Journal Reflection: Appendix B

Journal Reflection: Appendix B

            I ended my last reflection entry talking about how this has been a tough school year for me, and that I was really looking forward to the upcoming week off to relax and recharge.  Well, the week is just about over and I have to say I am definitely recharged.  I worked all week at Fox in New York City and started a new insane exercise routine so I may not be so relaxed, but I am definitely recharged.

            It’s probably evident from my writing in previous journal entries and just from hearing me talk in class, but I usually try to relate everything that I’ve been presented with over the course of time thus far at Seton Hall to my TV Production classes at Columbia High School.  Seeing how my class is primarily a project based driven class, I was really able to relate to a lot of the information presented in the text by Moursund. 

            The one theme that I think continued to keep coming up, even though it was presented in different ways, was equating education to real life.  In this section of the text, Moursund provides an overview of problem solving.  Right away he talks about how the goal of education is changing to put more emphasis on higher order thinking skills, or problem solving, is more important.  Well I don’t think you can get more real life than problem solving.  And I think this is starting at a young age.  My kids are age 9 and 7.  They are in grades 4^th and 1^st respectively.  One of the concepts or strategies that they are beginning to teach in the elementary school is called “New Math.”  It essentially tries to teach the students better ways of thinking about how to solve a problem.  At the younger ages, it’s not as important to always GET the correct answer, but to understand the concepts of HOW to get the correct answer.  I can only speak for my kids, but they seem to be doing very well at math, so I guess it’s never too early to start teaching basic problem solving skills.     

            Back in chapter four, and again here, Moursund offers a connection between Project Based Learning and Process Writing.  He talks about the steps a group will take to solve a problem and accomplish a goal, starting with brainstorming, moving through developing a draft and revising it, and concluding with publishing … or in the case of TV Production class … producing.  Moursund also provides a general strategy for problem solving.  In it he provides six steps that one would take to solve a problem.  These include:

1.     Understanding the problem.

2.     Determining a plan of action.

3.     Thinking about possible consequences of carrying out your plan of plan.

4.     Carrying out your plan of action.

5.     Checking to see if the desired goal has been achieved.

6.     Reflecting on the overall result (this includes seeing if new problems developed).

I’m sure I’ve mentioned previously that I’m still relatively new to the education field.  Coming from the private sector, I think these six steps reflect exactly what goes on in the business or corporate world … or for that matter, real life.  And this is what I want to teach my students.  Sure they will learn how to use the video camera, operate the control room equipment, and learn some other basic TV skills … but if there is one thing I want them to come away from my class with is the ability to think and make good decisions.

There are a lot of reasons that I enjoy teaching a class like TV Production as opposed to a core subject like English, math or science.  Of course, I’ve never taught anything but TV Production so I guess I can’t really be 100% sure about making that last statement, but for the sake of argument let’s take it for face value.  One of the main reasons I enjoy it is because it does offer the opportunity for some down time when I can really talk to the students.  Now I don’t want to make it sound as if I’m getting invested in their personal lives.  In fact, I’ve told them that I really don’t want to know too much about their personal lives.  I think the less I know the better actually.  But, just to be able to talk to them about real life stuff and things that I’ve been through whether it be in college or working in the television business, I think offers them much more than just another lesson on something like, “The 7 Deadly Camera Sins.”       

        

           

Journal Reflection: Appendix A

Journal Reflection: Appendix A

            Let’s face it.  Kids today don’t have to remember as much as they used to.  In the past, and as recently as back when I was in high school, memorization of facts was crucial.  If you didn’t know something, or you couldn’t remember it, you had to search through your textbook or head off to the library to look it up in an encyclopedia.  Today students can simply “Google it” to get the answer within seconds.  The Internet has become so readily accessible with multiple computers in classrooms and on handheld mobile devices, that it just isn’t as important to remember every little fact or figure.  Is this a good thing?  Well, I guess it depends who you ask.  Students are probably grateful they don’t have to remember everything to memory (although I don’t think today’s students even know the difference because they’ve grown up with the technology).  Teachers however, specifically older teachers I think, probably don’t like it too much.  I, like many of my generation I suppose, probably fall somewhere in the middle.

            Now I should point out that I don’t think my belief that students are grateful they don’t have to remember as much covers EVERY student.  I have had students in my classes over the past five years that truly enjoy and value learning about new things.  Unfortunately, I’m beginning to think that these students are becoming more and more the exception. 

            There were a couple of points that Moursund made in this section that I could relate to.  On pages 90 and 91 he talks about using the computer as a tool.  In my TV Production classes we certainly rely on the computer on a daily basis.  Without it we would have to go back to the old days of editing video by hooking up two VCRs and a couple of TVs … wait … that’s what I had to do in my TV Production classes back when I was in high school.  Okay let me get back on point here.  Moursund talks about one of the ways teachers use the computer as a tool is by employing desktop presentations as a teaching aid.  Teachers can hook up their desktop or laptop to a projector and present their lesson so the whole class can follow along.  Smart Boards can do this as well and even make it interactive for the students.  I don’t have a Smart Board, but I do have a projector and it has really proved to be a time saver when I first teach the lesson on our editing software to the students.  When I first started at Columbia I did not have the projector and I had to circulate the computer lab to point out where various things in the program were located.  I had to walk to each computer to make sure students knew what I was talking about and could find it on their screen.  With the addition of the projector, I am now able to show everyone on the big screen where for example the “razor tool” is located and they can all see it at once.  Then if anyone is still having trouble finding it, I can very quickly just go help him or her individually.  In fact, many times their classmates will beat me to it and provide the help.  Material that used to take close to a week to get through, now takes only a couple of days.

            In this same section of the text Moursund says how computers can be used to increase teacher productivity.  I thought, “Well obviously.”  Then I read two words that made me remember a faculty meeting from a few years ago that just set me off … computerized gradebooks.  I’m not sure if a rant is exactly what you want in these reflections, and if not please let me know and I’ll do my best to refrain from it, but I just have to go off a bit here.  The software that Columbia used for grading and attendance when I first started five years ago is different from the one we use today.  It was my second year teaching (not tenured yet) when we had a faculty meeting towards the end of the year to introduce the new computer program we would be using next year.  Basically the company that produced and provided help and maintenance for the old program went out of business so the district was forced to find a new program.  I have never heard so much ridiculous, whiny complaining from adults as I did during that meeting. 

Question: “Why can’t we just continue to use the old program?” 

Answer: “The company doesn’t exist anymore so it’s a dead system that we can’t use anymore.”

Question: “We’ve all been using this program for years so why can’t we just still use it?”

Answer: “Well like I said, it’s a dead system because the company doesn’t exist and we couldn’t get an help or updates if we needed it.”

Question: “I like the current program and it’s easy to use, so why do we have to change?”

            I wanted to scream at these people.  I didn’t because remember this was only year two of my teaching career and I didn’t have tenure yet.  So I remained silent.  I sat back in my chair in the auditorium and just thought to myself, “These people could never work in the business world.”

            I always try to be honest with my students, and honestly, this has been a tough year for me.  For the first time over the past four plus years I’ve questioned if I want to continue to teach.  I’ve really begun thinking about going into administration or maybe counseling.  There have even been a couple of times when I thought about going back into TV full-time.  Maybe I just need a break.  Good thing I have a week off from school to recharge.        

Journal Reflection: Chapters 7 & 8

Journal Reflection: Chapters 7 & 8

            It never fails.  Sooner or later whenever something in education is being discussed or debated, it rears its ugly head.  What am I talking about?  The dreaded “teaching to the test” debate of course.  Moursund talks about this at the start of chapter 7.  Here’s my problem with “teaching to the test” … I don’t really have a test.  Oh I have a final exam for my Introduction to TV classes, but it’s certainly not any type of standardized test.  The majority, and I’m talking like close to one-hundred percent worth, of my assessment is based on projects and performance in the classroom.  And it like it like this.  I know I’ve mentioned before that probably the worst part of my job is handing out grades.  I just don’t enjoy it.

            I always say (and this is something I tell my students on the first day of school) that my class is the fun class.  At least it should be.  Whenever I introduce a new project, I go over all that is expected of the students to include in that project.  This may include things like project length, music graphics, etc.  That is pretty much the extent of my lecture time.  After that, the students need to be up and moving around, working with their group, and basically trying to be as creative as they can be.  What am I doing while this is going on?  Well, as Moursund puts it, I would be “guide on the side.”  Moursund first mentioned this term back in chapter 2, and brings it back in chapter 8.  I always referred to myself as something of a “sounding board” where students would ask questions if they got stuck or talk about possible ideas if they needed a creative push and I would assist them.  I think my “sounding board” philosophy is the same as Moursund’s “guide on the side.”  I move around the room, teaching, helping, interacting, and essentially making a connection with my students.  Sure I give them a lot of freedom, and I expect them to accomplish a lot on their own, but ultimately I think this is one of the best parts of my class.  It resembles real life situations.  You have to work with others to get something done by a certain time.  Welcome to the real world folks!

            Now I don’t want to make it sound as if I am an absentee teacher in my class.  I’m there and ready to help whenever I’m needed and the students know this.  I believe (and maybe I’m wrong on this…but I don’t think I am) that most of the students who take TV Production like it this way.  I think they like the freedom and the change from other classes where the teacher is always right on top of them, and the responsibility that I give them.  One last point on this “sounding board” or “guide on the side” topic…I think it also helps foster a sense of respect between myself and my students.  I think they respect me more for treating them like adults, and I think because I they respect me they work harder.  Again, I may be wrong on this, but I don’t think I am.

            I think the one other point that Moursund made in these two chapters was in chapter 8 when he talked about how some schools are now requiring its students to carry portable microcomputers.  This is something that the head of my district’s IT department talked to me about back at the beginning of the school year.  He said he envisioned every student having their own laptop, or even their own iPad that had digital copies of all their textbooks loaded on them.  Sounds like a great idea to me.  Will it happen?  Maybe someday, but I don’t think anytime soon.  I think there are still too many “old school” teachers who are reluctant to use technology in any form in their classroom, and this would prevent it from happening.  I think that’s certainly the case at my high school.  I also don’t think my district is ready to entrust all its students with a laptop or an iPad.  I’m not in the middle schools or the elementary schools, so I really can’t speak for them, but I am in the high school and all its students ARE NOT ready to be entrusted with this technology.  Just today, during our Black History Month assembly, I witnessed a student tell one of the vice principals that he didn’t give a ____ about getting an education or this ___ing school, and that he was ___ing leaving.  Then he walked out the front door.  You think he would be responsible enough to keep and use a district issued laptop or iPad all school year long?  I don’t think so, but that’s for another journal reflection.     

Journal Reflection: Learning Style Inventory

Journal Reflection: Learning Inventory results

            Before I gave the learning style inventory to my class I assumed that the majority of them would be visual learners.  After all, television is a visual medium.  I found the learning style inventory that I selected to use at the NJEA website.  I looked through a number of different ones, but opted for this one because it seemed to ask questions more geared towards high school age students.  Many of the other ones included questions that were aimed at younger children.

            The inventory asked a total of twenty-four questions.  The students were asked to rate if the question related to them often, sometimes, or seldom.  After they answered all the questions they assigned a point value to each.  If they answered “often” to a question the students assigned five points, for an answer of “sometimes” three points was assigned, and if they responded “seldom” they gave it one point.  They then totaled up each column and the one with the highest point total indicated their learning style.

            Twenty-three students took the inventory (one student was absent the day it was given) and a total of sixteen were classified as visual learners.  Six students were auditory learners and four were tactile learners.  Among the visual learners there were also a couple that scored almost as high in the tactile category as the visual category.  So it looks like my initial assumption was correct. 

            One of the reasons that I thought most students would be visual learners in the first place is that as I said earlier, television is a visual medium, and therefore the majority of students drawn to taking a TV Production class probably have a distinct interest in television.  In the Advanced TV Production class, I always introduce a project by talking about and describing what they need to do.  However, I think they really understand what is being asked of them after I show them some examples of previous projects.  Another example is when we critique our shows after broadcast.  The biggest criticism they have is always to how something looks.

            The last step for me was to take the learning inventory myself.  The result…a tie between visual and auditory.  My first thought was that maybe I added wrong, or put the score in the wrong question.  However after thinking about it, I think this is just right for me.  You can learn a lot by just watching and listening.    

            

Journal Reflection: Chapters 5 & 6

Journal Reflection: Chapters 5 & 6

            My students are always anxious to get their hands on the cameras and start filming.  They come into the class and they begin asking questions like, “Are we filming today?” or “Do we get the cameras today?”  Now I honestly can’t blame them.  The first day of class I give them my speech how this is going to be the only day that I talk to them all period long, and how I want to get them up and moving and working as much as possible.  So I guess you could say I set myself up for their questions.  Not that it bothers me.  In fact, I really like their enthusiasm.  However, there is some planning that needs to be done before they can head out of the classroom.

            Moursund discusses this in both chapters 5 and 6.  He opens chapter 5 by saying that is essential to carefully think and lay out a plan at the start of any project.  In all my television classes, whether it is the intro course, advanced course, or the news course, we call this brainstorming.  Since my unit plan deals with the Advanced Television Production course, I will specifically address that class here.  In this class we are working on creating a thirty-minute news magazine show.  When a new project is assigned, the first thing we do as a class is brainstorm ideas for topics of the individual segments that will be part of the show.  The students will shout out ideas and I will list them on the white board.  Once we get a decent amount of potential topics, we start to discuss each one in more depth and begin to narrow our choices.  We are looking for five topics for the show, and once we have those five the students select what segment they would like to work on.  As crazy as this may sound, most of the time it works out very well that all the segments have between four to five students who want to work on them.  There are times when one segment has too many people on it, while another doesn’t have enough, and then I have to help the students come to solution and split things up evenly. 

            Now comes phase two of our brainstorming.  Each group gets together and starts to list ideas for their segments.  This includes people to interview, b-roll to get, and specific job responsibilities among the group members.  Though it may delay the students from getting their hands on the cameras for a couple of days, this planning is an important first step in their projects.  The better plan they have, they easier time they will have executing it and seeing their project to completion.

            There were a few other points that Moursund talked about in chapters 5 and 6 that I related to.  On page 47 in chapter five, when he first begins to discuss project planning, he poses the question, “What do your students know about doing projects, and what do they need to learn about doing a project?”  Well this is essentially the goal of Advanced TV Production.  The skills that these students learn in this class are essential to moving on and being successful in the CHS News classes.

            Another point made in chapter five deals with resources, or sometimes the lack thereof.  One of the biggest problems I face almost on a daily basis is not having enough cameras to go around.  When this happens choices have to be made on which group gets the camera and which group doesn’t.  Often I’ll make this decision based on which group is further along in their segment, or if a particular group has an interview set up for that day.  I guess that’s why I get paid the…ahem…big bucks. 

            One final thing that really struck me was in chapter six when Moursund talked about, “a challenge to teachers.”  He says that teachers often teach the way they were taught, and they gravitate towards a, “stand and deliver” method.  When I first started teaching I went in with the belief that I had to be this authoritative figure, and simply teach, teach, teach.  Yeah that didn’t work so well.  Basically it’s not me, and the kids saw that right away.  Now I don’t consider myself a veteran teacher by any means, but when I do talk to new teachers the one piece of advice I give them is to be themselves.  Students will respect you more if they don’t think you’re trying to be something you’re not, and consequently they will do better, or at least try to do better in your class because they respect you.  I think this is especially true when teaching at the high school level.  Of course I’ve only taught high school so that’s really all I know, but I think it’s because of the age of the students.  Even though I’m 38-years-old and twenty-plus years older that my students, I still feel like I can relate to them.  They know I will be honest with them, and that’s really what I want in return.  Things just seem to go much smoother that way.            

Journal Reflection: Chapter 3 & 4

Journal Reflection: Chapters 3 & 4

            One of the things I always tell my students is to take responsibility for their work.  I tell them that while I know things happen at times that can cause delays or prevent you from getting things done … don’t make excuses.  Moursund talks about this at the very beginning of chapter 3.  He calls it “ownership” but I think it’s really the same as responsibility.  I mentioned in the previous reflection how I want my students to WANT to work on the projects assigned to them, and for this reason I give them a lot of freedom to get as creative as possible to make the project their own.  In chapter 4, Moursund talks about “motivation theory” and how it is one of the arguments in support of Project Based Learning in terms of getting students more engaged in their learning.  Again, I think it all comes back to my belief that by allowing students to have a greater say in how they will create their project, they will be more motivated to work on it, therefore they will be more engaged in it, and consequently take ownership of it.  In other words, they will take responsibility for it, and that’s what I want.

            Another thing I want is for my students to understand the importance of good writing.  Many of them come into TV Production with the belief that they can leave their pens and paper (or I guess I should say their preferred computer based word processing software) in their English class and just wing it.  Not so fast my budding cinematographers and evening news anchors!  Other than those once in a lifetime moments caught on YouTube, the majority of good videos begin with a script in one form or another. 

In chapter 4, Moursund talks about the parallels between Project Based Learning and Process Writing.  The six steps involved in Process Writing include brainstorming, organizing those ideas, developing a pitch, obtaining feedback, revising, and publishing.  These six steps are certainly employed each and every time a new project is introduced in my class.  It basically breaks down like this: The project is presented and the groups break off to brainstorm ideas.  They will then organize and narrow those ideas down, and begin to lay those ideas out in a storyboard and ultimately a script.  After they complete their rough draft, I will sit down with them to go over it and make any recommendations.  They then make any revisions that need to be made and begin filming.  One person could certainly do this process, but I think that because it’s being done by a group of students it adds even greater value to the learning process.  It’s much harder to work with somebody else than by yourself.  When you’re on your own, the only person making decisions is you, but in a group there are many voices and many different ideas and opinions that you must listen to.      

             Let’s jump back to chapter 3 for a moment where Moursund offers up some possible Project Based Learning lesson topic ideas.  One of those ideas is an electronic portfolio.  Every student who completes a TV Production course, whether it is an Intro course or one of the Broadcast News courses, should take with them a digital copy of their work.  It could simply be a flash drive or DVD of the video projects they worked on, or it could be something more developed like a digital resume, but the work they just completed shouldn’t be just left for the trash bin on the desktop.  I especially encourage the more advanced students in the News classes to put together a digital resume or portfolio to include with their college applications.  I think it all comes back to taking ownership of their work.  If they put all that time and effort into making it, shouldn’t they take the time and effort to try to use it for their benefit if they can? 

            Now I know that not all the students who come through my TV Production classes are going to go on and major in communications in college or have a career in TV or broadcasting, but they all are going to be adults one day and on their own.  Then they are really going to have to take responsibility for themselves and whatever work they choose to do.  So if I can help instill a little bit of responsibility in them then I think I’m doing my job.  I wonder if I can convince my supervisor of this and get a raise?

                

Journal Reflection: Chapter 1 & 2

Journal Reflection: Chapters 1 & 2

            I guess you could call me a cynic.  Maybe it’s from the ten years of working in the television news business and covering all sorts of crazy stories involving all sorts of people…many of whom were not so upstanding.  This is why whenever I start reading a book or listening to a speaker talk about the ways to do something, I go in with my cynical hat on.  This was certainly the case when I started reading David Morsund’s “Project Based Learning: Using information Technology.”  I thought to myself, “Here we go again…another educator tooting his own horn and ways of doing things, and if I’m not doing things his way I must be doing something wrong.”  Well that feeling lasted all of two pages. 

As a Television Production teacher, my class is a perfect example of Project Based Learning with technology.  All we do is projects using technology!  When I started reading on page three about teams and students taking on different responsibilities within their teams, it was as if Morsund spent a day in my classroom when we started a new video project, picked groups, and assigned crew positions.  When I read at the bottom of page three about the assessment questions, including how would the group be graded and how would the individual members within a group be graded, I almost yelled, “Exactly!” out loud.  Let me first say that I hate assigning grades.  It is without a doubt the worst part of my job.  While there is of course a rubric with the basics of what should be included in each project, the real important part is the students’ creativity.  I assign a general topic for the project, but then I try to allow the students to have as much freedom to get as creative as possible.  There are of course times I have to pull the reins in on a few of their ideas, but overall I want them to work on something they’ve created because I think they will have more fun with it, and consequently do a better job on it and learn more.  This was talked about more in chapter two, as Project Based Learning is defined as being more learner centered.

As I said earlier, I want the students in my class to have a lot of freedom to create the videos THEY want.  It never fails that at the end of a project when we come together as a class and watch the final videos and critique them, that other students have “A-Ha” moments when watching their peers’ work.  They realize ways they could’ve done things differently in their own videos.  They learn from each other.  Hearing constructive criticism from their peers, as opposed to me also tends to make more of an impact with many of them.

I had my second, or maybe it was my third, shout out loud moment when I read the following question, “Would the class recommend that this same assignment be used with next year’s class?”  What a simple, but great question.  Again, I want my students working on projects that THEY want to work on.  Besides my observations during the course of the project, what better way to assess whether they really enjoyed working on it then to simply ask them.  The first semester at my school ends this coming week, and I will be asking them their thoughts on each project and if they have an idea for a new project.  I probably should’ve mentioned this earlier, but this is only my fifth year teaching, and obviously I am still learning on the job.

I guess my final shout out loud moment … and this one was probably more of a laugh out loud moment … was when I read the section on “actively engaged students.”  Morsund talks about how PBL classrooms are louder than the traditional classroom because of all the group work, and conversations and movement involved.  Welcome to TV Production!

The last point that I took away from chapters one and two concerning Project Based Learning that I’ll discuss here, is that it often deals with more “real-life” learning situations.  I’ve often said to my students that the work they do in TV Production may be the closest thing they do in high school that resembles what it will be like in the real world.  Now not all my students will go on to major in communications in college or become broadcast journalists or television producers, but what I’m talking about is the general pace and atmosphere of the class.  Any type of student can take it, they work with others, and there are deadlines that they must meet.  Sounds like just about any type of profession out there.