DIV Reflection

The Digital Images project was an interesting way to present ideas to the class. Using the Mac iMovie was fun and good for me, as I did not previously have any experience with the program.

Classroom Use: Creating a digital images project in the classroom would be a great way to help visual and auditory learners. Students need a multitude of different ways to view information, as lecture is boring and much of what is simply said is not retained. The DIV project would make the classroom environment more creative and fun, which will make students more excited to learn.

Learning Styles: All students have a wide range of learning styles. Use of the DIV project in the classroom will be a useful tool to reaching students of many learning styles. Visual, linguistic, and logical learners should be able to make connections between the material and the work they will do to cement that knowledge. Depending on the content of the project, other learning styles will be affected too. In this resource, as with many others, knowing your students and their interests and learning styles will help you to create the most effective project for conveying information.

Student Project Ideas: Students can do a variety of things with a DIV project. As I created a commonplace book, so can studnents. This project is a fun way to get students excited about reading and pulling poignant information from the text. A commonplace book is a way to help students with comprehension as opposed to simple literacy. Most students can read, but reading does not mean that they understand or comprehend the material they have read. Other ideas would be a book report in a DIV project, writing reflections and journals with pictures, debate material for a visual debate, or any other number of possibilities. Any paper the students write could use the DIV project as a means of presenting the information to the rest of the class in a concise and interesting manner.

Impact on Learning: The Digital Images project could have a very important impact on learning. Many students have an extreme dislike for writing papers. Tagging a DIV project onto a paper for presentation materials helps students to look at their work in a more creative fashion. They are able to develop an interesting way to present their information in a way that is more conducive to their own personality. Also, the fear of public speaking can be reduced by assigning a DIV project. Students do not have to memorize information, nor do they have to talk too much except to explain certain concepts. This would be a good way to begin a unit on public speaking in a manner that is less frightening to the majority of students. Using a DIV project also allows students to share more about their personal selves. Opening up to the teacher and their peers helps to create a safer and more cohesive classroom environment.

In the junior high and middle school English classroom, use of the Digital Images project is a great way to encourage creativity and excitement about reading and writing. While some of the program may be too difficult for younger students, simple digital images projects would be a great tool for learning in the classroom.