Welcome to Kane-Lewis Productions

Educational Workshops

Kane-Lewis Productions offers educational workshops in "Making Movies in the Digital Age", "iMovie Across the Curriculum", and "Incorporating the Arts into the Curriculum". The workshops are led by Kane-Lewis Productions two principals: Richard Kane and Melody Lewis-Kane. Dick and Melody have a combined experience of fifty years in education, documentary filmmaking, and media education and have been associated with such clients as National Geographic, Discovery Channel, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the John F. Kennedy Center Education Department, University of Southern Maine, and Very Special Arts, among many others.

MAKING MOVIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Movie Making Residencies with Filmmaker Richard Kane

Documentary filmmaker Richard Kane is now passing on the lessons he’s learned at National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, and the Networks, to students across New England. His philosophy is to collaborate with classroom teachers (grades 6-12) and other specialists (technology and art) to create a curriculum-connected, rich experience that engages young people in the art of filmmaking and the technology of the computer in the celebration of their community.

As a workshop leader at Castine, ME's Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) teacher workshop and at last summer’s Maine Arts Commission’s Artist-Teacher Exchange, Richard introduced teachers to the use of iMovie, the Apple Computer movie-making software. But understanding the software is but one step in the development of a student’s skills and knowledge in the creation of visual stories. In his new residency, “Making Movies in the Digital Age”, Richard teaches students about the tools of video: camera, sound, lighting, and editing. But as importantly, students learn research and interview techniques, how to work as a team, pitch an idea to raise funds, and how to handle one’s self in negotiating and gaining access to locations and people. These are life-long skills that engage students physically and intellectually giving them the self-esteem they need to navigate through the world.

With resources from local community organizations such as historic societies and science-based institutes, students will be able to create their own documentaries about the ecology, biology, Maritime Indians, the textile, shoe, potato, or lobster industries, ice harvesting, and state historical figures. Combined with interviews they will conduct, students will write their own stories. In this process, they will learn that history is not simply a list of facts, but the interpretation of events; that science demands research and the integration of knowledge. While creating their own video interpretations, they will find that their opinions truly matter. This empowering process enhances student participation and performance. It’s also empowering for students to be co-learners with their teachers ... sometimes even leading their teachers with their fluency on computers.

kanelewis@aol.com (207)-359-2320

iMOVIE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
Workshop Description

”iMovie Across the Curriculum” is a day and a half professional development workshop for all teachers grade 6-12. Each workshop will train 12-15 teachers. One iBook is needed for every two teachers.Click here to see a sample agenda (pdf). The pilot for this workshop was funded by the Maine Arts Commission and was held at the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School. The evaluations were quite positive:

Evaluations from Workshops

”... still glowing from the effects of your workshop.” Hector Sapien, special education
"...Your workshop was great.” Susan Guilford, librarian
"... allows for so much integration and hit many of the learning results at the same time." Mary Rees-Nutter, 7/8 social studies
"...This has been extremely valuable to me...” Liz Brown, H.S. business/computer
"...I have a much better grasp of the process than I thought I would" Lee Lehto, English
”..The workshop was a tremendous success." Anne Douglass, Computer Teacher

The Need

America's schools are on a path to integrate the internet and video into classroom instruction and curricula. Though more and more technologies are making their way into schools, few teachers have received the training needed to successfully integrate these resources into their instructional methods. This is particularly true now because of the financial hardships that most states are facing. In the scramble to capitalize upon the educational power of media and the internet, teachers have too often been left behind. This proposed workshop will help close that gap, giving teachers a level of comfort with the technology, the cameras, and the software they need to help their students make videos.

With resources from local community organizations such as historic societies and science-based institutes, students will be able to create their own documentaries about the ecology, biology, Maritime Indians, the potato, lobster, and timber industries, ice harvesting, and state historical figures. Combined with interviews they will conduct, students will write their own stories. In this process, they will learn that history is not simply a list of facts, but the interpretation of events; that science demands research and integration of knowledge. While creating their own video interpretations, they will find that their opinions truly matter. This empowering process enhances student participation and performance. It’s also empowering for students to be co-learners with their teachers, and sometimes even leading their teachers with their own fluency on computers.

Another essential ingredient to these workshops is the use of curricular material co-written by workshop leader Melody Lewis-Kane entitled Arts & ... History: Storytelling. Developed for the John F. Kennedy Center Education Department, these activities emphasize the importance of using primary and secondary resources in the creation of stories for telling. Adapted for the making of videos, these Civil War curricular materials clearly demonstrate to teachers how a history lesson can come alive when students are actively engaged in researching, writing, acting, directing, editing and presenting.

iMovie in particular is a program that stimulates students’ imaginations. Through editing their own videos, they begin to realize the kind of manipulation of reality that is commonplace in Hollywood. California leads the nation in developing movie-making curriculum. San Fernando High School teacher Marco Torres says "I see kids who don't traditionally do well in school succeed because this was another way for them to express themselves." He adds, "Media is the language of kids. Students who may not take to learning by reading a textbook or listening to a lecture often jump at the chance to understand complex concepts by presenting finished movies.”

Students who make videos can be as involved in social studies and science as they are in the visual and performing arts. Writing, directing, editing, and performing are all arts that develop critical thinking and cooperative learning skills, and enhance imagination and writing skills -- all goals in many states’ Learning Results. Students not only develop these skills but they find that school becomes an exciting place to be. In a recent study conducted by James Catterall of the UCLA Imagination Group titled Involvement in the Arts and Success in Secondary School he found that “highly involved arts students ... earned better grades and scores, were less likely to drop out of school, watched fewer hours of television, were less likely to report boredom in school, had a more positive self-concept, and were more involved in community service.” In the process of giving teachers the tools to excite learning across the curriculum these activities will also bolster local arts programs having a positive impact on schools’ social climate.

In the Guiding Principles of the Maine Learning Results, our home state, the first element is that each student must graduate as “ clear and effective communicator who uses oral, written, visual, artistic, and technological modes of expression.” Producing videos gives students significant practice in all of these. Our proposed workshop devotes much effort to introducing teachers to the kind of curricular activities that can achieve these ends using innovative methods that reach out to a variety of learning styles. It is important for teachers to be given opportunities to learn effective use of this technology to support reform-minded teaching objectives such as interdisciplinary learning and real world problem solving.

kanelewis@aol.com (207)-359-2320