Various Modes of Media in the Classroom- Elena McNish

I think that as educators it is important for us to make an effort to keep our classrooms up to date with the technology that our students regularly encounter. In the article High Tech Reflection Strategies Make Learning Stick by Suzie Boss, I loved the idea of having a “video confessional” corner where students were given the opportunity to reflect on the work they had been doing. This teacher figured out a way to understand his students learning by connecting his classroom to the to ever so popular reality television faze that our society currently loves. I really appreciate his creativity and willingness to connect with his students.

I am student teaching at a school for Autistic students. In our classroom this year, my head teacher is focusing on student comprehension. We have just finished up a unit on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The students read several versions of the story and noticed the similarities and differences. Every week we would use the smartboard to watch and interact with the story. BBC has a version where there is a narrator that reads, but then each of the characters lines has to physically be pushed by someone. This one activity met all of our students needs in a variety of ways. For example for our very high functioning student, he worked on taking turns and allowing his peers to take the time that they needed. For another student, we focused on getting him to know when it was his turn without a verbal or physical prompt. For one of our non-verbal students, this activity gave him a voice and a role in the classroom. I think that the use of Digital Storytelling is a great way to enhance student learning and meet the needs of different learners.