Here is a YouTube link to a Wile E. Coyote clip. What in the world can an instructor do with this, you may ask? I attended a session on Critical Thinking by Colette Strassburg at one of the YC Institutes and was introduced to this method for introducing Concepts of Thought and Intellectual Standards to my English students. So go ahead and enjoy the video, and then I'll try to explain.
First I have the students read information in The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking for homework. Next I show them this video when we come to class. Third, I give them a brief overview of the Concepts of Thought: Point of View, Purpose, Question at Issue, Information, Interpretation and Inference, Concepts, Assumptions, and Implications and Consequences.
Now I have students get into groups and as quickly as possible write down one or two questions for each of these terms concerning Wilie's thinking process in creating the traps for Roadrunner. For example, for Point of View, we could say that the coyote's point of view is that the Roadrunner can be caught. After the students create these questions, they share them with the class and give me a written copy. I type the responses up and return them to the students for the next class.
When the students return the following class period, we consider the Intellectual Standards: Clarity, Accuracy, Precision, Relevance, Depth, Breadth, Logic, Significance, and Fairness. After this brief lecture, I have them get back into groups and draw a trap for Roadrunner. This time the groups get up in front of the class and share their trap and describe how it represents at least two of these Intellectual Standards. For example, the significance of the trap is that . . . , or the depth of the trap is sufficient for . . .
Students enjoy this activity and are ready for the work ahead of them to apply these principles to readings and hopefully real life issues in the future.
Here is another link to a YouTube video I had been using in my ENG140 class to introduce The Kite Runner. Students enjoyed viewing this trailer to get an idea of what the main characters looked like and to see the terrain in Afghanistan as well as the Bay area where the book takes place. The problem that occurred, as you can see, is that YouTube had to delete all of the background sound for many of the videos due to copyright infringements. One day I was showing this video to the class, and without warning there was no sound. I called the IT guys at the college, and they couldn't get the sound to work either. Then we realized what had happened. It wasn't equipment failure. There was no sound attached to this video anymore.
Since that time I have found another YouTube video to show the class, but this one gives away some of the plot and is not as good as the original. That's the way it goes sometimes. Still, it is valuable to use video to reach the students, especially in this new generation. Many students are visual learners, and I feel these students benefit a great deal from technologies such as YouTube.
First I have the students read information in The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking for homework. Next I show them this video when we come to class. Third, I give them a brief overview of the Concepts of Thought: Point of View, Purpose, Question at Issue, Information, Interpretation and Inference, Concepts, Assumptions, and Implications and Consequences.
Now I have students get into groups and as quickly as possible write down one or two questions for each of these terms concerning Wilie's thinking process in creating the traps for Roadrunner. For example, for Point of View, we could say that the coyote's point of view is that the Roadrunner can be caught. After the students create these questions, they share them with the class and give me a written copy. I type the responses up and return them to the students for the next class.
When the students return the following class period, we consider the Intellectual Standards: Clarity, Accuracy, Precision, Relevance, Depth, Breadth, Logic, Significance, and Fairness. After this brief lecture, I have them get back into groups and draw a trap for Roadrunner. This time the groups get up in front of the class and share their trap and describe how it represents at least two of these Intellectual Standards. For example, the significance of the trap is that . . . , or the depth of the trap is sufficient for . . .
Students enjoy this activity and are ready for the work ahead of them to apply these principles to readings and hopefully real life issues in the future.
Here is another link to a YouTube video I had been using in my ENG140 class to introduce The Kite Runner. Students enjoyed viewing this trailer to get an idea of what the main characters looked like and to see the terrain in Afghanistan as well as the Bay area where the book takes place. The problem that occurred, as you can see, is that YouTube had to delete all of the background sound for many of the videos due to copyright infringements. One day I was showing this video to the class, and without warning there was no sound. I called the IT guys at the college, and they couldn't get the sound to work either. Then we realized what had happened. It wasn't equipment failure. There was no sound attached to this video anymore.
Since that time I have found another YouTube video to show the class, but this one gives away some of the plot and is not as good as the original. That's the way it goes sometimes. Still, it is valuable to use video to reach the students, especially in this new generation. Many students are visual learners, and I feel these students benefit a great deal from technologies such as YouTube.
Sheryl's tip on annotations: Tina, isn't that a great addition to a video?! I found that by accident, trying to learn the navigation in youtube. If you go to your 'my videos', each video is listed under 'uploaded videos'. On the bottom of each video is a tool bar that has several tabs. One of these tabs reads 'annotations', click on it. This will open the video and it will start playing. When you want to add an annotation, click on the video screen and it will pause and a little box will pop up. You pick which annotation you want to add, and a text box will open on the side bar. Enter the text and choose 'save'. You can move the box around once you've entered the text. When you are done, hit the play button and click the screen again when you want to add another annotation. It's really easy and fun! Hope this works for you...Thanks for the comments...it's been a pleasure! Sheryl
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