Poor Jean, in this 1953 video by Centron Productions, “Procrastination” she just cannot seem to find the time to organize herself! Her intentions are good, but her follow through is not! (You can find this film in its entirety here.) The funny thing is, change the clothes and the props and you will recognize commonalities between students from 1953 and today! Procrastination is still amongst us.
I can remember my elementary class sitting on the stage in our cafeteria, the curtain closes and the lights go down….we were all settled in to watch a television broadcast about science. We loved it. Video. Visual learning. I don’t recall being “prepared” for the television show. I don’t recall taking notes during the broadcast. But I do recall our entire class sitting silently taking in every word, probably very much like the class who observed this film in 1953.
Our students are different. They are not casual observers. They are collaborative, participatory, integrated thinkers who expect to use multimedia tools simultaneously. That’s how they come to us. They are automatically wired. Where are we? Do we procrastinate using these tools while teaching from a sense of nostalgia? Do we say, “It worked for me!?”
If you took the time to watch the film, you would have seen that Jean’s principal tried to show her how to make a “To Do” list on paper. Jean watched with feigned enthusiasm. Then, she went back to business as usual. She had a lot to learn. Yet, sometimes educators have a lot to learn, too. Integrating video and other multimedia tools into our instruction is not something we can procrastinate on any longer! The student is ready to acquire information – digitally. We have to instruct in the forum that they will be living.
Visual learning is a strong partner in online and Web 2.0 tools. Check out SearchMe.com or Visuwords
There are multiple ways to integrated video into instruction. Streaming video from Discovery Streaming is one. Educators can develop lesson plans using the assignment builder allowing students to interact with the streaming video. Educators can create blogs and wikis and embed video into them as a resource. Video can be a final product choice for students using iMovie or other software. Educators and students can create screencasts to explain their thinking, resources, or how to complete a task. Students can extend their learning by adding to a classroom wiki and add pertinent video. Teams of students and educators can use a bookmarking tool such as Del.icio.us to share video resources and collaborate their learning experiences. Video is one component, we also must consider audio and interactive games!
Nostalgia holds a place in our hearts and memories. It has no place in our profession – our students must be ready for the future not the past.
1 Comment
August 10, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I like the beginning of this video where she’s doodling and not getting her work done. It is useful to remind ourselves that procrastination was not a byproduct of computers & instant-messaging, but that it has existed since before computers were on the scene. (I often have parents express this concern– that the computers, cell phones, IM, etc. are preventing their children from getting their homework done)