Video Eight: Using Technology to Teach Reading

After watching the assigned video the objective of this blog was to answer the following questions:

1. Describe the different types of technologies used in the video clip to help students understand the concepts of the Civil War and write a cohesive written report.
2. How do all the technology-related activities help students develop their reading comprehension and writing ability?
3. How do the teachers bring aspects of other subject areas into this lesson (e.g., music, politics)? 4. As a teacher in this classroom, what changes would you see in your students toward reading, writing, social studies, and using technology tools?

Multiple types of technologies were used to deploy this lesson. The video first discussed the incorporation of posters and cartoons to identify events going on during the Civil War. The Internet and newspapers are the two biggest technologies for gathering information in these projects. Also, software such as Excel and Kurweil were used to graph and analyze statistics from the battles, as well as to engage the student within the story by having the student play a role in the audience. Since music was so important during these times students also identify major songs during this time and listen to the words for meaning and implications as to what was being experienced during these times.

I believe that one of the best ways to learn and improve on reading and writing skills is to incorporate these skills into everything you are doing. From the visuals used to the articles read the students in this class are utilizing reading and writing skills throughout the project. There were many ways these activities helped the students develop their reading comprehension and writing skills. First is when utilizing software such as Kurweil, the students had the opportunity to read through the article the first time and listen to it the second time highlighting interesting points. Then from these articles the students wrote a statement or article about their opinion and findings from these articles. From this activity the students were able to identify important statistics, record them into an excel document, analyze the findings, create a graph to display findings and present it to the class.

The two teachers within the assigned video were able to bring cartoons and music in to enhance the learning environment giving the students an accurate depiction of the times during the Civil War. This shows the students that when important events are going on throughout history many aspects are affected by it such as music and cartoons. Cartoons were used to show some of the politics during the time. What I really enjoyed about these classroom environments is there was no right or wrong answer. Both teachers in this video wanted the students to read the information, decipher between the two sides of the story understanding each sides view and formulate a decision based off of the information. I believe not only is this type of lesson helping students improve their reading and writing skills it is also helping them develop critical thinking skills which are essential to student development and learning.

The main change the teachers in this video saw and I believe I would see also is the increased level of self-confidence the students have after completion of the Civil War project. I believe that as students actually go through and complete tasks themselves they are able to gain the needed confidence levels for them to know that they can complete such assignments. An example seen in the collegiate level of this type of confidence level would be with adult learners utilizing technology. Many are very timid and afraid to utilize web tools, online course materials, etc. but once they are able to complete learning activities incorporating these types of technologies gain confidence and actually enjoy utilizing these tools. The second change I see is the application from reading to writing that the students go through. When I was in school I do not remember teachers taking the time to help us understand the importance of reading something, formulating an opinion, and then writing down that opinion. Not only within one project are you utilizing reading and writing skills you are also teaching the students how to make decisions and form opinions based off of the knowledge presented to them. Finally, with the incorporation of so many different technologies and tasks that could be completed (writing statements, making graphs, developing posters and cartoons, etc.) I believe you would see an increase in interest for the subject content area and a higher knowledge retention from the students.