Thinking creatively about how to communicate ideas digitally has been one of the areas that I have enjoyed most over the first half of the quarter. If I wasn’t limited on how much time I had to do these, I would love to work to create more polished and ambitious projects. Yet, being limited in both skills and time is actually beneficial for developing ideas about how to introduce these types of activities into the classroom. As a result, some of my favorite projects this quarter have been the ones that require creativity yet little technical skill.
For example, creating a gif about a topic in the news was both enjoyable but also a realistic activity that could be included in most humanities classes. This is the one I created a few weeks ago:
What I also like about this type of project is that it encourages students to use argumentative skills while requiring little writing or language skill. Unlike a five paragraph essay which can be an incredibly difficult process to complete, I variety of students from different skill levels could create gifs that demonstrate higher order thinking. In addition, this is a nice way for students to think about the type of media that they may interacting with and understand they types of rhetorical techniques that are being used to influence their thinking.
The most challenging project so far this quarter was creating a short form film about voting. While the idea was not incredibly ambitious, the project still required me to do a lot of problem solving to get my idea across. Throughout the process my thinking was stretched to deal with the limitations of not having a tripod, a decent camera, or more than two hands. While not perfect, it was satisfying to use low-tech solutions such as bookmarks and sticky notes to help produce the video. Still, if I had more time I would go back and edit this video to make it slightly slower/easier to follow.
Overall, throughout the quarter, I came to appreciate the range in which students could engage in critical thinking skills and media literacy by “playing” and creating. Both larger projects and smaller pieces of work require higher order thinking, problems solving, and technical know-how. More importantly, they allow people to explore areas of interests and push themselves beyond the minimal requirement of the assignment. After completing these weekly assignments, I can see the value in starting off small and allowing students to pursue areas of interest and expand their knowledge on their own terms. Assignments like adding a caption to a preexisting cartoon or creating a definition for a new word seem like low risk entry points for teachers and students. While it may be difficult to justify doing entire video projects, I’ve found that these small types of activities can provide a lot of value for students while not being too intimidating for teachers
DeJoyofTeachingPortfolio 