Week 2

I enjoyed the irony of the video presentation in class today.
I think the point was made that technology can be great, if used properly. Even though the video was dated, it still offered some excellent teaching points. It is important to remember that we can not depend solely on videos and technology to do our job. If we are going to present a video during a lesson, there is still planning that must be done to ensure that the material that you want your students to understand, is being received in the way that we intend. We must ensure that students are paying attention to the material being presented. You must ensure that students are paying attention to a video before you begin, which is exactly what you would do before beginning to teach any lesson. A video is no exception. It is also important to stress the reasons for watching a particular video, and to inform students of the key points that they should be taking note of. This was demonstrated successfully in class today. Half of the class was told to "relax, enjoy the film, and not worry about taking notes", while the other half was told exactly what to watch for, and what would be tested on. The group that had a better understanding of the expectations had considerably better results. The points made about effective teaching in the video, were demonstrated in class. This gave us a first hand experience of the point that was being made. Although I was skeptical at first about the purpose of the lesson, and the usefulness of the video, in the end the intention of the lesson was clearly made, in an entertaining way.