U & D

It was just a matter of time before YouTube and Google Video became LD291 resources. Give them a look (you won’t be able to do this from your Maine school, probably):

1. Go to YouTube and enter “Wabanaki” into the video search window. What you will find is a wonderful set of audio files from Spirit of the Dawn, Micmac videos from a PowWow, and videos of Micmac responses to this spring’s flood. Try the same with tribal names (have not fully explored this myself – report on what you find that can be used in the classroom) – “penobscot dance” yields a wonderful short on teaching children to dance.
2. Go to Google Video and enter “passamaquoddy tribes” into the search window. What you will find (and this is why I sent you to this search) is a new student video about the Land Claims Settlement, The Passamaquoddy: a People Reborn – also posted asThe Conflict and Compromise of the Maine Indian Land Claims Case (view it directly at Viddler, which also has some introductory material), and two important shorts specifically about the Passamaquoddy that will probably be familiar to you. Searching for “Wabanaki” yields up the same videos as you will find in YouTube.

Of course, anyone can post to these video networking sites. The student video is actually by a girl from Massachusetts, who “hopes to get permission from the Passamaquoddy” to make this film into a major film. The thing that puts Conflict and Compromise over the top, for me, is the annotated bibliography that can be downloaded separately here. I captured both the video (as an mp4) and the bibliography. I got the video from YouTube (here), using a GreaseMonkey plugin (learn about how to do it in my Literacy Journal – scroll down to the bottom of the post) that downloads seamlessly.

My point is this: why aren’t Maine’s students making these videos? It is almost impossibly easy – all students need is an inexpensive video camera OR a still digital camera, iMovie (for editing – on all laptops) and a sound application (GarageBand or Audacity – ditto) OR just a good plan and a $99 Flip camera – voila Primary Source. Tie it into a “social issue” and do it collaboratively, and several of the new MLR for social studies are handled in one project. Someone might counterpoint Conflict and Compromise.

YouTube and Google are places for posting, but there is actually a better place now. Did you know that the Maine DOE has created an iTunes U space? Check it out by going to iTunes, opening the iTunes Store, and entering “Maine Department of Education” in the search window. What a great place for LD291 student videos! These are like podcasts: you can subscribe or download individual espisodes.

From my point of view, this is a powerful tool for exploring U & D – and for archiving culture and history.

Perhaps what we need is a challenge, sort of like the State’s challenge to write an essay about a Native or Social Studies topic. I am going to write Jana Boody and make that suggestion, but you, dear reader, might actually see Jana this week. Why don’t you just buzz the idea of a video contest in her ear?

• The prize – Recognition and Publicity
• The value – Education that will last!!

By the way, I found out about the Land Claims video from a new DOE site dedicated to providing current Maine Native resource links – I have put it in the sidebar of Essential Resources, but here it is again: Maine Native/Wabanaki Studies.

Am I planning to do any films? Yes, I am. Any speaker who comes will be a subject, but students will also be doing at least one short per core (that will be 5 over the year). Our topic will be “Unity and Diversity” of course.