Howdy everybody! For my first post, I wanted to introduce myself and lay some groundwork on what I think media's role in the classroom is.
I am Jeffrey, a senior at CSUN in the English Subject Matter program on my journey to become a teacher. My path here was unconventional, starting with a strong distaste towards literature while I studied classical saxophone at USC, but a series of stumbles, crashouts, and realignments led me to rediscover my love for the power of words and get an AA in Liberal Arts at Santa Monica College before finishing up my BA here. You can check my profile for more personal information about me, but that is the gist of my reason for being here.
Media is important. It takes many forms, from movies to TikTok to video games to, yes, even books. It evokes powerful emotions, educates us, distracts us, and helps to shape our understandings of the world. It is this importance that requires us to study it with the same ferocity that STEM fields use to understand the natural laws of the universe; we aim to understand the nature of ourselves. With this in mind, it is also essential that media in all its forms and technologies is not just studied, but utilized in the classroom at every level.
Bill Nye allows younger students to grasp introductory scientific concepts while being entertained by flashy experiments while keeping it low-budget for the teacher. I have a friend who got a 5 on the AP US History exam with the bulk of his studying being from the play Hamilton. Even video games have their place in education, like CoolMathGames.com helping students to practice mathematical principles without even realizing it. I learned more music theory from YouTube videos than I did from my courses at USC! There is a balance, of course (kindergartners shouldn't be watching Saving Private Ryan and PhD candidates shouldn't be using LeapPads), but the whole reason that different forms of media are created is that they convey information more effectively than the pre-existing forms could. Students learn differently, and different media helps to incorporate more students into the classroom.
All that being said, maybe don't put Family Guy clips underneath your slideshows to try and keep the kids' attention.
Hey Jeffrey! Great post! I loved reading your response due to its more positive outlook on the presence of technology and media in the classroom. Although I believe there are many reasons to limit the use of technology, I do believe there are many pros to incorporating other resources. For example, I remember learning a lot of new information from countless BrainPOP videos when I was younger. I like how you emphasize the fact that there should definitely be a balance in the media that is introduced to students. It is important to ensure we do not lead our students to become dependent on technology. That being said, as technology continues to advance, as future teachers, we are going to have to find ways to continue incorporating it into our classroom. Not only to utilize available resources, but to prepare our students for the things they may have to know or do in the real world.
ReplyDelete- Gabriela Colmenares