The challenge
Former educator Jessica Pack, ISTE author of “Moviemaking in the Classroom," and Georgia Terlaje, Instructional Specialist at Palm Spring Unified School District, worked together for decades to tackle the challenges they faced in the classroom. With many students coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and many learning English as a second language, the educators turned to moviemaking to help level the playing field for students through storytelling (they even host a podcast on the subject – Storytelling Saves the World).
The big question the pair started with was, “How do we engage all students in core content and language practices that are culturally relevant, build equity, and foster social-emotional health?” However, after implementing moviemaking projects into their classrooms, the question evolved into, “how can we scaffold students to consistently create high-quality projects?”
The solution
Throughout their experiences with video projects across common core curriculum, Jessica narrowed the gaps down to three core areas: visual, audio, and storytelling. To help students develop these skills and support better final videos on future projects, each educator created a series of mini-lessons that could be completed alongside unit lessons. Exercises included:
- Visual: Teaching basic film angles so students naturally learn to vary their shots
- Audio: How to make sure visuals and audio matches and how to express audio with appropriate intonation
- Storytelling: Starting with writing to develop a story before recording audio or finding visuals
The results
Jessica and Georgia have noticed students build these skills throughout the year, and feel prepared to create more complex Capstone projects by the end of the year. That happens naturally through the course of their lessons, with very little dedicated time to teaching how to create a video.
Additionally, by asking students to give and receive feedback, students build their resilience muscles. They learn to adapt to new information and take in valuable perspectives from others, which are skills they’ll use throughout life.
Key takeaways
By giving students many opportunities to learn video creation skills in conjunction with their normal curriculum, they develop methods to express themselves naturally.
This has major benefits for educators following ISTE standards, because students develop the skills to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively, rather than regurgitate facts they find on the internet.
Hear the full story
Looking for more ideas on easy-to-implement mini lessons and prompts? Check out the full presentation from WeVideo's annual ENGAGE 2025 conference.
Practical strategies for educators
As you implement creative storytelling practices into your classroom, Jessica and Georgia recommend:
- Asking students to build stories with these specific milestones: An inciting incident, which leads to building tension, and ending with the triumph of the human spirit
- Making sure to incorporate opportunities for students to give each other feedback
- Tactically speaking, when creating video projects, develop scripts with students first. Then, record voiceovers before allowing students to create visuals or audio.
The best part for WeVideo users? You already have the tools you need to implement these strategies (and if you don’t have WeVideo, you can give it a try).