After reading the opening
chapter of Teachers and Machines
and reading my colleagues' blogs, my attitude towards videos in a
class was pretty negative. A number of students mentioned that they
had been shown films, or entire miniseries, in class, and had learned
next to nothing from them. In my experience, both teachers and
students tend to see movies as an excuse for a day off from thinking.
On
Monday, we watched an old “mental hygiene” film from the 40's or
50's in my tech class. A white able-bodied male has trouble fitting
in with other white able-bodied males (and a few white able-bodied
females) in his new high school. He talks about it to his dad, who
tells him to try conforming. (I'd like to see how he would give
advice to someone who is physically different from the rest of the
class. “Have you tried not being Asian-American? How about not
using a wheelchair – you should try not needing a wheelchair to get
around.”) It seemed like a pretty uncritical film – the teacher
wheels in the film projector, turns off the lights, turns on the
film, and everyone tunes out for the next few minutes, passively
absorbing the “Acceptance Through Conformity” message. Not
exactly a point in favor for showing films in the classroom.
Here's
the thing, though. One of my friends had to leave class early that
day. I told him I'd take notes for him for the rest of the class. And
when it came to the film, my notes kind of fell apart. I could
mention (as I did above) that it was absurd how white and homogenous
everyone was. I could talk about the funny bit where the narrator
describes the boy's Other-ness and inability to interact, as he
stands by a sign that said “drugs.” But nothing I wrote would
really add up to the experience of watching the film. I took down the
main things I noticed, and some bullet points of our class discussion
afterward, but neither the film itself, nor the following discussion,
translated easily into note form.
In
the end, I was able to see the benefit of using videos in the
classroom. While there is certainly a danger of becoming a passive
activity, it can be interesting and highly educational if done right.
The main things to keep in mind are: keep the film short, and make
sure that there is a lot of discussion after key parts of the film
(or, if it's short enough, at the end of the film). As a language
teacher, I would really like to incorporate this into my classroom –
I myself have learned more German and Spanish through films and TV
than I care to admit. But I need to know how to do it right. And I
think this class is going to help me learn how to do it.
You are so right about the use of films in the classroom often being used as an excuse for a day off from thinking! Pretty much every memory I have of watching a film in class during high school is of everyone (including the teacher) tuning out in a dark classroom, and there were always a few students who fell asleep. In the rare case that we had to do a follow-up assignment, it was typically a fill-in-the-blank with very basic elements of the film that everyone would scramble to complete after it was over. This is not exactly what I would call active thinking and learning! However, I think you're also right about the potential effectiveness of films in the classroom when used properly. Teachers have to commit to selecting material that really serves to provide new depth and analysis of the content being covered. Your point about keeping them short and being sure to include class discussion at key points makes a lot of sense. This is a good way to make sure the activity isn't wasted for everyone!
ReplyDeleteLike Erin, I have many memories of videos being used passively in classroom settings, and I also think there's a place for them! For example, we've already watched a couple TED talks in classes in the MAC program, and they're always followed by an interesting discussion that is enriched by the content of the video. TED talks are a special case, of course, and amount mostly to inviting a guest lecturer to class, but I think the same principle can be expanded to other types of film. I rather liked Shari's assignment when we watched the film about race - we had to fill in a table with a few ideas we gleaned from the film, which forced us to pay close attention to the content and draw out the most salient elements of that content. This assignment largely took the place of a discussion (I think an additional discussion would have been most helpful) but I know I retained more from the video because I had to think analytically throughout. That film provides a very different example from the TED talks - it leverages the great deal of thought and effort someone put into assembling that documentary to achieve a lot in the classroom in a relatively short period of time. The material covered in that video could have been a whole semester course, but we got many crucial elements in a single class: factual information, perspectives of experts on the information, and visual information that will help to create a richer association and understanding of the material in our memories.
ReplyDeleteAll of which is a babbling way to say that I think videos really do have a place in the classroom - if used properly. And your realization that notes can't really recreate a video for someone else highlights the unique strengths of video as a medium that can be leveraged to great benefit.
So I've read the blog post and the comments and if I understand right we've all concluded that videos in the classroom can be beneficial if used correctly, but all to often they're used in a way that promotes passive learning (if any learning at all.) My question is this: should there be some sort of process to have using videos in the classroom approved? Would this help or hinder active learning? If this isn't a good idea what are some other opinions on how using long videos in the classroom could be stifled and short clips that lead to promoting engaging class discussions could be promoted? I realize these aren't all open-ended questions but I'm curious to see how others would tackle this problem in order to try and stop these "excuses for a day off from learning."
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