Time for some more local promotion!
My hometown is not always so great when you compare it to other cities, however when I look back on my childhood, and when I am away for long periods I realize there are a lot of special things about this small community that I miss in larger cities. One example is the outdoor activity of dog-sledding. I have volunteered for over 13 years with the Caledonia Dog Mushers Association, and this allowed me to assist a camera crew show called "Simon Sees" based out of Vancouver this past winter (Feb 2013). The crew came up during our annual qualifying race (a 3 day mush race and sprint races) for the Yukon Quest (Canadian version of the Iditarod - longest dog sled race in the world). The crew created a short video to help promote my community. I learned so much being able to see what goes on behind the scenes during these types of shows, how these cameras work, the trial and error process. Television and film making, which is definitely part of the art spectrum but is often left out, is so important for students to understand and respect. If you are doing drama with students, try not to overlook the film and television part of it, which is often what many students will find more relatable as well.
Here is the resulting video:
p.s. I am the one in on the blue Polaris with the white helmet :)
I LOVE dog sledding! I did it through high school and did quite a bit in Fort St. James. I'm sure that it was a fun experience to be part of the video making process.
ReplyDeleteI connect with this experience because of my time in the Yukon. We always went to see the Quest mushers off when they left from Whitehorse and we followed the race daily, cheering on our favourites. My friend developed an amazing integrated unit on the Quest that she still teaches her Grade 7 students in Whitehorse. I also appreciate your point about fil and video as "arts" - great to learn more about them whenever you have the chance. After Lord of the Rings, I was quite fascinated with how they made the character Gollom and so I bought a fascinating book about the special effects used in those films. I would have loved to have had a class to share that with at that time! Your video made me homesick for Whitehorse - beautiful bright day and beautiful dogs! (Our Yukon dog was a Malamute named Winter Spirit!). It also reminded me of a day when my teaching partner and I took our grade seven classes snowboarding and toboganning at a local hill. Some of the kids were assigned to take video and they edited it in the computer lab and presented it at a special event soon after - great experience that I had forgotten about! And equipment for doing that kind of thing keeps getting cheaper and easier. One last thought - I recently heard Kid Rock giving a tribute talk for Bob Seger, who still likes in Detroit, where he started with his silver bullet band forty years ago. Kid Rock said that Seger taught him to be proud of where you are from. I think that's part of developing a healthy identity - thanks for showing us how!
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