Two Different Classes, One Assignment

Filming and video editing generally aren’t things you associate with health. And yet, that’s exactly what Mrs. Hallaran’s 10th-grade class spent over two weeks working on recently. The end goal? Compile a bunch of videos and eventually present them to the middle school.

Mrs. Hallaran is the health teacher here at HF, and has recently brought all of her classes into the media room for their unit on mental health. “We’re doing a learning assignment where [the kids] are researching and presenting on mental health issues,” she explained when asked about the project. Some of the topics which her students are tackling include bullying, drugs, and the relationship between school and sports. They’re working together on these projects in small groups of 3-4 students each. 

One of the most liberating aspects of the project for many students has been the amount of creative input they get. There’s no set format. No video outline supplied to them in Google Classroom, and barely any rules to begin with. Each group got to choose what type of video they wanted to do, from one or more skits to interviews with other students. “It was really fun filming,” commented sophomore Harry Diner, whose group recorded a voiceover on time management in the HF studio.

The next step, is the editing process- and this is where health and media classes collide. Although some health students have taken on the challenge of tuning the videos themselves, many groups are working with Mr. Ambrosio’s Video Storytelling and Mass Media classes to create the final product. This also counts as credit for the media students themselves- a win-win. 

Once everything is done, the plan is to show these videos to sixth-graders at Oldfield Middle School, a decision made by the students themselves. “They felt that it was an important issue that should be addressed around sixth grade,” said Ms. Hallaran. Middle school is commonly considered a difficult time for many kids, so it makes sense to try to inform them on these topics as soon as possible. 

Mrs. Hallaran has done film projects with her classes before, but never anything on this scale. So far, this one looks like it might be here to stay.