Connecting to Students in a New Way

This week I wanted to focus on Chapter 8 A Literacy Pedagogy for Multimodal Composing by McVee.  There was one section that I mainly wanted to focus on, in the section of Why Multimodal Inquiry, all the information I found to be very helpful in how they want to make the shift from a traditional classroom to the 21st century classroom.  I found that this section of the chapter provides us as future teachers insight into what our classrooms may be like when we become teachers.  In my opinion traditional classrooms do not hold interests in students to learn, and it does not give them a chance to practice with new tools that they will probably use in higher education.  As McVee explains traditional schooling is what is causing "student disengagement in classrooms," and she is exactly right.  Students are not able to express themselves freely if they are not given even the slightest chance too (McVee 116).  Since most of students outside lives are engulfed by technology, why not bring it into the classroom somehow.  It will keep the students engaged and they will be more willing to learn something new and will be excited to experience a new way to learn it.  Students at times may not seem like they care and I am sure some of us were like that in some point in our educational journey, but in all reality they do care.  They want to get out of it as much as they can.  So why not as a teacher put the time in to make there educational experience the best it can be.  "We believe many students desperately want to see school as connected to who they are and are becoming...," and this is especially because technology is a major part of the new generation, it is what they use in their daily lives (McVee 116).  So why not connect technology, multimodality somehow to the classroom, give the students a feeling that we listen to them and give them the feeling of importance.  I mean isn't that why we are all becoming teachers? To change the lives of students and to see them become successful.  I think making the change from traditional classrooms to the use of multimodality in the classroom is something that we will see more and more teachers switch over to in the next few years.  It may take some teachers who use the traditional way of teaching to switch over, mainly because they are not willing to take the time out to learn it, but eventually I think we will get there.  As teachers we should not be afraid to learn new things, after all we are teaching students new things.  So why not learn together, in the end it will benefit both the teacher and student. 

And this week....a Digital Movie

In my Production and Utilization of Instructional Technology class this past week we learned how to make a digital movie.  I chose to write about this because I saw it to be similar to the 20 shot story we did a couple weeks ago.  We used Windows Media Player and PowerPoint to complete the digital movie.  When she mentioned that we where going to use Windows Media Player, I was not as nervous because I was able to get familiar with it with the 20 shot story project.  Although we did not finish our digital movie yet, we spent the whole class period to learn all the ins and outs of how to make a successful digital movie.  Learning how to make a digital movie or 20 shot story at first maybe kind of scary and intimidating, at least my first experience was especially because I am the worst at speaking in front of people,  but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.  I find a lot of similiarities between these two classes, in that pedagogy is first and technology is then incorporated into the learning process.  I am glad I am getting the chance to learn some of these multimodal tools twice, it is giving me the chance to really practice with them, so one day when I have students of my own I am able to clearly explain it to them.  Just like anything else, the more you practice, the easier it becomes. 

Success: The 20 Shot Story

I absolutely loved doing this 20 shot story, I had to best time doing it and my teams story turned out great, it will definitely bring some laughs to the class on Monday.  I had my doubts about doing the 20 shot story because I am far from an actress and really never had to do something like this before.  I never thought that I would be one of the main characters in front of the camera.  After we started filming my nerves calmed down, and I just had to realize to just have fun with it.  My group and I had the best time filming the 20 shot story which made it a lot easier to be able to play one of the main actors in our story The Necklace.  I learned so much from doing the 20 shot story, especially the camera angles, which we had a variety of throughout our 20 frames. I was able to grasp the concept of how important camera angles are in a movie and how they are able to capture each moment from a specific angle.  Doing this project made me step out of my comfort zone and really opened my eyes to a whole new multimodal tool that I have never worked with before.    

A New Way to Get EXCITED About Reading

One thing I highly enjoyed in the article Using Graphic Texts in Secondary Classrooms: A Tale of Endurance by Mary Rice is that it focuses primarily on secondary education which is what grade I want to pursue as a teacher.  So I was really pleased that this article focused on multimedia uses in upper level classrooms.  Graphic novels are something that you have to read slowly and really focus on what you are reading in order to fully grasp what is going on.  I think this is a great idea to use in a classroom, it gives students the time to slow down, take there time, and really get the chance to fully comprehend the story without having to be rushed.  Although graphic novels are something new to me, I am willing to try to incorporate them into my classroom one day and I know I will have to spend my own time studying them and fully grasping the concept of graphic novels.  As Mary described it "I knew I was going to have to put just as much or more effort to use them in class," which means as a teacher in order for you to use them in your classroom, you have to have a full understanding in order to teach it to your students properly so they can get as much out of it as possible (Rice 38).  I also really liked how Rice mentioned that graphic novels or comics were recommended for "slow-learners" (Rice 38).  So graphic novels not only help express students creativity which we all know is something that I like to focus on, it also helps students who read at a slower pace.  Graphic novels seem to be beneficial in many ways,  and "teachers have been heavily advised to teach using graphic texts," which I think they should (Rice 38).  I think it is important as a teacher to open up students to as many multimedia tools as you can, it gives them a chance to be able to work with new material and use it later on in life.  Something I would do as teacher with using graphic novels is have the students pick their favorite graphic novel and then create their own putting themselves into the novel, and by doing this the students not only will learn how relate the words with graphics, it gives them a chance to express themselves through pictures, a different media.  Using graphic novels in a classroom gives the students a chance to experience something new and experience a new way of learning and expressing themselves.  I think students should be able to get excited about reading, and I think using graphic novels in the classroom is a great way to do that.   

Image Retrieved from:  http://www.ntlibrary.org/2012/04/graphic-novel-collection/grahpic-2/

Movie Inspiration

Finally got the chance to watch Life of Pi, I am so glad I did, it was such amazing movie with a great story and the visual effects were unbelievable.  I recommend everyone to watch this movie.  When watching this movie, I was thinking to myself what a great idea it would be to have students pick a movie of their choosing, of course being school appropriate, write a short summary on the movie and then make a 20 shot story board on what they thought the most important scenes of the movie were.  It would be interesting to see what each student would come up with, the different perspectives from each student.  I know it is not very content based but movies are such good inspiration, I might only be saying that because I absolutely love movies.  It would get the students to look at something from a different angle, a different perspective and be able to understand the importance of a movie and the purpose of why it was made.  To end the project have each student share their thoughts on the movie and show the class the story board they made to summarize what they thought the most important parts of the movie were.  This would give the students a different way of learning and how to understand movies, and of course how it relates to the importance of writing.  It would also allow the students to express their creativity, and we all know that creativity is very important, at least to me when it comes to teaching.  Allowing students to express themselves, gives them the sense of confidence and pride in their work, it allows their creativity to show through.  


I certainly did not think when I sat down to watch Life of Pi, that this idea would come out of it.  I guess my love of movies paid off, who knew?

 Let me know what you think?  What are your opinions on this spur of the moment idea?

You Learn Something New Each Day

In my Production Utilization and Technology class last week our class met at the Technology Learning Center in the library to learn more about the Smart board and what it all has to offer.  I have only  used a Smart board a total of probably three times in my life so I was interested to see what it could really do.  While we were there, one of the helpers showed us all the activities you can do on the Smart board, from things such as disecting a frog which could come in handy for a Biology class, locating cities on a map which could be helpful for a History class, and a crossoword puzzle which could be used as a study guide pretty much for any class.  I never thought that the Smart board had all of those activities included with it.  It gives students the chance to be able to interact in different ways with their peers, and I think it is a different way to show students how to learn about new things no matter the subject.  I am so glad we go to learn more about the Smart board, and I hope that I will be able to practice with it a little more in my future classes, and be able to explore all that it has to offer.  I think it is a useful tool that should be placed in every classroom, of course if the school is able to afford one. 

I am really enjoying learning all of these new tools that I hope to one day use in my classroom.  As a teacher giving the students a chance to experience something new that they may have not experienced before and something that they can take with them, and that they will hopefull enjoy enough to use in other classes and to share with their peers. 

More on Podcasting

I have decided to blog a little more on podcasting, since I enjoyed it so much for the book review project we had to do in class.  I am going to be honest I was a little hesitant on podcasting since I have never heard of it or used it.  I went in optimistic to say the least because it was a chance for me to learn something new, and the gain knowledge on a new tool that may be useful when I become a teacher.  I think it is an amazing idea to use podcasting for a book review, I feel like instead of the traditional book report with paper and a pencil, this give the students a chance to express their creativity and be able to set it up how they want.  What I mean when I say set up, I mean in the different ways they can go about scripting and recording the podcast, such as an interview, or talk show which I think is one of the better ways to go about podcasting a book report.  It not only gets the point of the book across and incorporates things learned in the classroom it also does it in a way that will have the podcast stick in the students minds since they can put their own spin on it, and gives them a chance to also have a little fun with it.  Which as we all know in most traditional assessments there is usually no room for creativity.  When I become a teacher that is one thing I am going to stress, to not shun students creativity because I think it is very important for a student to be able to express themselves, especially in their work.  Podcasting is one way I will try to incorporate creativity in my students whil still using classroom work.  My goal is to keep a happy balance among myself and my students by incorporating new tools into the classroom, which my hope is to bring multimodality into their world.