Week 1 BP#3 Comments to Kristi Swartz

The following is a blog post by Kristi Swartz, with my comments below.

Wanted: New Media in the Classroom
Ron Smith Interview- Use Any Method to Reach Students

In the interview I watched, Ron Smith discusses animation use by high school students. He explains how he uses anything to get students interested in what is happening in the classroom. He integrates new technology and students express themselves in their own way.

I feel there is a real need for teachers to be aware of the new ways of expression in the classroom, which students use, everyday outside of the classroom. Students need to be as connected to the world inside the classroom as they are outside the classroom.

Ron Smith explains that a teacher who uses a PowerPoint thinks he is really techno-savvy. Teachers do not see the full benefits of digital teaching because this requires a new type of planning by teachers. Ron Smith explains how he builds the semester before the class even begins when using new technology. Most teachers work day by day, the new culture is preparation before class with more freedom during the day to aid student creation.

This article was interesting to me, but since it was an interview with a teacher of high school students, I need to adapt his ideas for the upper-elementary classroom. How: First, I love the idea of showing students a bit about several web 2.0 tools and then encouraging students to experiment with those tools to create a project, letting students choose the tool they wish to use for the project. For upper elementary students, I would begin with applications like Wordle, Glogster, StoryJumper, and ToonDoo. Once students are comfortable and familiar with these applications and how they are used, I would add more web tools for project presentation. I do try to create media for use in the classroom when I have free time that can be used in later classes to increase interest. I include a Prezi I created to use with students to share information about myself at the beginning of the school year. I encourage you to do the same. The more media we create and save, the more engaging our classrooms become!

I know students would love to have control over how they demonstrate their knowledge, and would likewise enjoy the presentation of final projects because they are all unique. Students would learn from each other’s final products! Final products can also be shown and shared with a larger audience, and perhaps used by many other teachers in their own classrooms! I know this type of learning would interest students and engage them in the learning as well!

New Media in the classroom? I’m sold!

My Comments

Kristi,

Your enthusiasm for integrating new media in your classroom is apparent. Thanks for pointing out the Ron Smith interview. (Interesting guy, brilliant mind and obviously a dedicated teacher. Were those really tube socks? :-) You have some wonderful ideas about how to adapt his ideas to your classroom. A couple thought come to my mind as I read your post.

Since we are reading about copyright and fair use this week, I can't help but see the similarity. We really do find inspiration in the works of other people. It's only natural to take an idea and want to improve on their ideas with our own ideas. I understand copyright protection, but there must also be a balance that protects the evolution of new ideas.

Part of me also thinks we are asking too much of our teachers today. There is so much information out there and new information is being created at exponential rates. If teachers are going to be able to keep up with new media in the classroom, we need to find ways to organize the existing information so the teacher can focus on the development of new ideas. I understand that teachers want freedom in their classrooms, but I would be willing to give up some of that freedom if it meant I could focus on more important ideas. If we are going to have a chance at keeping up and providing engaging learning experiences to our students, we need to learn to collaborate as teachers and build on those ideas to provide new learning experiences to our students. School boards and administrators need to be held accountable for providing that time. The ADDIE process involves more than implementation. Educators need time to collaboratively analyze, design and develop, implement and evaluate. Providing this additional time may cost more initially, but the long-term benefits would undoubtedly be justified.