Video Project Lesson Plan

For the video/photo project we were told we could do it for fun or for educational purposes. I've decided to do it as if I'm integrating technology into a lesson plan (below). The finished product is what you see above!

Video Project

Subjects: Debate, English, Family & Consumer Science, Health and Social Studies.

Pick a controversial topic from the list below and make a video showing which side of the argument you are on. The video can be in any style you like as long as the message is clear.

1. Stereotypes
2. Bullies
3. Social Media
4. Education

Some of these have more than one thing people fight about, you may choose which is more related to you and your audience. For example, Education can range from the priority's an institution has all the way to if uniforms should be allowed.

I decided to carry this assignment out as if I were the student. For this project I did my video in the style of The Gentlemens' Rant (a series on YouTube). I titled my version, The Montana Alumni Rant. The topic I picked was Educational Priorities and the script I wrote is below.

Person 1: Back in 1996 it cost $20,000 a year to go to Harvard Law as an out-of-state student...for my undergrad here it cost me $18,000 a semester.
Person 2: Why am I with an advisor that’s not in my major? I’m a __ major and they keep pushing me towards a __ degree because they don’t know what I need to actually graduate.
Person 3: You're telling me that as a ___ student, knowing what ____ is, suddenly makes me well rounded?
Person 4: How are you offended right now at the feedback you got from the professor? She’s right, your homework sucked and needs to be improved. You don’t get to be upset at her for telling you the truth.
Person 2: I bet the reason why most people drop classes is because of parking. Maybe if you had a better system than giving a parking pass to everyone who applied, we wouldn’t have this problem. I don’t see classes overflowing with people, somehow you can regulate that.
Person 3: Let’s do the math [calculator] if we just take 49 (the amount of GenEds required in a degree) and divide that by 15 it’s ~3.3 semesters. That’s a year and a half towards classes that aren’t relevant and leaves 2 and a half years for what you actually want to do in life…and that’s assuming you can fit both types of classes into your schedule every time.
Person 4: Do you really need to be texting right now? This class only has 8 people in it and you’re texting someone in here. I know because every time you finish texting a phone 3 people down from me vibrates. How is the professor not even caring about this?
Person 1: If you’re married make sure you don’t live in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin because otherwise after you die your spouse will need to pay your student loans.

As you can see, even just Educational Priorities has a lot in it. To get this script I went around asking people "What is something the University (or Education in general) does that upsets you?" The answers I got were: Putting sports above all else, Poor Curriculum, Parking situation, Fees & Costs, and Being sensitive to the diversity in people's lives.

Certain topics or lines I had to edit out because I didn't know enough about them. Here's the research or reason behind each line:

• The amount, $20,000, is stated in a show called Family Matters (Season 7, Ep 22). Laura was accepted into Harvard Law and so her father went to get a loan stating he's going to need $20,000 a year for the next 4 years.

• Many students are placed with advisors not in their field, it's possible this is because they were previously undeclared and never requested another advisor or there just isn't enough staff to accommodate their area students.

• We waste so much time on GenEd requirements and we won't ever need to know certain things, such as the Mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell.

• It's rare to get a teacher who isn't afraid of offending you or telling you the plain truth. In high school a classmate went to our IB Biology teacher asking why she can't seem to get a better grade even after doing everything she could. He shrugged and said "Science isn't for everyone."

• Parking is not regulated at all, except during a Football Game or event when staff have to monitor how many parking spaces are open.

• Again, GenEds are a waste of both time and money.

• Professors seem to have the attitude of not caring what happens in their class (unlike a high school teacher who tells you to put your phone away). It's expected but by not caring it becomes a distraction to the students who are there to learn.

• This was a fact taken from a news article about how the loans of dead family members could effect you.