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Story Four: The Dark Boyfriend

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The last project narrated here was produced by a group of three girls: Heather, Keiko, and Stephanie. All three girls were "best friends" and requested to be grouped together. They agreed very quickly on a creative writing piece rather than an informational or biographical document, generally the preferred genres in this project. (It was later noted that while students were working in the pen and paper writing workshop group, they wrote creative pieces almost exclusively, yet when working in the computer groups, they preferred nonfiction.) The three girls wrote a plot synopsis of their story and submitted that as their project proposal. The writing piece involved two teenage girls who were close friends and attended the public high school. One of the girls met a teenage boy and was immediately attracted to him, primarily because he was "pleasantly unique." As the story progresses, it is revealed that the "boyfriend" was, in fact, a being from another planet and planned to harm the girls. Fortunately, the plucky young women were able to outwit the "dark boyfriend."

An issue immediately arose when the school principal read the proposed story line, as the original plot called for the "dark boyfriend" to be possessed by the devil. The principal thought that this might be offensive to some (parents) and instructed the group to revise this one aspect of the story. Heather, Keiko, and Stephanie received the news very amiably, quickly conferred, and asked could the boyfriend be an alien instead?

The "Boyfriend" group was characterized by a spirit of camaraderie, cooperation, and determination. The girls chose to act out a series of scenes from the story, taking turns videotaping each other. They found suitable locations both inside the school building and outside on the school grounds to dramatize their piece. Heather appeared to be least satisfied with her role; she played the only male partthat of the boyfriendand made some initial remarks about her costume being unflattering. However, she shrugged off those sentiments and put intense effort into all aspects of the production.

After the text was typed into the computer, still frames (photographs) from the group's videotaping were captured and inserted into the document. It was then decided that all lines of dialogue would be read by the actor/group member, and audio files would be created for inclusion in the story. The group recorded in the afternoons after school. They somehow lost all of their first recordings and had to remain a second day after school to redo these. When the recording session was over, some time remained before their parents would pick them up, so the three girls experimented with their voices over the microphone. They took turns singing, both solo and in trio, harmonizing, and giggling.


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Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal
a service of NC State University, Raleigh, NC
Volume 3, Issue 1, Winter 2000
ISSN 1097—9778
URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/winter2000/stories/boyfriend.html
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