Television as a teaching tool

Okay, before you begin shuddering in fear at the mention of the big bad TV, I should clarify: I am not talking about WATCHING television -- quite the opposite. I am talking about using the IDEA of television as a tool for teaching...

You might well ask - WHAT could the idea of Television teach? The answer is best given by illustration.

You see, we did succumb to the lure of the blue box: My husband wanted to watch World Cup Soccer and my sons were hooked on a mystery series called "Tower Prep". But the World Cup ended and so too did "Tower Prep"(without ever answering the questions it had raised).  And then my sons discovered the HORRIBLE truth: There was nothing else to watch on T.V.  "The ads" said Xander, "are the best thing on!' But Jason and Xander are not the sort to surrender easily. Rather than simply toss the idea of T.V. (and they are still enamored of the idea) they decided to create their OWN television shows.

The ideas they have generated to this point include 1) Xander's 'The story of pretty much Nobody" ( "Four kids live with their Dad. Dad is never home because he is always off job hunting and mom died four years ago so... the kids wander around in the wilds of their backyard/neighborhood having 'kid-like' adventures -- falling into pits and finding velociraptor skeletons. That kind of thing.") and Jason's "Adventures of Captain Wavy Cape" based on the book/comic strip he wrote when he was five.

Now, I am a homeschooling mom so this screams 'teachable moment' -- I agreed that making our own TV shows was a good idea. I suggested that we work as if we were professionals. We will:

1)create a story board. There is also a site called Jacob Lawrence Whitney which offers not only several Storyboard formats but also offers instruction on how to animate using Powerpoint.

2)sketch up story lines/plots

3) create a cast/character list including pictures of said characters. (I found another form here: Edhelper.com)

4)Then we will write dialogue. I found a handout on writing a TV script which looks quite interesting and useful.



5)and either animate the stories or cast the roles. There is a site that allows you to animate online. We will try that, I think, though I really would rather try out the suggestions from an animator over at Pixar. He offers instruction at 'Tricks to Animating Characters on the Computer'.

Laugh. Oh, this does sound like a fun project! Think I may have to try my own hand at creating a 'television' show!