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. 

Best of Both Worlds

This week I wanted to focus on the article by Donna Joan Lund, Video Production in the English Language Arts Classroom.  The reason I chose to focus on this article was because I wanted to learn more about video production use in the classroom.  Before reading this article I really had no idea or ever experienced using this in the classroom.  The section that caught  my attention was the oral communication activities, especially because I am probably the worst public speaker and turn beat red in front of any audience.  Incorporating oral communication into video production allows the student to experience both tools and to become confident when speaking in front of the audience, which is a common fear among most people.  Having students produce a video and present it to the audience will prepare them for when they have to go to college and speak in front of hundreds of their peers, and it will also prepare them for their future careers when they have to speak in front of managers, CEO's or a higher up position in a company.  In this section one part that I thought was of great importance was that, "self-awareness that dawns on students when they see and hear themselves revealed on camera," which gives the students the chance to see themselves on camera and be able to perfect their speeches, so that when they  present their work they will be confident that they did their best job, and that will project to the teacher and students that they came prepared. 

As a teacher I hope I have the resources to be able to allow my students to do this, I think it is would be a great experience and it would give the students knowledge both in communication and the use of technology, the best of both worlds. 

Searching, Searching, Found It!

After reading Chapter 3 What are Blogs, Wikis, and Digital Stories by D.J. Wilber I was truly inspired to have an all out internet search to get more information on all of the links he cited in this chapter.  Although all of them were highly interesting I found two to be more helpful and engaging than the others.  Journeys which is the title of Diane's blog who uses inspiration to drive her blog and also Links to School Bloggers which gives a detailed list of hundreds of blog websites that are for education majors or just for someone who has an interest in education.  I know we are only suppose to talk about one this week so I had to weigh the pros and cons of each and decide on one to delve into more.

The one I chose to learn even more about was Diane's blog, her inspirational and helpful words that kept me interesting in wanting to read more.  It shows that she is truly passionate about what she is doing and it comes through when she is blogging about certain events or as her blog is titled journeys she has taken.  This blog really engaged me and I actually was thinking about following her blog to see what else she has to say because her journeys are what many of us have to go through to get where we want to be, so seeing someone elses story helps to ease it a little more.  One quotation she uses in her blog that I found to be highly important, that stuck with me was, "Sometimes learning means taking chances," which is so true (Diane's blog).  When I saw that quotation I automatically applied it to what we are learning in class.  All the new tools we are learning how to use and how to incorporate multimodality into the classroom is all about learning and not being afraid to step outside of our comfort zone and try something that in the end can have great benefits.  I am sure I will be writing more on my blog about what Diane has to say, I think  her inspirational words will keep me motivated in moving on in my career because I am very passionate about becoming a teacher and getting kids to become successful and take that next step in their lives. 

I encourage all of my classmates to take a look at this blog and I hope you find it just as inspirational and helpful as I did.  Also how some of her blogs relate to what we are doing or reading about in class.  Just remember in some point of our lives we all have a journey of our own that we will take and learn from and who knows maybe one day I will write a blog about my educational journery as well.