Research the Catalan independence movement in Barcelona by filming interviews to create a video blog (VLOG) that serves as an exemplar for a similar student project using their own geographical field work.
As a result of my fellowship, my understanding of the complexities of the Catalan independence movement increased exponentially. I also gained a much clearer perspective of internal Spanish politics as well as issues unique to Barcelona. In doing field research, conducting and recording interviews, and ultimately producing short videos, I was able to learn the process of video production and editing- which will be invaluable as I teach these skills to my students this fall.
This year I am adding a new project to my curriculum as a direct result of my fellowship. I am going to have my students conduct field research, shoot video and conduct interviews with the goal of producing their own short videos that demonstrate course concepts. The videos that I have produced through my fellowship informed how I will undertake teaching this project, and will also serve as examples or templates for my students to follow as they undertake their own research projects.
My initial focus was the Catalan independence movement. As my research progressed I began to expand my focus to include more topics. After having done 8 interviews centered on the independence movement, I began to investigate the experiences of immigrants in Catalonia. I ended up interviewing 3 immigrants; from Senegal, Venezuela and Morocco. Using these interviews I produced another video that I assigned my students to watch this summer- which introduced another key course concept; immigration.
The topics of devolution and the breaking apart of states is a relevant, yet challenging part of the AP Human Geography curriculum. As a result of my fellowship I now have a complex understanding of the Catalan independence movement. I will use my research and the videos that I have created in order to teach these concepts to my students through the case study model. Additionally, through the skills developed as a result of my fellowship I will now be a resource for video production and editing.
This summer my students watched 2 videos I produced during my fellowship that introduced them to the key course concepts of immigration and the cultural landscape. During the political geography unit I will show them a longer video that explains the Catalan independence movement through interviews, narration and local footage. This Fall my students will conduct their own field research, recording video, doing interviews and producing short videos to demonstrate understanding of course concepts.
The research project that my students complete this fall will engage community partnerships in the surrounding communities; as my students will being doing short interviews with local community members. They will produce short videos that can then be shared with the community, other students and teachers at our school. Ultimately I want this project to serve as a template for other teachers to follow as our school moves towards more technology integration and interactive project-based learning.
This opportunity allowed me to deepen my content knowledge and add a new skill to my repertoire. I have dabbled in using video in the past, but I never had the opportunity to fully commit to producing documentary style videos that I could use as teaching tools.This fellowship allowed me to do that in a challenging environment, on a topic that is compelling, relevant and interesting to me personally. I hope to continue to produce videos that support my teaching well into the future.
Students benefit from seeing their teachers as role models and life-long learners. This summer my students saw first hand how I conduct field research. When I arrived back to school in fall, students I had never met before were already well acquainted with me, and with key course concepts- through watching the videos I produced on my fellowship as a part of their summer assignments. I also knew them, as I interacted with them online through their written responses to the videos.
My fellowship allowed my continued growth as an educator. It invigorated and engaged me to go deeper into my content knowledge, and learn a completely new skill. My fellowship challenged me, pushed me, and ultimately will make me a better teacher. As long as I remain a committed educator I will always be looking for ways to innovate, push my craft and move forward. My Fund For Teachers fellowship allowed me to do all of these things.
FUND FOR TEACHERS ©