Final

My philosophy on teaching is good teachers produce good learners. Harry K. Wong, teacher and philosopher, stated, “In an effective classroom, students should not only know what they are doing, they should also know why and how” (Wong, 2010).  Teaching is not simply telling information to a student.  Teachers must go above and beyond telling.  Teaching without passion will cause learners to learn dispassionately.  As a future educator, I am responsible for my students’ learning.  There is no such thing as someone who cannot learn.  Teachers may be incapable of teaching, but a student is always capable of learning.  I will pour passion into my content and expect passion back.

Although passionate teaching breeds passionate learning, classroom management is crucial in creating the effective classroom that Wong spoke of.  A teacher must minimize managerial problems to maximize learning. Like Nelson, Lott, and Glenn, writers of Positive Discipline, I too will set up a classroom based on mutual respect and encouragement (Lott, 2009).  I will discipline my students, but I will try to continue to carry on instruction effectively.  It is important to find the behavior that causes behavioral problems, but that will take place after instruction.   When discussing behavioral issues with students, I will be sure to follow the Thomas Gordon model and incorporate I-messages.  I will tell students how I feel about their behavior instead of pointing fingers; this always goes along with the idea of mutual respect.  I want to create a challenging, exciting, engrossing, thought provoking, structured classroom.  I know that the first day of school is crucial and I plan to follow Wong and begin discipline plans in the first class.  .

Once I pour passion into instruction, and set up an effective classroom, I plan on incorporating withitness (Elementary classroom management, 2008).  I will have methods of handling overlapping in the classroom.  Proximity control and eye contact will be crucial to keeping my students focused.  I will have routines and well managed lessons that will keep the flow of learning constant.

In addition to these other important teacher characteristics, teachers need to acknowledge their responsibility with regards to a changing America.  Technology is changing the way we do things whether it be work, communicate, learn, etc.  “We know that 75 percent of American adolescents are online (U.S. Census, 2002) and 85 percent of all Internet users expect to find key news information online (Horrigan and Rainie, 2002).” Yet “the adolescents of the nineties are more isolated and more unsupervised than other generations” (Hersch, 1998). The tools of visual, media, and information literacy must be taught in school because they will (or won’t) be used at home.  We need to ask ourselves, “How can I teach language arts (or science or social studies or math) to students who are constantly exposed to multimedia, virtual reality, and electronic communities?...”  "Today's explosion in media technologies has brought new literacies into being, transforming the way these kindergartners read the word and read the world, even if our schools have been one of the last places to recognize this(Teaching youth media, 2003)."

All in all, the teacher is responsible for a very important thing: a child’s expansion of knowledge.  I want to be passionate.  I want to be withit.  I want to be assertive. I simply want my students to love what they learn.  In order to do this I know that I will need to effectively set up my classroom so students should not only know what they are doing, but also know why and how.

References:

Abilock, D. (2003, November/December). A seven-power lens on 21st century literacy. DOI: www.infotoday.com/mmschools

Wong, H. (2010). Classroom management and procedures. Retrieved from http://www.abvm.org/school/second/files/rules.pdf

Lott, L. (2009). Positive discipline. Retrieved from http://www.positivediscipline.com/

Shaffer, S. C. (2009, June 18). Creating a positive classroom climate. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/scs15/idweb/positiveclimate.htm

(2003). Teaching youth media. New York: Teachers College Press.

Elementary classroom management. (2008). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Reading Online, 5(4). Retrieved from: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=semali1/index.html

RESOURCES:

http://www.edmodo.com/

EDUCATIONAL FACEBOOK!  Great technology interaction.

http://thinkfinity.org/

Great instructional resources here!

http://webquest.org/index.php

homepage for those wanting WebQuest information. This is a powerful tool for integrating web resources into the classroom

http://www.landmark-project.com/classweb/tools.html

site that is devoted to providing educators with the tools to interact with their students and others.

http://www.eduweb.com/

This site is the main gateway to all kins of great adventures on the web.

Digital Story Final

Digital Story

This was an emotional assignment ;); It was a hard process, but empowering at the same time.
here it is (note, I opted to not add background music; I felt it took away from my words):

Storyboard for Digital Story

Double Entry Journal #12

1.     How can documentary video production help prevent the underdevelopment of urban youth minds and spirits?

Several skills can be developed through this process like writing, speaking, and interviewing.  In the words of Julius when asked about improvements he made through his documuentary production, “I like to learn by doing my work, homework, classwork, or talking… I learn best by talking…” (p. 90, Goodman, 2003).  Documentary video production allows urban youth minds to have an alternative way to learn school-based literacies, something more appealing than writing a paper about a novel.

2. What school-based literacies does documentary video production help to develop?

            As mentioned above, writing, speaking, and interviewing.  It also teaches students how to research, analyze, reflect, and edit.    

3. What 21st century skills does documentary video production help to develop? Provide concrete examples from the chapter. Use this Wikipedia article  to help you answer this questions.

            Teachers need to move away from the traditional methods of teaching and bring into the classroom new and innovating approaches to teach the content and lifelong skills.  Documentary video production covers the 4 Cs of 21^st century skills.  It causes student think critically, be creative, communicate with others, and collaborate.  This causes students to have an extremely authentic experience that they will remember and value the rest of their lives.

4. Would you support a documentary video production in school or after-school program in your community? Why or Why not?

I most certainly would, but I would make sure that proper restrictions were made to ensure the safety of the student.  I wouldn’t want to allow them to go knocking on doors in the drug-using parts of Southern West Virginia (and yes, these areas where everyone is positive that meth labs are running do exist).  Interviews would have to be approved and when possible, done on school property. 

 

Citation:

(2003). Teaching youth media. New York: Teachers College Press.

Week 12, Activity 2

My opening line is not going to be verbalized.  It is a quote that will come onto the screen for about 5 seconds before I begin my digital story.  That quote will be: "Everything I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. --Abraham Lincoln "

The next thing to appear on the screen will be the word overcome and I will verbally define overcome "Overcome <pause> to struggle successfully against a difficulty or disadvantage"

Next verbal line(along with sound track) that will lead to digital story will be, "We all have had overcome things in our lives; Just before turning nine, I had to struggle successfully against the biggest difficulty of my life, losing my mother"

Essentially, my essential questions is "How to overcome the loss of a parent at a young age?"

Week 12, Activity 1

Element #1 - Point of View

Consider your audience as you plan your story. Why is it important for you to tell your story to them?

To learn about my success, despite struggles.

What do you hope your audience will understand about what you have to share?

I hope they understand that there were traumatic events of my childhood that changed me, but through it I am empowered and successful.

Will you be telling your story in 1st person (more personal) or will you be telling it from 3rd person (more removed or detached)?

I will be telling my story in 1^st person, because it is a very personal story.

Video Questions (once I can watch videos):
Take a look at the two examples and see if you can identify the purpose behind each story. What is the point of view in each? Whose voice do you hear?

Element #2 - Dramatic Question

I need to make sure that my question can be identified and that I resolve the question by the end of the video.

Video Questions (once I can watch videos):
See if you can find a dramatic question in the examples for this section. Is the question resolved in each movie or are you left without a resolution?

Element #3 - Emotional Content

My entire story (because it deals with death through the eyes of a child) will contain emotional content.

Video Questions (once I can watch videos):
See if you can identify the emotional paradigms behind these stories.

Element #4 - The Gift of Your Voice

I need to strive for natural conversational tones and patterns. I need to include room to stop, pause and think while I’m telling my story.

Video Questions (once I can watch videos):
As you watch the examples in this section, consider the impact that the voice plays on the overall effect of the story.

Element #5 - Sound Track

Can you think of instances in movies where the sound track had you sitting on the edge of your seat as you waited for something scary to happen?

Every scary movie has me on the edge of my seat because of the soundtrack!  I think I wouldn’t even be afraid of scary movies if it wasn’t for the sound track.

Element #6 – Economy

Video Questions (once I can watch videos):
Look at the examples in this section and consider the decisions the authors made about length of clips, types of transitions and sequence of events. Are you able (as a viewer) to fill in the missing pieces?

     

Element #7 - Pacing 

Have you ever listened to a really good story and noticed how the storyteller changes the pace throughout the story?

Yes!

Gathering the Pieces

I went ahead and added this for myself:

·         Still images

·         Video clips

·         Voice over narration

·         Soundtrack

·         Sound effects

·         Titles

·         Transitions