“Ha! Ha! remember when Daddy was trying to be Superman... all that mud. We had to throw away the shorts.”
And mothers favourite - BABY PICTURES: “Ooh! So cute, trying to use the potty; it’s a good thing it was empty!”
Or: “Here he is brushing his teeth, and the sink, and the wall...”
Oh, yeah pictures bring back memories. We can almost instantly remember a moment in time when we look at pictures.
I was thinking of this association i.e. memory and pictures when my classmate was helping me to understand how to use storyboards. I realised that storyboards have the potential to combine pictures with text to make learning both informative, entertaining and with lasting effect. We have learnt this from comic books. Super heroes and villains we remember them all, so that when we go to see the movie we come out arguing that this or that character was not portrayed as he or she should have been because “the comic did not have it so.”
Still pondering, so share your thoughts and check out these sites:
http://teaching-strategies-mentorship.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_a_storyboard
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750735
ww2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750735
Hi Angela,
ReplyDeleteI see the future of reading as definitely going the way of e-Books. I think our students would be e-xcited about this phenomenon if only because, as you said, “just the idea of having to look at a screen peaks students interest” and more so, because they do not want to carry heavy bookbags on their backs. Just think of this phenomenon, hundreds and hundreds of books compressed in one neat notebook. Isn’t it just amazing? Once we can get our textbooks in one of those we would see a revolution in students’ readiness for class – because when they may forget their tools for schoolwork, they do not forget to pack the cellular, video games and iPod and earphones. So let us pray.
This shift in paradigm will also herald in the e-volution of the virtual libraries. So just as we are experiencing the virtual classroom with the introduction of Blogs and Wikis, so too, we will experience the virtual libraries. At least we would see our students as being engaged in their learning. Wait till they become aware that that technology enables them to excel at reading. Would we be able to contain their e-nthusiasm?
With the introduction of these Web 2.0 technologies, Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory of learning comes to mind. In his article, “I think in pictures, You teach in words: The Gifted Visual Spatial Learner”, Lesley Sword (2000) addresses this concern about reaching all learners despite their learning styles. In my opinion, and I am very pleased with the prospect, I think educators are now taking into consideration the fact that every learner learns in a different learning style.
Is it that we are misinterpreting the students’ e-xcitement over these interesting technologies for restlessness or disinterest in our mundane teaching? Share your thoughts.
When I sourced information on storyboards, I was pleasantly pleased to see that this medium engaged the creator in critical thinking since the script written has to be translated by someone else. This person who will be bringing the story to life must have enough information to embrace the authors thoughts. This means then that the author must attend to details to guide the producer as well as cater to the target audience. I think as well I went a bit further in that I found out the Walt Disney studios have been using this medium forever. It is really a grand idea to encourage creative writing in the classroom.
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