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/