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Channahon Junior High Teacher Catherine Tonelli: Students Make Video Reports
Students Make Video Projects on the Salem Witch Trials; Another Way to Demonstrate Learning
Catherine Tonelli extends her Language Arts teaching beyond the printed word to video and PowerPoint, and a recent unit on the Salem Witch Trials brought an outpouring of students’ creative video work.
Tonelli is a seventh grade Language Arts teacher at By giving her students the option to either write about, present to the class, or make a video/PowerPoint, most of the students choose the technical option, and created a video or PowerPoint - comparing a modern child to a child from the late 1600’s when the trials occurred.
“I left the assignment requirements open, so that students would come up with creative ideas on their own," said Tonelli. "I wanted them to create a presentation they were proud of, but also focused on the objective."
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She also gave a range of project ideas to help students who have a harder time coming up with how to present their ideas.
Tonelli was pleasantly surprised at the outpouring of enthusiasm for the project. Students were able to work in teams and were also able to recruit family and friends for the casts of their productions. One enterprising student even went to an online site, goanimate.com, to turn himself into a cartoon and talk about Puritan life, she said. Another group asked the school’s dean, Brad Homerding, to star in their skit.
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Tonelli was impressed with the technical knowledge her students showed in the creation of both their videos and their PowerPoints.
“I feel like the assignment was successful in that all of my students were able to meet the objective creatively," she said. "I hope that they were proud of their work, because I was definitely pleased with the results. I can't wait to do another project in the future.”
