in the methods and procedures that are fundamental to project design in the academy.  What’s an AV script?  How do I create a cast and location list?  Storyboard?  How do I use this camera?  You want me to edit?  And what do we do in a group meeting to create a pitch?  We use the early part of the first quarter as a way of getting to know each other, our tools and equipment, and how we’ll work in large and small groups.

The curriculum for Government begins with the Foundations of the US Government–and so for our first training project we provided students with an audio file, and asked them to create a video that captured the essence of the Preamble of the Constitution.  Here is a sample of our students’ work: