Students in Chris Ippolito’s communication classes at Red Bank Middle School put their media skills to use while filming a music video for a contest. RED BANK – Students at Red Bank Middle School took second place recently in an international music video contest and won a new technological gadget for the school.
Of the 66 entries in the sixth-toeighth grade category, the video titled “Use Ya Tech,” a parody of rapper Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” landed the students one of the five finalist spots and the second place prize.
The entries for the Interwrite Video Makeover Contest, sponsored by educational software provider Interwrite Learning, included video submissions of a popular song parody no longer than three minutes in length that described how students and teachers work together and utilize technology in the classroom on a daily basis.
“As a prize, we won an Interwrite wireless writing tablet (valued at $500), which allows a student to turn any projected image into an interactive whiteboard. We are certain to put it to many hours of good use,” wrote Chris Ippolito, first-year communications teacher who entered his students in the contest.
Ippolito pulled double duty on the video shoot by providing the vocals and writing the original rap parody.
“Even though I wrote the parody, the students acted out everything and they composed a lot of these shots. I would say 98 percent of these were student-composed shots. They actually framed it and said try that,” said Ippolito of his students’ input.
– – Melissa Karsh