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Winning Stop-Motion Animation [video]

Source/Author: Amy Brill, Seventh Grade Teacher

December 18, 2015

Arts

Collaboration. Creativity. Critical thinking. Communication. If the four C’s are the top 21st Century learning skills, Shorecrest seventh graders have put them into intense practice over the last eight weeks. The Monday screening of "Lynx Between Friends," an original stop-motion animation movie created by two of our students, marked the culmination of a long-term interdisciplinary project involving English, art and technology.

The project, in its fourth year at Shorecrest, has become an eagerly anticipated tradition for seventh grade students. In English class, the students spend four weeks developing characters and writing plots, then perfecting them into original movie scripts. While developing the scripts, they create models of their characters in art class using recycled bags, paint and fabric. Once the characters and sets are complete, English and tech classes merge for two weeks to film the movie using stop-motion animation on iPads. The films move to iMovie for final touches.

The Shorecrest teachers’ approach is popular not only with students, but also with fellow educators. The teaching team including Amy Brill (English), Cindy Williams (Art) and Chris Scoby (Technology) were recently invited to present their project at a conference hosted by the Florida Council of Independent Schools.

One of the many benefits of project-based learning is that even if the project prompt remains the same from year to year, no two final projects are ever alike. “Students take a different approach every time,” says Middle School English teacher Amy Brill. “We learn just as much as the students throughout the process!”

This year, the teachers added a different twist to the project, hosting a mini Film Festival for the final products. The teaching team, with input from the student viewers, chose first, second and third place winners. Seventh graders Evan H and Shannon R’s first place movie, “Lynx Between Friends,” debuted at the Monday, December 14 assembly for the entire Shorecrest Middle School. You can watch it here!