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?
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