Obama Yes We Can - but Can I?

I used this video in my media studies class today to introduce propaganda. The students were really engaged in the presentation. It's so interesting to me to watch them change their behavior, body language, increase their focus - during a multimedia presentation. It is how THEY learn. I get it. But I also think we need to be careful - so many young people have a hard time taking notes, fully focusing on what is being said in a classroom by a plain old boring teacher. They need that skill too. Sorry if there aren't technicolor flames shooting out my. . . head all day long! Accompanied by a motivational soundtrack! Sometimes I just need to TELL you something, and you just need to listen. Fully listen. Put down the cell phone, pull out the headphones, put down the pen, eat the skittles later. . . Am I a control freak??

How to get started

I am hoping that this blog will be accessible from the mediastudies wiki so that all the students in the class will be able to use ONE simple portal to access their blogs. And so that I will be able to find their blogs and read them all. Oh, I get a headache just thinking about all that reading, and searching, and clicking . . .

I am sort of surprised by how many students asked me today in class (the second day of the year) what a blog is. I expected them to have questions about what a wiki is. But I guess I thought more of them have blogged or at least visited a blog written by someone else maybe.

Well, we all have a lot to learn this year, and I can't wait to get them started and see if they like all this technology or not!