Week 2-Blog Posting 3-Media Literacy

Liz Dalton

Full Sail University

I have really enjoyed working in teams during this master's degree experience. I have learned that the old saying, two heads are better than one, is so true. While I have worked in the three groups so far, I have learned so much from the other group members. I can't believe how great our projects turn out, what one team member forgets the other remembers. It truly has been an amazing experience. I am on the shy side so I have had to get out of my comfort zone to work in a group. My attitude wasn't the best to start when required to work in a group, but my classmates have been great collaborators and very caring people. I really feel like I have new friends from this experience. We worked hard together and created a bond. I can't think of anything negative from these experiences.

I decided that working in groups have been such a great learning experience that I would incorporate group work at school. So far, it has been all that I have expected it to be. I put my child care students into groups and asked them to come up with rules for our pre-school and to create a registration form to e-mail it to me. I just barely got a portable computer lab so next year I will have the students do this on google docs. We then created one set of rules and a registration form from their group idea. I couldn't have done a better job if I had done it myself. My students work went way beyond my expectations. When I saw the video of James Surowiecki's The Wisom of Crowds (2006), I was really excited because I was able to experience this first hand with my Child Care students.

I loved the Ted video of Gever Tuley Teaches Life Lessons Through Tinkering(2009 July). My Child Care students must come up with lesson plans to present to 3-5 year-olds in a pre-school. I have given my students time to "tinker" with all the toys and supplies to help them brain storm activities to present. It is so fun to see their creativity at work as they come up with creative, different ways to play and teach the 3-5 year olds.

As I have observed my students at "play", I think I can pick out whether they are right/left brained dominate and what their dominate intelligence is. Through letting students play and discover on their own or in groups aids in student learning. Eric Jensen (2000) in Brain Based Learning says, "authentic, meaningful learning requires that students process information in their own way, along their own time line, and in relation to their own perceptional maps. Sorting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions in the context of one's own life are what make information stick". Using media and collaboration give students a variety of ways to make the learning relevant. " Teachers, therefore, should think of all intelligences as equally important (Levine, Scherer, 2006). "Teachers should try to structure their lessons to meet the learning styles of the majority of their students. Also, teachers should incorporate a bread range of teaching methods as well as assignments to give students the opportunity to strengthen thier strengths and strengthen their weaknesses". I have certainly been trying the last 3 weeks of school to incorporate as many different learning methods as I can including media. I know that given enough time, I will be teaching the way I want giving students many different opportunities to "tinker" with what works best for them to learn the most.

References

Jensen, E. (2000). Brain-Based Learning The New Science of Teaching & Training.

San Diego, Ca. The Brain Store

Levine, M., Scherer, M. (Sep. 2006) Celebrate Strengths, Nurture Affinities: A Converstaion

With Mel Levine. Educational Leadership. Vol. 64, Issue 1, pp. 8-15. 8p, 6 color.

Surowiecki, James, (2006, Feb 26) The Wisdom o Crowds (Video File). Video posted to

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3245963984462339517&ei=pgBqSq3aOKH

aqAKFxZzmBQ&q=James+Surowiecki+and+The+Wisom+of+Crowds&hi=en

Tulley, G. (2009, July) Grever Tulley Teaches Life Lessons Through Tinkering (Video File).

video posted to http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_

action.html