September 29, 2011

 SWBAT:  Explain why video presents unique opportunities and hazards to student learning  Describe how video can be used to enable student learning, aid in teachers’ assessments of students, and support co-constructed knowledge between teachers and students  Justify including video into lesson and unit plans

 Do Now  Review of the Literature  Example of how video can be used to support student learning  Co-construct an assessment using video as a class  Brainstorm ways in which knowledge can be co- constructed  In groups, create and use original video to support students’ knowledge of a content-related topic  Closure

How did teachers use video in their lessons when you were in school? How is that similar to or different from how you use video in your everyday lives today?

 Groups:  January-April Birthdays = Butler et al (2009)  May-August Birthdays = Seixas (1994)  September-December Birthdays = Coencas (2007)  Questions:  What is the thesis?  How did the author(s) collect the evidence?  What did they find?  What conclusions did they make?

 Approximately 92% of Connecticut and Wisconsin teachers surveyed reported showing all or part of a fiction film once a week or more; 82% reported showing a documentary-style film once a week of more (Marcus & Stoddard, 2007)  Teachers often use feature films “to show students what really happened … as akin to the historical record and without critical analysis of what is portrayed” (Stoddard & Marcus, 2010, p. 85; cf. Hobbs, 2006; Woelders, 2007).

“First [pause], the Victory at Yorktown, first, former American General, and they kinda try to depict him in a way in The Patriot. Remember the guy who says, “Oh, I know Benjermin [sic], um, I know Benjermin’s [sic] boot size?” He was supposed to be kinda like the Benedict Arnold character. Remember, he burned down the church and all that? He gave his way… So, they were trying to depict that whole Benedict Arnold character in there but not necessarily sayin’ it was Benedict Arnold. Movies do that.”

 “When the information in the film was consistent with the information in the text, watching the film clip increased correct recall by about 50% relative to reading the text alone. …  However, when the information in the film contradicted the text, subjects often (falsely) recalled the misinformation from the film” (Butler, Zaromb, Lyle, and Roediger, 2009, p. 1166).

 Questions:  What message(s) do this clips send about “fairness,” “truth,” and “education?”  Whose perspectives do we see in these clips? Whose perspectives are we missing?  Comparison to Text:  Why do they call it the “Dark Forest” in the movie but the “Forbidden Forest” in the book? What might this tell us about the themes we discussed above?

Using your understanding of the influence of feature films on student learning, the nature of feature films as narrative, and the structure of text-based discussion lessons, what guidelines can we set for using feature films as instructional materials?

Films should be one part of a larger analysis of historical topics, events, or concepts. Identify and assess the main perspectives and themes of the film, beyond the general topic. Consider how the film reflects the social and cultural values of the period in which it was produced. Teach basic skills in and concepts of media literacy and film analysis. Think about using shorter clips from the films to introduce specific perspectives or to raise issues in class. Pg. 34

 Three ways to accomplish this task:  Use a video clip within the assessmentvideo clip  NCTE Standard: Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.  Ask students to explain a concept using video that they find related to the class discussion  Allow students to narrate an explanation through video

 Field trips  Community activities  Student Government Associations  Discoveries (e.g., bugs on the playground)  Documentaries using students’ lives

 Content-related artifact  Storyboard outline of speech and video affects  A plan as to where it will fit in your lesson and why this is an important video to show

 In your disciplinary groups, find an artifact on campus that you can video and narrate about related to one of the content area standards in your discipline. The purpose of this video is to bring a piece of Wagner into your classroom.  Once you have created your video, copy it to a disk or your laptop computer. Bring it to class next week.  In addition, please discuss your video on the Moodle forum, including the following information:  What is your video about?  Where in your lesson you would use it?  Why this video would support student learning?  How you would relate it to the curriculum?