The last time I posted in here, I wrote about an unexpected turn that derailed my blog (as well as my train of thought). I was halfway through a post about the Oscars and the end of my tenure teaching film appreciation when Heath Ledger died, so I put the draft of that post on hold and wrote about my reaction to his death. One of the things I lamented in that entry was that I couldn’t share my question with my class. Along with the Oscar nominations, Ledger’s unexpected death made me realize how much I enjoyed teaching the films class and how much I would miss it this semester when I returned it to one of my colleages.
Then, life took another unexpected (and this time, welcomed) turn. To make a long story short, I’ll be teaching film appreciation again for the first half of the semester.
While I was caught off guard by this change, I’m excited to have another opportunity to teach this class. I really enjoyed the last semester and learned a lot about films with my students. I’m looking forward to teaching a group of students that are equally as enthusiastic and insightful as my class this past fall. It also means that I’ll keep writing in this blog as a way to “lead by example” as I try to integrate some “Classroom 2.0″ tools into the film class.
So to my new students, who will find their way to this blog in a few days when I introduce their “discussion questions” - I hope that you’ll enjoy studying films and becoming “critics” as much as I enjoy teaching the class. We’ll talk about how you can keep your own film blog as well as the class goes on.
As for my post about the Oscar nominations, I’ve decided that since I have film students again, I’ll save that post until we get closer to the ceremony. By that point, I imagine that life will have intervene a few more times as well.
I’ve decided to start this blog as a way to lead by example. I’m currently tinkering with a wiki for my film appreciation class and I thought that I’d start keeping a blog about movies in an effort to inspire some of my students to write their own blogs.
So why am I, a secondary education teacher with barely any experience, so interested in using blogs and wikis in the classroom (and perhaps some of my films students have the same question)? On the most basic level, I think that this technology provides educators with the ability to expand the classroom beyond the four walls and (in my school’s case) 84 minutes every other day. It gives students the chance to explore their own thoughts through writing while also sharing these ideas with classmates. Additionally, blogs and wikis help create an authentic audience for student writing. I want my students to realize that they don’t have to appreciate just the films I make them watch in class (and I have them watch some good ones - we’re finishing The Departed with particular emphasis on the editing). While the odds of being the next Ebert are against my students, they can still think about the movies they pay $9.50 to see and be active critics. Who knows - my students might catch the “blog bug” and start keeping a blog, writing about films for other people on the internet, writing about movies for their college newspapers, or even using these skills in other facets.
Simply put, my philosophy of education involved creating life-long learners. I see blogs, wikis, and other internet resources as tools to help facilitate this type of enduring learning. I also need to thank my colleague Rob Kovi for being an invaluable resource. He’s encouraged me to pursue this type of activity in my classroom, provided me with assistance with the resources, and supported my (often incomplete) vision for my films class.
So in the spirit of that, if you’re one of my students I encourage you to write your own blog. Go to learnerblogs.org and sign up for your own blog. If you’re in my film class and you want to blog about films, add a link to your blog to our class wiki.
If you’re a fellow educator, check out edublogs.org and write your own blog! If you’re not a teacher or a student, blog through Wordpress (which powers both Learnerblogs and Edublogs). I personally use Wordpress for my own blog about music (if you ask Google nicely, you might find it) and I think you’ll find it both easy to use and full of many useful features.
