Bridging the Gap with Digital Media

I had posted at the beginning of this week about two of the in-service sessions that I was particularly looking forward to attending: Echoes and Reflections, and Reading in the Reel World, with John Golden. I was not disappointed with either session, and took away a whole lot of information and ideas on using digital media with my students!

In Reading in the Reel World, we were shown various techniques for having our students use documentaries as they would a textbook. We were shown specific things to help our students use the digital media appropriately, and to encourage critical thinking about media... Part of that process was a discussion on whether or not documentaries are always completely non-fiction, and how things are sometimes done to enhance the mood of the watcher, which may or may not necessarily have been how the event really happened. This is similar to teaching students to be wary about advertisements they see, or using material from the Internet as fact. The other piece that I found most useful was where Mr. Golden shared how he had his students make their own documentary about school. He had a student use a digital camera to take pictures in the classroom for a whole period, then dumped the pictures onto an accessible area on the school network. Students worked in PowerPoint, and added a music clip that fit their pictures. Each documentary was less than 3 minutes long, but the messages they conveyed were real. It was very interesting to see students using the same pictures as peers, but with completely different ideas and music, and therefore a completely different message.

The Echoes & Reflections session was also well worth attending, and we did receive complete copies of the curriculum for our use. I don't know how much of the lesson plans I'll be able to use, but I might be able to use some of the digital media clips and the photographs they provided us with. The curriculum includes a DVD of about 21 short clips that were done with the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California.

The message here, at least for me, is that using digital media helps our students learn about events, and then connect the events to things in their own lives. And that is truly comprehension: without that connection, there is no point in the information. I'm a lover of trivia, but that cannot be our goal in teaching. Our goal has to be that students will understand what we share with them. If we do not make that effort, we may find problems later on in our lives. Okay, enough doom & gloom...