Reflection

Over the last semester I have learned more about certain technologies then I ever thought possible. Throughout the course, I not only learned how to use things such as iMovie, iPod touches, Garage band, and a Mac Book but all the while I learned certain ways to implement into the classroom. I really enjoyed using the Mac Book because before now I had never even touched one. It was awesome to see how different it was from my boring PC. One major thing I learned was how easy it is to make these technologies accessible for everyone. I look forward to the day when I can show my classes how to film a movie or how to use a green screen.

Not only did I learn about technology, but I learned about myself and my personal style. I had a really fun time collaborating with my classmates and I had a fun time putting a personal touch on the projects. My favorite project was the digital story because I was able to showcase my dog Penny who I love to much for words. I also really enjoyed our last project because I was able to film with some of my best friends as well as talk about a funny, trending meme: Jenna Marbles. Each project taught me something new about myself, and it also gave me the confidence to use these products again in the future.

Although it was a fun class, at times I did struggle. I thought that there was not enough instruction given for certain projects. I understand the "teach yourself" philosophy, but I really struggled with things like Garage band because I had never used it before. Time spent on interacting with the technologies more in class could have been helpful. I also understand college is not all about grades, but sometimes I was confused as to how my group and I did not do better. On the Podcast, my group and I spent countless hours working in clips, interviewing, and adding music, yet we only got a B. Now a B is nothing to complain about, it is just hard after putting so much time in to not reap the full rewards.

Overall I enjoyed this class and all the projects it had to offer. I can honestly say that I hope to one day be able to incorporate one, if not all, of the technologies we used into my own classroom. I think that students will have a great time collaborating with peers and coming up with original story ideas. I hope that it is as successful as this class was.

Jenna Marbles Meme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ok7R_XSxk&feature=youtu.be

Perspective: The shots for our meme all make sense. They are all shot in one location (other than the green screen), so this makes the video flow better. The tone of the video is meant to be cheerful and comical because Jenna Marbles is regarded as a funny person. The lighting in the video is good, the shots are clear, and the iPod was steady throughout the filming.

Juxtaposition: Our meme incorporates real life shots and video clips. The video clips are placed throughout and in slots that make sense with our overall theme. We used clips to draw the viewers attention to specific portions of meme we wanted to highlight. Most of the scenes have a smooth transition. The response we are trying to receive from the viewer is that of humor since that is the theme we focused on throughout.

Layering: We used elements such as commentary, video clips, and backdrops (green screen) so the viewer would have many elements to respond to. We used many layers throughout this meme, so every time the viewer watches they will notice new elements and find it funnier than the first time the watched.

Unity: All of the elements in this meme serve a purpose. Every line of commentary is used to inform the viewer of other memes, Jenna's background, and those who try to impersonate her. Every video clip is used to give examples of the things we talked about, and they are also used for the comedic effect. We use the repetition of Jenna Marbles a lot because she is who we focused on for the overall meme.

Overall, my group and I had a really fun time filming our meme. We had a lot of bloopers while filming because our commentary or video clips were really funny and we could not stop laughing. It was hard to get the lighting right at times, and it was also hard to find time where we could all compile what we filmed. We actually filmed twice, but found that our first round of filming had a much better quality so we ended up using that one. We did not face many challenges and everything ran smoothly.

To implement this type of activity into the classroom would be an interesting task. I think it would require a lot of instruction from the teacher and a lot of patience from the students, but I definitely think it is doable. It would require a green screen, but those can be purchased or painted on a wall. I think this type of activity would be fun for many students, especially those who are eager about new technologies. It would open their eyes to all of the opportunities that are right at their fingertips and I also think it would be a great bonding experience for the students and so much fun!     

Link to Podcast on Dropbox

http://goo.gl/GZn14

What?
This was a podcast, created with my friends Christina and Beth, that took a look at the safety on the West Chester campus. For this project we utilized Garageband and also went out onto campus and interviewed students as well as the head of the West Chester Public Safety. As you can tell from the podcast, our interviews and statistics show that West Chester is a very safe campus, contrary to what some may believe. This was a fun project to complete, it got us involved on campus and it was fun using the different tools to set up our final project.
 

So What?
After we reviewed the finished project, we must look at how this project relates to the standards. The standards can be found on ISTE NETS. the standard that I thought related the most to our project is  

2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of 

others.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. 

Our project relates to this standard because we worked collaboratively with our peers to create this final project. We also used digital media, such as the app Garage band and the microphone and iPod touch to aid in the creation. If it weren't for our peers. the interviews and final podcast would not have been possible.

Now What?
I really enjoyed working on this Podcast. I had never done a project like this before and it was really interesting to see how our peers felt about the safety of the overall campus. A project like this could easily be used in the classroom, as long as enough instruction was given to the students because some of the technologies can get confusing. Christina, Beth, and I collaborated extremely well together, which made our end result a success. I would enjoy working on other projects, like the Podcast, in the future.

Digital Movie: Bare White

1. What are your overall impressions of what you saw?
When I started watching I don't think I had any expectations because this was my first time viewing a digital story. In Bare White, the creator Liz Braun, talks about how she never acknowledged her white identity because to many people it is considered the norm. I think the imagery in her story helped portray her feelings. She started out with a bare chair, and then moved into pictures of herself from a girl transforming into a woman, and then focused back on the chair. I think the impact of not only the images, but also of the music and her strong voice made the viewer realize how passionate she felt about herself. The music was a nice backdrop and helped me focus on her words. Overall it was a very interesting piece of work, one I think many can appreciate.

2. How could you use digital stories in education?
I think in today's world teens are constantly surrounded by technology, yet they don't necessarily know how to apply it to their school work. Digital stories can be used in education to help make students more comfortable with the devices as well as help them feel more comfortable around their peers. I think an activity like this would be very well received. This project could be used as a way to have the students talk about themselves and introduce themselves to the class. It could also be used as a group project if necessary. I think overall this kind of technology can be very successful in the classroom setting, as long as the teacher takes the time to go over how to use it and what the requirements are.

3. How would you assess what you just saw?
I think the assessment of this project would be difficult, especially if this was your first time using it in the classroom setting. I think a rubric would be a necessary tool in assessing, I could focus on certain elements such as picture quality, voice tone and inflection, picture type, sound effects, organization, content, point of view, etc. I also think it would be helpful to give the students the rubric ahead of time so they know what you are expecting from them. I don't think assessing this would be impossible, but I do believe it would take time and patience to put together a quality grading scale.

iMovie- The Adventures of Super Smartie

What is it? 

This video is a trailer for the movie “The Adventures of Super Smartie”. For WRH 325, my parter Maggie Litzenburg and I used the iPod touch and iMovie on the Macbook Pro to create a trailer that deals with an aspect of literacy. As you can tell from the trailer, our movie involves a superhero coming to help students excel in their studies. The superhero, Wanzell, helps the rest of our friends finish and understand their homework, which is a crucial part to liking literacy and passing college.

So What? 

After we reviewed the finished product, we must look at how this project relates to the standards. The standards can be found on ISTE NETS. The standard that I thought related thre most to our project is

2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.

Our project relates to this standard because we worked collaboratively with our peers to create this final project. We also used digital media, such as the iPod Touch and iMovie to aid in the creation. If it weren’t for our peers, this trailer would have not been possible.

What Now? 

I really enjoyed working on this project. I was a little scared of working with all of the new technologies, but I found them to be very accomodating and easy. I think this is something practical that can easily be intigrated into a classroom. Students could brainstorm ideas and use the technologies to make them come to life. I think this is something the students would find enjoyable, and also learn a lot from their peers and their own discoveries along the way. I believe Maggie and I’s end product was a success. I would like to use this application more in the future.      

Blogging

     While reading the article by Denise Johnson “Teaching with Authors’ Blogs: Connections, Collaboration, Creativity,” it really changed my mind about bringing blogs to a classroom. I never realized how much blogs put the reader on a personal level with the text and most times the author. The informality of the blog format makes it more relatable to the readers. It was apparent that a lot of authors love to blog. The authors in the article were quoted saying “ Blogging is my favorite kind of writing, it gives me the freedom to be as silly or as serious as I want. Creatively, blogging is a wonderful outlet”. I have to agree with these ladies. Although I am not much of a blogger, the few blogs I have written and or read have always made me feel in touch with the writer.

     I think blogs can make a great impact in the classroom. Our world is constantly changing and new technologies are produced everyday. It is crucial to introduce these new inventions into the classroom to help the students learn how to use them so when they enter the real world they will have the chance to be successful. Blogs can help students to understand the authors works through a different light. By reading authors blogs, students can see where they got their inspiration and relate that information to how they read the book. This brings a deeper connection with the text itself which can lead to a better and easier reading.

     Not only do blogs create a strong connection with the text, author, and overall classroom community, but blogging requires students to use all aspects of the English cirriculum. It requires writing, speaking, listening, and reading. Blogs are also more “in the time” of the students. Instead of reading textbooks which were written decades ago, blogs are up to date and written at the same time the students are interacting with the text.

     I think blogs are can be very successful in the classroom. Not only will the students find it interesting to use the technology, but they will also benefit from what the blogs bring to the cirriculum. I am interested to see how I can incorporate this technology into my own classroom and how the students will take to it. Overall I think blogs will be around for a very long time.

  

Podcasting

     In the article “Podcasting and Performativity: Multimodal Invention in an Advanced Writing Class” by Leigh Jones she talks a lot about centering the classroom around the use of technology, her choice being podcasts. Podcasting seemed to have brought out emotions in the students that formal writing never hit upon. By turning to multimodal learning, “writing was placed in a context outside of the academic setting”.

     Podcasting is becoming extremely popular, and it offers an alternative way of communicating. It is a fun way to express emotions that regular writing can skip. Podcasting envelopes all of the things that make up the English cirriculum, such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking. One f the the most popular podcasts, This American Life, truly shows how podcasts can affect the viewer.  

     I think that podcasts can be a powerful tool used in the classroom. I think this kind of learning can really benefit those who learn best through auditory means. There are no images involved so it forces the students to really listen in and pick out the important parts. I have had to listen to podcasts for some of my other courses, and everytime I notice different things going on. For today I decided to listen to a This American Life podcast entitled “What I Did For Love,” in honor of Valentines Day. I had some interesting thoughts about it.

     One nice thing about the podcast, is its convienience. Podcasts can be listened to at any time of the day and through many different means. These hour-long episodes can be listened through the radio, through the web, mobile apps, downloads, or through cds. I like the set up of the podcast, because unlike other radio programs or television shows, these podcasts can be paused or completely stopped and the listener can come back and finish it in their free time.

     I also enjoy these because there are so many different topics that these broadcasters discuss. They have shows on love, loss, education, money, business, etc. Depending on your mood, or the day of the week, the listener can pick something that peaks their interest. The announcers on this show also seem very real and relatable. They do not try to talk above their audience, instead they use examples and tell stories that everyone has experienced.

     I think podcasts can be an excellent addition to any classroom setting. By allowing the students to use this application hands-on, it can help them discover things they have never thought of before. Although some may find it boring at first, once they realize all the possibilities out there they will be able to navigate their way around and choose topics that interest them. I think this technology will allow them to be creative and successful throughout their years in school.

About Me

Hello Everyone! My name is Sarah Griggs and I am currently a junior at West Chester University studying English Education. I am looking forward to becoming a teacher with a classroom of my own. It scares me sometimes, but I could not picture myself on any other path in life.

In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, laughing, and playing with my dog Penny. I love the summertime and hope to live close to the ocean when I am older. I also love to read and listen to music.