I greatly enjoyed Tim Tyson’s closing keynote speech. I was skeptical about too much technology in the classroom, but his ideas made me think differently. I liked the concept of authentic assessment. I don’t think students should always be graded on a 0 to 100 scale or right and wrong; other ways of “grading” exist. I agreed with his ideas about connecting students to the outside world. Students need to make personal connections with their education to the real world and engaging them. I couldn’t believe some of the finished products. They were polished and professional looking. Adding the commentary from the kids put a personal touch on the project and made me feel a connection to the project.
It does seem like the students put in many hours of work on these projects, inside and outside of school. Looking at this project from a teacher’s perspective, I would be interested in how to manage “teaching time” and “project time.” It seems like the lines would blur, and I’d be concerned some information is being lost in the process. As a teacher, I’d just want to make sure the students were getting everything they need.
I think his program is great, but I’m not sure if it would work for every school. I can’t imagine an inner city, lower income school having these types of resources. It would seem they wouldn’t have the financial support to provide this kind of technology. I’d like more information on how Mabry operates when they make these movies. I wonder if each classroom has many computers or if there is one lab all students use. I would also be curious how they assign which classes movies are assigned. As a future English teacher, I would like to do something like this in my classroom.
Hi. I appreciate your candor in your post and would recommend you check out the work of Marco Torres, a teacher in what many would gently characterize as a challenging setting in LA. He teaches SS through the camera lens, and his students’ work is astounding.
I would encourage you not to try to replicate Mabry’s work or anyone else’s but to continue to think differently about the art and science of teaching and learning. You know your students and your community better than anyone. You know your subject. You obviously are passionate about being a great teacher that inspires achievement. Each day just find your next logical step to leverage meaningful, curriculum-focused technology integration that inspires your students’ learning! And then let me know how things progress!