In response to my last reflection, I was recently asked by my professor, Derek Schwartz, “what place will the previous knowledge and experience of your students have in your teaching practice?”
This is a fantastic question for me to keep in mind in order to remain learner-focused.
Our students come to our classrooms with a wealth of knowledge and experience. This knowledge and experience can come from school, home, work, parents, siblings, friends, books, computers, social media, and a variety of other sources. We, as teachers, are fools if we decide to completely ignore this deep wealth of knowledge and experience that our students have brought with them into the classroom. However, it can also be scary to interact with the unknown. So, how can we best interact with that previous knowledge?
Media can be a fantastic outlet for students to use to express themselves. This can also help students become more media literate. In interacting with new media outlets, students can find more opportunities to “play around” with new media and learn how to use it appropriately. This gives them access and working knowledge on the technology.
Taking that one step further, if students are asked to present their media projects, it can bring their knowledge to the next level of understanding how and when that specific media could be used to communicate with others. The younger generations are using technology even more than those who came before them. While we may not be able to continuously be on top of the new technology (as it develops so quickly!), we can help foster a sense of technology responsibility, professionalism, and media literacy within our students.
Maeve A. Olson 