English teacher Andie Brown in Manchester, MO, believes in sedition--well, a form of it, anyway. She purposely gives her students the assignment to challenge the status quo, and they use technology as a means toward that end. The result is truly meaningful education; students learn that what they do may have a powerful impact. In her Vonnegut class, they study contemporary satire. The final assignment is for students in groups of two or three to create a three- to five-minute satiric film. (They used Mac computers and imovie as well as Youtube.)
"Ms Brown says, "figuring out a way to take advantage of something like YouTube was my aha moment. Students today sometimes don't believe that they can make a difference in society. In a pendulum swing that's polar, where my generation tuned out, this generation has plugged in, but the effect is the same. When the students see their small movie projects screened and really get to feel the response of the audience, they seem to deeply understand the place satire has in a free society. They also see that there are many, varied ways to seek change, but that humor and art are two of them." Wow!
Source: The Journal May 2008
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