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.