ELA and Youtube

Since I aspire to be a teacher of English I decided to look through the ELA section of the case studies. One of the posts that immediately caught my eye was the Youtube study, about how to combine ipod touches and Youtube to enhance student learning in an after school program. The ideas presented, though interesting, were not as inspiring as I would have hoped.

One portion of the case study that I enjoyed was the teacher-canidate's attention to the student's access to technology that they wanted to use. The whole activity would not be very effective if students were unable to even use the materials mentioned. I also appreciated the allusion to a small town community. This is a very distinct part of many people's identity and by understanding this it will be easier to connect and relate to the students in the after school program. In addition, the student made a point to make the technology based information relatable to what they were already doing in class, and rather than simply starting something completely new, they were able to build upon existing knowledge which makes learning and teaching easier for all parties involved.

On the surface the activity plan seemed like a great idea, cover student's existing material, improve their reading habits while still working with them to improve their knowledge and understanding of technology. However, upon further inspection there seemed to be several points throughout the study that were confusing and perhaps not well thought out. The title of this article was about Youtube, yet the student seemed intend upon using ipod touches as the main tool. As I continued reading I became confused as to what they were hoping to accomplish in their workshop. Originally it had seemed they wanted to build upon students knowledge of ELA through technology but as the lesson progressed the information became more about technology rather than enhancing the learning environment through reading.

The general idea of the project was sound, and it is easy to see how students could improve their reading skills through using a multitude of medias as well as by gauging the way they read themselves. However, I feel as though this intern was confusing and overly ambitious in their presentation of the material, lots of the material did not make sense in a linear fashion and it was difficult to see what they hoped to accomplish by the end of the unit. Though this student had great ideas I feel as though they needed the time to look through and think about application of this project.

I appreciate reading about projects such as these, as they show me new ideas, and also show that not everything works. It is also inspiring to do something similar in the classroom. If I were to do a project like this, I would have students read out loud with the ipod touches and gauge their improvement throughout the course of a year, and examine the reading strategies they have and why understanding these strategies is important.

This whole article got me to thinking, is there a point where we become to engrossed in the fact that we are "using technology in the classroom" that we forget what we are supposed to be teaching content wise? and if so what can we do to check ourselves so that it doesn't get to this point?

Welcome!

Hey Everyone,

This is Liz Riley, one of the workers bees at Longfellow Elementary. This is my first post to my blog just making sure everything is up and in working order. It is my hope that I can share my experiences with all of you, and in turn hear and learn from your experiences in your After-School Partnership. Hope all is well!

Warmly,
Liz