Digital Movies
In Reading Helen Hofferberg and Mariaane Handlers article on “Digital Video goes to school” i realised that the use of digital media is a powerful way to motivate students, energize teaching and link to community. We live in a visual world we see it in our homes we are immersed in television and it is through this visual medium that children learn a great deal. Therefore it is only natural that children should embrace video in their learning. Students find video motivational and more importantly they demonstrate higher order thinking skills when producing digital video clips.
Equipment and financial costs can no longer be an excuse for limiting student’s opportunities to expand, create big ideas. It is as simple as having video editing software and a camera. As teachers we need to remember that the chance to create and use video provides one more tool to expand the learning environment.
As children work in this medium they begin to realize the relationship pictures have to the message that they are trying to convey. In the process of creating this video children are practicing many skills, these include;
• The technical skills involved in making a video
• Visual Literacy
• The higher order thinking skills of analyzing and synthesizing.
Helping children become visually literate is a major concern in today’s society. We have taught them about reading and grammar now it is time to teach them about video.
Uncategorized | Comment (1)Interactive Whiteboards
So i came across Kevs blog on interactive whiteboards i am quite impressed with these interactive whiteboards these whiteboards allow teachers to extend beyond the usual chalk and talk. Last year when i heard about these whiteboards i was a little worried as i was unsure of where they left the teacher and what role will they play in the classroom. But i was fortunate to see one of these whiteboards on prac and i am impressed, they take learning to a complelty new level, Kev states that children demand interactivity and if we use these whiteboards to their full potential they can engage and motivate students to learn. Whole class room learning can take place, and demonstrations can be shown. I was amazed that websites can be linked to these programs through the whiteboard, and immediately my idea of what does the teacher do was abolished i realised that the teacher still faciliates but the children become alot more motivated and they create rather than passivly do.
I agree with Kev on the basis of no you do not need an interactive whiteboard to teach, in reality there is nothing wrong with a black board students still learn. But my personal belief is that there is more an interactive white board can do, children get really excited when their name is called to move something on the whiteboard to another place, this motivation is such an important factor when we teach, if children are interested they want to learn.
As a teacher i found that it was great it was so much easier to explain things i could link to pages, i could demonstrate and i could show children multiple perspectives and yes majority of it can be achieved via a blackboard, but kids want interactivity and this whole approach makes learning fun, and thats what we want children to see learning is fun.
Kev states that he is worried that teachers may become lazy, i don’t see this, you still have to prepare if anything it encourages teachers to up their standards, children want to be challenged and there is so much that you can achieve with these whiteboards that teachers will have to up their standards to reach the full potential of these whiteboards and meet the childrens standards.
In regards to the want or need debate, i unlike Kev see it is a need, if we want to motivate children, if we want to encourage interactivity, if we want to see new ways of doing things then yes an interactive whiteboard is a need. I don’t believe traditional methods will be lost by the introduction of these whiteboards, and i don’t believe we will ever find an era that will show computers teaching and teachers just monitoring.
Uncategorized | Comment (1)My digital story
This is my digital story, my first ever one!!!
Uncategorized | Comment (1)Snap, crackle and pop!!!!
I stumbled across Alissa’s little post on Torment Technology it got me thinking about technology..It is great, fun, entertaining and creative. However like all things it does go wrong and when it goes wrong “snap, crackle, pop” its all gone!
And there are never any guarenttes with anything, her post got me thinking if that could happen to one person imagine what could happen to a whole class, and how disruptive that could be?
“I will leave you with this thought, if technology is something we are persuing to catch up with, yet we are the designers of our own creations, why then are we struggling to keep up with it?” Such an intersting and thought provoking question, and i thought about it and the only real reason that i came up with was technology is always moving new things are being created, better things and as we master one thing a new thing comes out which expands on the previous, it all seems like a little race. But when technology does work i believe it can be pretty amazing.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)I want to learn!
Engage meI came across an interesting post by Lauren, she found a you tube video. This video has the students voice on what they percieve learning to hold. Their main arguement was Engagement and they way they were engaged, and this was through technology. This video was an awakening of the way students learn, it also opened the doors for questioning the society that we will be teaching in.
The video showed stastics of teachers who use technology and those who don’t and to be honest i wasn’t shocked to see such high figures that don’t use technology, and the children are suffering. This only retierates the idea of incorporating technology into the classroom, the children want to learn, they want to create and they want to be challeneged however without incorporating technology into the classroom we aren’t exactly meeting their needs.
Lauren states an interesting point she sheds light on the idea that student teachers are being taught technology at university but what happens to those teachers who aren’t brought up with technology? Does that mean that those children miss out? It is amazing to see how much technology is being used in and out of school, we need to equip our students to meet the everyday needs of society both technically and academically, and technology has the answer to this.
On prac every child had a computer and all work was done on the computer via the smartboard and i have never seen students so enthuastic to learn. They loved the interaction, they loved the freedom of creating things, i saw so many student games that were made by them and it blew me away. Children want to learn there is no question there, we as teachers need to meet their needs.
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