Weekly Reading #8 ~Composing with Media Across the Curriculum

Listed below are three quotes I had a reaction to from Chapter 5 Digital and Media Literacy by Renee Hobbs.

1.  "Some of the best project-based learning assignments using media and technology give students a combination of structure and freedom, where they can develop communication skills and exercise their creativity but have some constraints that omit and shape their work" (Hobbs, 2011 pg. 86)

~I have seen this in action.  In fact, my 2 large projects when I was doing my student teaching in Biology were both project-based.  The first project was a claymation of mitosis and the second project was a mock ethical debate on genetic cloning.  Assessment wise they both turned out really well in all of the sections of Biology that I taught.  Watching the creative, collaborative process was beyond amazing.  I think we often forget the breadth and depth of our students thoughts and feeling towards topics until we watch them in a setting where they are producing an authentic product.  The mock ethical debate was mind blowing.  The students got into it so deeply that they had each other crying during the mock debate.  I think they learned something during the 2 weeks we worked on the debate.  They had to learn how to defend a topic they may not have fully supported to play the "role."  In other words, they had to research the "other side" of the debate to understand it and be able to argue it at an informative level.  I had to give a short lesson on developing a logical debate even when you wholeheartedly disagree with a topic. I gave them a chance to write their feeling on genetic cloning at the end to "clear the air."  They performed at a level that made me proud.  Below are embedded video artifacts from both PBLs.

Lesson Plan:  Mitosis Claymation

Lesson Plan:  Human Cloning/Genetics

2.  "Writing and art teachers experience this problem frequently because they invite students to reveal their hearts, minds, and imaginations.  As a result, students often depict scenes of darkness, evil, violence, or self-harm" (Hobbs, 2011 pg. 94).

~It goes on to mention that teachers are having a hard time distinguishing between imitation and self-expression.  I have videos on my YouTube channel that my son made without my permission.  It is fairly easy to get on one of my devices while I'm busy with homework - create a video and then post on my YouTube.  It is always logged in.  So what I found was this…

As you can see he was locked in his room.  I think I have 11 videos just like this on My Channel.  James, my son, went through a few months of creating paper guns nonstop.  It was usual to find small scraps of paper all over my house and scotch tape stuck to the floor.  It started with small guns and eventually got quite elaborate.  When I started seeing the videos I wasn't sure what to think of it.  He had a hobby but it seemed to me (based on all the media attention on guns) that it was an inappropriate hobby.  I was starting to fear that since these videos were mixed with my teaching videos that someone might see them and accuse James of violent behavior and me of either supporting his violent behavior or not paying attention to his tendencies.  However, I know that it was his way of creatively expressing himself and I didn't want to stifle his creativity because in a way his attention to detail was quite neat. It was short term, although at the time it didn't feel like it.


3.  "Teachers can contribute to student failure:  Sometimes they abort student projects when they become too time-consuming" (Hobbs, 2011 pg. 97).

I took part in a PBL this last semester.  I worked in conjunction as the "NASA Specialist" with a high school.  I Skyped into the classroom and I presented NASA's side of the argument that they were looking at.  It was fun and I think it was the students' favorite part of the PBL.  At the end of the PBL I was asked to review the students' portfolios that they did on Google Sites.  I was excited… at first.  However, after reviewing the first two, I realized they were only half thought out.  The project was done in the sense the class was done but the work was unfinished.  I was supposed to pick a winner.  The team that convinced NASA (aka me) to buy their product.  As a science teacher, I was heart broken.  Connections were missed amongst many other issues.  I wrote out extensive comments to fix errors and misconnections.  I feel a project is not done until the student understands it fully.  That means fixing serious errors and misconceptions.  I never heard back, I'm guessing my thoughts went unnoticed.  It was ashamed.  It could have been a good project.  In this instance (and I think it happens to often) the PBL was a waste of classroom time.  I hate having to admit that since I am a huge proponent for project-based, technology integrated lessons.


Citation

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: connecting culture and classroom. (p. 86, 94, 97). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin; A Sage Company.