This chapter has been the most beneficial and eye opening to me out of all the other chapters we have read so far.
I tend to have a sort of phobia of technology. The thing is that I am truly not a big fan of change, and technology does and will cause change in my life. I had a cell phone that I payed for by the minute up until a few months ago, I refused to get a Facebook until everyone else insisted I should get one, I still have never owned an Ipod (not even a shuffle), and I am currently adamantly opposed to Kindles in fear that they will completely replace hard copies of books someday. This fear and avoidance of technology, I am coming to realize, is a severe weakness for becoming a teacher in the near future.
I never realized how exciting technology could be in a classroom; moreover, how it allows for me to use my creativity in developing plans to involve my students in the material I will be teaching. The Book Trailer idea is brilliant! As a creative person myself, if I had had this sort of project in high school I would have been so excited to share my trailer after it was finished and would surely never forget the book that I had read for it. I say why not take this idea one step further and create a project where students can group together and create 15-20 minute long movies based on a book. They could either take the more important parts of the story and film those scenes or they could create an entirely new story that could be tied back to the original book. Using technology in this way is now just another reason why I am so excited to begin teaching students in the future.
Lizzie,
ReplyDeleteI found myself nodding as I read your post because, like you, I seem to be somewhat...hesitant when it comes to technology. Up until recently, I also just used a cell phone that basically just rang and still do not have Facebook; the idea of putting a bunch of personal stuff online to me seems unnecessary at best and scary at worse! However, that said, I've also come to realize, similar to what the chapter pointed out, that change is hear, and it's essential that I do what i need to do to prepare my students. I also agree with you about the video project. I really liked it, and it's so easy to do. I can show you a free program that is SUPER simple to use for creating/editing videos.