Another example of our “Messy” learning. Being Different Is A Solution, Not A Problem! is a 60 second Public Service Announcement we made for our local PBS station KNPB.

Each group of four students designed a scene in the video after we brainstormed ideas as a class. The ending scene we designed as a whole class. We had Being Different Isn’t A Problem! as our working title, but several students voiced an opinion that it “didn’t sound right.” We spent almost 45 minutes haggling over ideas until one student … a usually quiet, shy student raised their hand and suggested the title we used. It was an amazing moment. He gave his suggestion, I wrote it on the board, the class read and re-read it to themselves and the haggling was over.

5 minutes later I was climbing a ladder onto the roof as they wrote the title in colored chalk on the playground. They love that down angle shot – they put it in every video they design (see the Don’t Laugh At Me video) – I think they also like seeing me struggle with the ladder and climb up there (since they’re not allowed to climb on the roof). 3 takes later we were ready to edit our final draft.

Learning is Messy!