Presentation Reflection
This media-infused presentation provides students an engaging and interactive opportunity to combine prior knowledge with new learning. In the process it will help foster the development of the disciplined and synthesizing mind. It may be used an interactive class lesson, but it may also be completed independently, which is beneficial because attendance is often an issue at my school, particularly with the students to which the presentation is geared.
Several components of the lesson will contribute to fostering a disciplined mind. The first is having students apply prior learning to analyze new material. As opposed to subject matter, which focusses on specific facts, Gardner (2007) argues, “a discipline constitutes a distinctive way of thinking about the world” (p. 27). Instead of simply having students memorize definitions and facts, teachers need to teach students how to think in order to foster disciplined minds. This particular presentation does just that by having students analyze material about another culture and draw conclusions about how similar and/or different that culture is from their own. Gardner (2007) also urges to “approach the topic in a variety of ways” (p.33). The images, video, and audio components provide an engaging way for students to obtain new information and learn independently. Combining this new information obtained through digital media with the text component of the novel will help students understand the topic on several levels.
Next, this presentation also promotes a synthesizing mind in students. Gardner (2007) outlines four general steps to synthesis: a goal, a starting point, selection of strategy and approach, drafts and feedback (p. 51-52). This presentation guides students through each step of the synthesis process. The goal of comparing and contrasting American and Vietnamese perspectives of the war is clearly stated in the Purpose section of the Prezi. Next, students will recall their previous learned knowledge about the American perspective, which will serve as the starting point of their synthesis. Reviewing the images, video, and audio throughout the rest of the Prezi serves as the strategy in which to achieve synthesis. Finally, students will synthesize their findings into a digital Venn Diagram and present it to the class. The rubric-graded Venn Diagram and class discussion after the presentations will provide valuable feedback to help aid in the synthesis process.
This media-infused presentation is a good way to spark synthesis and discipline. As students progress and become more comfortable with the steps of synthesis, they will be able to complete more of the steps on their own. Eventually, my goal would be to have students develop all four steps of the synthesis process on their own in order to achieve true synthesis. Incorporating more media-infused presentations can help achieve that goal.
References
Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment