For the last few years in Digital Composition, a senior English elective, we have been making satire videos. The course covers rhetorical modes of composition in alternative ways, integrating technology in creative and thoughtful ways as compared to traditional English classes.

Students work on the films over the course of a semester and are asked to satirize some aspect of our high school community. By this point in their education there is much for them to poke fun at about the school. Embedded below are some of my favorites from the last few years. Because this is an English class, we have never had a budget for technology – students film on their iPhones or other personal devices and edit their videos using whatever software they have available to them.

The assignment is intended as more of a storytelling exercise than an assessment of technological or video prowess. Students do have access to a publication from the Director’s Guild of America, Making Movies: A Guide for Young Filmmakers.