From Our 'Critical Thinking' Module

This assignment was a little difficult for me at first because I honestly had no clue what I was doing with the Google Doc. I considered myself tech literate until this paper, ha. Here it is;

When I began reading “Teachers & Technology: English with an Edge”, I was immediately taken aback. The teacher and author of the article, Andie Brown, told of a project she created that assigns students to focus, “on at least one aspect of modern American society and comment in such a way that it causes their audience to think deeply about the subject and make them laugh or at least chuckle. I use Mac computers and iMovie,” (Brown 2008). The first question that came to my mind was, “Really? This teacher uses iMovie and camcorders for an English class?” Usually when presentations are made in front of other students, the presenters are actually teaching others something, not just using their presentation as entertainment. Brown also says that, “when the students see their small movie projects screened and really get to feel the response of the audience, they seem to deeply understand the place satire has in a free society,” (Brown 2008). I would understand Brown’s assignment to be more crucial to her class if the subject was media or theater and not English. Does she consider satire to be more important than grammar and spelling?
The article lead me to question if Andie Brown’s students are really getting all they could out of her English class. If so much time is spent on filming and making a movie in preparation for a mini-film festival, what else do they learn throughout the semester/year? Does she rush her students to learn all the other components of English in order to make time for their film projects? I can’t imagine these students doing much reading, nevertheless writing, which is one of our youth’s largest downfalls.
I also wondered whether or not I would like to spend so much time working on a movie in English class. Exactly how much time was allotted for these students for this project? From the sound of it, students have a third or so of the semester, which may be too much. Going into Brown’s class having expectations of writing, reading, and grammar, may not be fulfilled. Does Brown’s course help those students who initially took the class to improve upon writing and reading?
Then, I had a flashback to my courses in high school that integrated technology. I clearly remember for the most part being bored sitting in front of a computer with my assignment completed or worrying that time was being wasted because we could have been learning new things. My assumption that Brown’s method of teaching English is not only unconventional but also a waste of time may be biased from my own experiences, but I firmly believe that her students could have learned much more in that time that they spent on creating a three minute movie. I’m not saying that technology and learning shouldn’t go hand-in-hand, but the principal at Parkway South High School should have been somewhat more careful when looking over Brown’s lesson plans. This course may have been more greatly appreciated by those who were looking to enroll in media.
After questioning Brown’s methods and thinking about my questions, I came to a few conclusions. First of all, when Brown wrote about one student in particular who exceeded the expectations and effort on this movie project and, “left high school on a high note I don't believe he would have reached without this techno-English assignment,” (Brown 2008). Maybe Brown was using this assignment for those students who had strengths in concept-grasp but not other typical English skills. Another reason I assumed she had created the assignment was for seniors who had nothing else to do until graduation, which corresponded with her saying, “The students, instead of limping their way to graduation with acute cases of senioritis, really get into the project,” (Brown 2008). Yet, this lead to more of my questioning whether or not students in an English class should be graded on their technology and satirical skills.
The last thought I’ll share is that of school budgets. From what I learned reading Van Horn’s article, I came to the conclusion that maybe Parkway South High School’s budget wasn’t as large as those in the area of Florida where Van Horn built high tech classrooms. If Brown’s school budget didn’t allow for a computer lab or tech lab, I would assume her reason for assigning the film project would be to give her students more technical knowledge. Van Horn stated that, “When you edit video on a computer, you always edit the sound first. Thus sound editing opens up all kinds of other possibilities for students to understand the spoken word,” (2006). Editing sound for Brown’s students could have given them a bigger advantage in improving their speech without the nerve-racking task standing up in front of the class and reciting a speech.
Although I have many criticisms of Brown’s assignments, I imagine myself content in her class because of the relief it would be to not have a test and actually have fun with a subject. If Brown’s class was tested on satire along with a class from a different school, I would also predict Brown’s students to excel compared to others. After thinking carefully about it, I consider Brown’s unconventional method to be innovative.

My First Blog!

Well, here it is! I never thought I'd be creating a blog for a college class! It's definitely a fun change to busy work, though. It was a little intimidating at first, but I have the hang of it for the most part. There's so much to do as far as tabs and all the little things etc. I can't give much advice except to make sure you 'tour' yourself around before doing anything too advanced. Good luck to all of you & your blogs!