Journal 2 Meets NETS-T 4 A and B

Bull, G, Fester, B, & Alenander, C. (2010). Finding students who learn with media. Learning and Leading, 37(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25255&DirectListComboInd=D


Teaching and learning through the media and technology is a fairly new concept and is becoming more accepted. I believe will be the way of the future of teaching and learning. Primary Access Movie Maker is one way of have students display what they learned though the media. Growing up, I would have loved to combine all of my report research and actually make a documentary. This is what about ten thousand students are already doing. The Smithsonian has a similar program. The students create a virtual movie theatre and actually screen movies in their classroom. It is time consuming, but well worth it. The students actually have a chance to show their gained knowledge from the assignment by making an actual movie. It is not only entertaining, but educational too. I believe that programs like this will increase many students class engagement and encourage them to demonstrate what they are learning. It will also enable them to use their higher-order thinking skills. Many students would love to take advantage of this type of interactive learning, however, there will always be teachers and students who prefer a more “old fashion” approach. Because of this, it is important that teachers use teaching by and through media only as a teaching tool and not a way of teaching. They should still give tests and have the students write reports, but also have them demonstrate their understanding of the new concepts through the media as well.


Would I teach through the media in my future classes? Possibly. I think it is a great idea and if I ever teach in middle school or high school I definitely would implement programs like this into the curriculum, however, I am planning on teaching in the elementary grades and this may be too advanced for many of my future students. I guess I will just have to meet them and assess their technological abilities.


Do you think that this is a better way for students to show what they learned? I think that everyone learns differently. I personally would prefer this way to show what I have learned, by many people have photographic memories and would rather take a test. I don’t think one way is better then the other. Maybe I could give my future students a choice of a test, a paper, or a documentary for them to show me what they have learned.