Videos and Education

Videos have always been an incredibly useful tool to me in education. For projects, usually for a social studies or science class, I began using videos around 7th grade. The first time I used a movie was ten minute clip about the stages of volcano eruption. At first I used them as an introduction to my topic to help my audience focus and create a common picture for them to visualize. As I progressed into high school and DVDs became the norm, I began integrating the videos into the middle of presentations. I liked this approach more because it allowed me to highlight necessary details, such as the significance of geography in the Vietnam War, while also working a short break into my presentation. While the class watched the clips, I could grab a drink of water, catch my breath, go over my notes to make sure I had not skipped any vital details, etc.

With the advent of streaming video and the accessibility of movies on the internet, I will definitely be using movies in my lessons. As a social studies teacher, I would love to have a field trip every week so my students could actually experience the regions and cultures we study. Since there is little chance of this happening, I believe videos will be an adequate substitution. I also like the idea of doing adjusting the three stages of reading to the video, doing pre-, during, and post- exercises. I would also likely distribute a work sheet with the movie to better focus my students.

Another aspect I like is that many social studies authors are affiliated with major organizations such as National Geographic or NCSS. Because of this, these organizations like to incorporate them into the movies they produce. As a student, seeing the author of my history of Egypt textbook actually handling artifacts gave the book further credibility and gave me a better appreciation for his work. With luck, I will be able to incorporate books by authors who also appear in movies into my curriculum.

Educase Chapter 8

I honestly found this reading to be the least engaging. I feel as if this chapter focuses more on the post-secondary Net Generation, as opposed to the the secondary environment I will be entering. Instead of reminiscing about my experiences growing up in the current education system or imagining the classrooms I will enter, I found myself thinking about my current friends and their current statuses in life. While interesting, I felt that unless I do eventually pursue my doctorate, this chapter served me little, since the information was aimed at the educational period after mine.

I believe the key to educating the Net Generation is to fight complacency. I feel this is an overall problem with our educational system. Educators have come to embrace the efficiency of technology as a mean of communication between fellow educators, administrators, and students; however, the implementation of technology into the curriculum generally stops here. Instead educators need to become aware of the immense potential technology holds for instruction.

I spoke with an underclassmen education major, which led me to reminisce about Secondary Methods I and constructivism. Personally, I consider myself a progressive, but technology could theoretically allow for both philosophies to be truly implemented. At heart, both preach that students should be fully engaged in the learning process, and the numerous applications of the Web 2.0 would only serve to further empower students in their pursuit of knowledge. We discussed it in and out since the class began, and I agree. The future of the American education system hinges upon teachers' abilities to think beyond flat textbook pages and see the benefits technology holds.