My Student Work Analysis

Background

In my 8th grade Video Production elective class I have all my students draft an original short screenplay.  I often do this project at the end of the fall semester, but I must move it to an earlier deadline in the spring semester because I submit all of my student screenplays to the Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting Competition.  The deadline for this competition is generally at the end of February.  For this competition, filmmakers from the greater C-U area meet and discuss which student screenplays they like or connect with and a select few student screenplays end up being produced into real life (or sometimes animated) short films.

I allow all my students to draft their screenplays in a Google Doc using the "Screenplay Formatter" Add-On.  I will often show a brief demonstration of how to format the screenplay using the Add-On, but I generally tell my students not to get overly side-tracked on the formatting as I will often help them out with both major and minor formatting errors before I submit their screenplays.  I want my students to focus on telling an exciting and original story that has a beginning, middle, and an end.  I am very open to the content of my student's stories, generally I just tell them to keep their films to a PG-13 rating in terms of language, violence, and other situations :)

My Reflections After Sharing My Student Work