The article, From SuperGoo to Scratch: Exploring creative digital media production in informal learning, states that “Youth are not only consuming new media at accelerated rates, they are also becoming producers of these new genres in larger numbers… Media education needs to go a step further to provide youth with experiences creating and designing their own interfaces and applications…” Students are participating socially in new versions of media cultures that use different types of media (games, videos, etc). Giving my students a ready audience for which to write is important, like the article addressed. I just need to see some examples as to how this has worked in other science or psychology classrooms. This may be a good way for students to critique each other’s writing and provide feedback, but with only 8 computers and students who don’t do homework I am not sure how to make this happen. After reading the article, I am left thinking that Scratch (in particular) is a really cool program, but wonder what it has to do with me in a formal educational setting in my science classroom. I would love to see examples of how to use this type of program realistically with my students or how to encourage them to use it to create their own masterworks on their own time. After looking at Scratch for a little bit and seeing the many ways in which it is used I am intrigued, but will need more time with it and plan a time to use it. It seems like a really fun way to get students to share their learning with each other, but I can see students spending more time creating than we really have time for in class. I may give it to my students as a suggestion in lieu of doing a PowerPoint presentation and see what they do with it in the fall. They will be my best indicators for how well this can work in my classroom.
I think that adding technology like this as an option to my classroom for our Chapter Challenges in freshmen science may help more of my students to complete them and show mastery of understanding.
Would you like to check out Scratch? Because users share their creations there are lots of ideas for how to begin.
Permalink
Leave a Comment
Standard 8 Exceptionality: Addresses the unique learning and behavioral needs of all children, collaborating with other educators and professionals where necessary.
Inclusion Presentation
I created this artifact as the culminating project for the course on Educating Exceptional Students. To create this Inclusion project I needed to synthesize the information in the course on the benefits and pitfalls of including students with various disabilities in a general education course and summarize my knowledge into a few slides. I specifically focused on students with Emotional/Behavioral disorders because I work with a half-dozen students with EBD in my general education science classroom already, and I wanted to learn more about how to accommodate them in class. I discussed the pros and cons of full inclusion along with the research basis behind inclusion for students with Emotional and Behavioral disorders. Although there is not much research specifically in this area, inclusion is being done well in schools and I was able to glean recommendations and strategies at classroom and school-wide levels to help all of my students learn to their full potential.
The strategies I discussed, like “proactive classroom management” and consistent rewards and punishments will help all of my students to be successful, not just my students with Emotional and Behavioral disorders. Each article I read emphasized a team approach to working with students with EBD. I plan on working with my administrative staff and the special education department this summer and next year to make sure we collaborate to help all of our students be successful.
Inclusion_Pres_ Acheson
Permalink
Leave a Comment
