Andrea, Reflection 6

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Reading Film- The Story of Movies
Movies was the technology that was used in this video. This clip shows 6th grade students looking at famous classical films and analyzing what they see, rather then just reading the book. Three main aspects of this video was to analyse film by looking at it as a work of art, a cultural historical document and as a communication tool. The teaching in this video was student centered and teacher centered. The students will watch clips of the video and the teacher will stop it at certain parts and ask the students questions that help engage them in the movie. As a teacher, he/she would have to watch the movie and know what aspects of the film he/she wants to analyze, and what questions he/she wants to ask. After watching this clip I think that the video lessons that the students were able to watch were definitly more engaging for a student than simply reading the book. The advantage of using video in the classroom is that it allows students to view literary figures in a different light, by actually seeing them as actoris in a video instead of just on a book. Another advantage of using the video technology is that students are able to analyze the lighting, discover what it takes to make a movie and look at visual aspects of the book that could not be seen soley in the text. It would be easy to assess student performance by asking them questions during certain clips-this will allow the teacher to see if students have grasped the understanding of the movie. Of course students can also take tests and have class discussions reflecting on what they have seen.
Some challenges that a teacher may face when using this video technology is of course the video is not working properly. Technology has many posotive aspects, but it can also be a hassle if something isn't working properly.