EDCI 337 Feedback

Thank you for writing such a thoughtful blog post, Jalem! I am really looking forward to working together throughout this course. I enjoyed your story about your grade 10 leadership teacher and his use of multimedia. It sounds like that video was engaging and impactful, which I am sure was your teacher’s intent.

I could not help but smile when I read your paragraph about Cindy Brown and her stories. I am so lucky to have had Cindy for two courses (Learning Support and Promoting Prosocial Behaviour) and I have also benefitted from her amazing stories. As I write this, I can recall several of her stories and the lessons that accompanied them. You are completely correct in saying that if we had learned those same lessons from a textbook or PowerPoint slides, they would not have had the same impact. I have always wondered whether teachers like Cindy, who use stories to teach, write the stories into their lesson plan, or whether they decide to tell it on the spot. One thing that I always appreciate about Cindy’s stories is that they always seem authentic. Authenticity, in my opinion, is a key factor in promoting student engagement.

References:

https://jalemdhillon.opened.ca/

Thank you for your thoughtful blog post, Shaylin. You made an excellent point about the impact that stories make on students, even for years after they hear them. Juliani‘s point about stories having the power to plant thoughts and emotions in the listener’s brain is powerful and I think that this is one of the reasons that stories can stick with you for so many years. Whenever I think back to a story that I remember one of my teachers telling, I always remember the emotion attached to it. This is important to keep in mind to ask ourselves when we tell stories to our own students. What do I want my students to learn from this story? How do I want my students to feel after hearing this story?

I really liked how you explained you experience with the Interactive Buzz Session. I completely relate to your feeling of freedom and openness in the classroom during the activity. I wonder how this activity might be different with different grades. What kind of adjustments do you think a teacher would need to make to make this appropriate for an upper elementary classroom? Do you think there is a way to make this activity work for a primary classroom? I would love to hear your ideas.

References:

Juliani, A.J. (2014). The Hidden Importance of Teaching with Stories. A.J. Juliani. http://ajjuliani.com/hidden-importance-teaching-stories/

https://shaylinwarren.wordpress.com/

Thank you for such a thought-provoking blog post, Emily. I am excited to delve into the topic of multimedia learning with you. I share your interest in learning more about a learner-centred, rather than technology-centred, approach. It sounds like we had a similar elementary school experience in terms of the heavy use of non-digital multimedia. I am excited for both of us to learn about ways to incorporate digital multimedia learning into our future classrooms. Your example of interactive, multimedia learning with the gardening project is a great example of how multimedia learning can take place in a non-digital way. It is important, as educators, to provide our students with a variety of multimedia learning opportunities, both digital and non-digital. I wonder how digital media would have helped enhance student learning during that gardening project. Maybe a video on how plants grow would have been helpful for some students? I would love to hear your thoughts, as you were the one who was actually in the class.

The video that you chose to explain multimedia learning is fantastic. The narration, written text, animations, and drawings combined were extremely effective in explaining the concept of multimedia learning – thank you for sharing.

Reference:

https://emilybelchos.wordpress.com/category/edci337-blog/