Extra Credit Assignment

Two major topics I would like to use multi-modal technology are when thinking about poetry and mythology. Clearly in my multi-genre biography music is a major passion of mine, and it is clearly becoming a major too to bridge the gap between student and teachers. Taking a set of song lyrics and having the students begin to think critically about the words is a good starter to poetry criticism. They can begin to learn literary terms by using songs/poetry they already know. Furthermore students can then bridge into more challenging writings once getting the foundations of poetry in a way that they can enjoy. When it comes to mythology, personally, I was never truly interested in it. A girl who is student teaching now is forced to student teach a mythology class, who too shares my indifference in the topic. Together she and I were brainstorming projects she could do for her class as a chapter assessment. We thought of Greek Gods Facebook. It was a huge hit! She said the students really enjoyed creating the personality of a god that they had just learned about. This is something I now hope I get to do when I become a teacher.

There is no question that we have witnessed the birth of the technology era. Where society takes it will pivot how we, as teachers, will continue to teach. I think that bridging the gap between teachers to student in a technological standpoint is a wonderful thing. But as the economy the way it is today, technology can also be a great hindrance on the American education system. While some schools stand today with “Million Dollar Rooms” (Mason High School, Mason Ohio) others are still begging for updated computers.

What I have learned the most from the multi-genre autobiography project is that everyone’s past creates who they are today. Their past creates a huge influence on how we learn, teach, and interact with others. I feel that this was a nice way for students for get to know each other, and also for teachers to think about why do they like the teaching strategies they use.