Patti Shaffer

Shaffer’s innovative teaching idea, “Life around Us,” is a two-fold multimedia project in a 21st century classroom setting. During the first semester, students will collaborate with peers to create a persuasive multimedia documentary. The documentary theme will be a human-interest story, a social injustice, or a story about improving society. Student teams will research topics and prepare a storyboard for the presentation. Filming will begin and the final presentation will be shown to a campus audience. During the second semester, students will create a multimedia real-life documentary. Students will interview a member of the family, a senior citizen volunteer, a brave veteran, or any community member asking questions about changes in society and the impact the social changes have made on their lives. Students will then create a video as well as a keepsake book for the individual that was interviewed. This project will inspire students, from our 21st century classroom, to create multimedia projects about society and life around us.