Video #4, Rough Draft of Final Digital Story

My culminating experience proposal is about the effect that using iPods in the classroom can have on overall math achievement and motivation in children. When defining my story core, I would have to focus on where education is today and what is expected of students in current classrooms. With the expectations of NCLB, all of our emphasis has gone to testing and what can be shown on a test. Students are focusing on learning basic skills that are not necessarily developmentally appropriate and are doing so in a very drill and kill manner. In the past, these methods might have worked with the way education used to be, with the way the world used to be. But the world has changed. We are in the 21^st century and need to be preparing our students to succeed in the world of today, and even more importantly, the world of tomorrow. Using the old methods of teaching just are not effective anymore, and as educators, we need to adapt.

The use of iPods in the classroom has been shown to be very effective in creating enthusiasm for learning and interest in the subjects being taught. Because kids are using these kinds of technologies in their everyday lives, what might be difficult for adults who are not from their generation, is just second nature to today’s children. If we can use the materials that speak to kids in the way they learn best, we most likely have a better chance of helping them actually learn. This challenge between the ways of the past and the ways of the future is the essence of my story.

I hope to focus on the evolution of children who have the opportunity to use the iPods in their classrooms, how they not only show increased learning, but also increased motivation for learning in general. Children want to use these kinds of technologies, and even though they are doing work that is educational, they feel that it is fun, so they are more inclined to actually participate and learn from what they are doing. As teachers accept the challenges of working with new kinds of technologies, they themselves will reap the rewards from their students’ scores, their students will benefit by increased learning and fun in the classroom, and society will benefit by gaining people who are prepared to work and live in the 21^st century.

For my story map, I chose to use Campbell’s Adventure Diagram again as it worked for me the last time. I had a tough time trying to think of the parts of a story in relation to my CE proposal, as that just didn’t seem like any kind of “story” to me. But, for the purpose of the assignment, I tried to fit the ideas from my proposal into the parts of the story map. The Call to Adventure was basically the fact that current educational methods are not working for today’s students. Moving into the problems and challenges section, I talked about how teachers need to teach in ways that work for current students, and how multiplication is such an essential skill in mathematics, which is the focus of my proposal concept. I mentioned some of the barriers that we face including money for the technology, lack of technology skills for teachers, not enough actual evidence/research, wariness from administration, and the fact that using iPods would not be using the core curriculum.

Going into the resolution part of my plan, I talked about how the iPods just need to be given a chance, the teachers can gain new skills levels utilizing technology, which will result in students learning in more exciting ways. Finally, for the closure section, I mentioned the hopeful evidence that iPods can actually increase learning and motivation for children, that teachers truly could learn the new skills, and how children really would enjoy learning more. Honestly, it was a stretch for me to pull a “story” from my proposal, but this was my best effort!