Reading Notes #1

I found the section about using video clips to be interesting. I always enjoyed the change of pace in a classroom from listening to an instructor lecture to watching a video clip. The Davis text reinforces this by saying that video clips can “break up a long lecture” (pg 450). The downside of this is that there were also plenty of times that an instructor showed a video and if I didn't find it too entertaining I could easily find myself day-dreaming. I always found that short videos that didn't last too long were able to hold my attention. Whenever I had to watch a video that lasted twenty or thirty minutes it just seemed as though I would find myself spacing off and thinking about assignments in other classes or what I wanted to do after class. The Davis text offers a little bit of advice on battling this problem on page 451 by advising to pause the film and discuss the film in parts throughout the film. The Lang text also suggests this. He says that student's attention spans fade after the first 15-20 minutes. He suggests breaking up the film and the lecture into parts, lecture for 10 minutes, show a clip, lecture for another 10 minutes, show another clip, etc (pg 77). I think that this would definitely provide a much easier transition and it would keep student's attention spans a little longer than the 15-20 minutes that Lang suggests. I think that video clips are useful because, while I haven't used them in a classroom, when I coached sports, I used video clips to provide the kids with another voice besides my own. The Davis article suggests this as well, saying that “relevant content clips generated student interest and improved their comprehension of basic concepts” (pg 450). I felt that when it came to coaching at least, and probably more insecurity than anything, that the biggest challenge for me was to establish my own credibility. I felt as though bringing in video clips from other older and more-experienced coaches to reinforce the same message I was sending was very helpful to me in that setting. I feel as though showing video clips could definitely serve me some purpose when it comes to teaching in a classroom, and I'll probably still be a little uneasy until I gain more confidence and experience.

I too was interested in the PowerPoint section, mainly because for as long as I can remember, when I've had to give a speech in any class, I've always used a PowerPoint when giving that speech. When it comes to teaching, I had already planned on using PowerPoints, but after reading through the texts, I've questioned that a little. The Davis text says that you shouldn't use PowerPoints in every class, and you shouldn't use them for a full class period (pg 453). I've had some teachers who have used PowerPoints for just about every class period and they had the PowerPoints posted throughout the entire period. The Davis text also says that PowerPoints appear “to neither hinder nor enhance student learning (pg 453). I think that effectively using PowerPoint can definitely be beneficial. The Davis text gives good examples of how this can be done in the Preparing a Presentation section on pages 454-455. I've always adhered to the principles that the text presents, like using words and images, clear outlines and headings and not putting in extraneous material (pg 454). That was always one pet peeve of mine during class presentations and someone would have a power point with huge blocks of text and would read straight from the PowerPoints. The class that I had that used PowerPoints throughout the entire class period also had slides that just had a few words and images and when it came to term definitions, ideas and main points the instructor had those written in the PowerPoints for the students to copy, but she didn't make those PowerPoints available to the students. Lang reinforces this idea when he says that not giving printouts of material to students and rather have them take notes in class “does help improve their learning and understanding” (pg 76). I think that I'll still utilize PowerPoints, but I'll definitely use them as more of a guide for myself and try to make sure they aren't as big of a crutch to lean on when I'm teaching compared to when I would give presentations.