THE AUDIO-VISUAL SUPERVISOR

never before have so many children and youth crowded into our classrooms today nearly every one of school age is in school they are there to learn about the people places and events of a world which has grown smaller and smaller through modern communication because these students work in classrooms it is necessary to recreate somehow the world's experiences in these same classrooms and in such manner that students can fully understand and learn today it is possible to provide needed the learning experiences through a variety of methods audio-visual methods this modern language laboratory for example has been developed through the co-operative work of teachers administrators and an audio-visual supervisor everywhere groups of teachers and supervisors are at work planning what subject content information pupils are to study and learn about as they advance from grade to grade subject to subject and working with these teachers are experts in the relatively new professional field of audio-visual education this audiovisual supervisor is assisting the teachers as they plan for the wise selection and use of films maps tapes film strips globes models specimens through which course of study plans can be brought into life like reality in any classroom in several thousand school systems audio-visual supervisors are now at work let's look in on Jim Stern audio-visual supervisor like others in this new field jim has been a teacher and now as one of the school all supervisors he has been paying particular attention to this growing audiovisual Center today his inventory day and Jim is reminded of the department's rapid growth from a small beginning a few years ago more and more modern teaching tools have been acquired including teaching films and film strips a few years ago there was only one sound projector now there are many sound projectors and in addition film strip opaque micro overhead and slide projectors all were added because he and the teaching staff have increasingly planned for audio-visual methods to be used in day-to-day classroom teaching gems responsibilities cover a wide range all the way from helping to organize community study through field trips to assisting incoming teachers who wish to learn what is available in the audio visual field in this day of high teacher turnover one of Jim's continuing tasks is to acquaint new teachers with audio-visual materials a continuing task is to help new teachers operate audio-visual materials to requisition it and to know what is available the modern teacher is a student of child psychology of learning and subject content information but beyond that the modern teacher must know how to select and use modern teaching tools to increase learning efficiency through descriptive subject catalogs like these Jim explains how films slides and other audio materials may be secured at the time the teacher believes pupils may best profit from their use teachers have many questions and Jem has many answers Jem continues to introduce the new teacher to the many resources of the center he invites her to preview materials so that she may see and hear and judge for herself which of these many materials she will later wish to use in the course of her classroom instructional plans as the bell regulates the school schedule it also guides the many and varied activities of the audiovisual Department while the teacher knows about audio-visual methods many schools encourage pupils to help in the operation of audio-visual equipment where possible the students help with the use of audio-visual materials in their own classrooms at the same time they are helpers and learners often students who have the interest and ability help with the maintenance of the teaching materials and equipment like many things in our present technology audio-visual teaching equipment must be kept clean and in good working order Jim often has to make minor repairs on the equipment but many of the more routine tasks are handled very well by student helpers the audiovisual Department helps produce a variety of teaching materials that cannot be secured commercially pupils who are particularly interested or gifted are given the opportunity of learning how to use effectively such new tools as the airbrush new vistas of occupational opportunities become known to the student and new skills are acquired which may not be ordinarily learned in the course of formal classroom instructional work other audiovisual Center production employs the use of copying devices which make possible the rapid completion of overlays slides or transparencies for use on overhead types of projectors in more and more audio visual centers there may be found collections of the newest graphic arts tools machines and techniques useful to teachers who seek constantly to visualize difficult to understand ideas and concepts today several hundred manufacturers and producers two are in the business of creating audio visual learning materials as new film strips tapes or teaching films are produced Jim Stern helps with the task of selecting those which will be useful in providing needed learning experiences in a manner which is above and beyond that which can be done with more traditional learning materials during many open periods of the school day evaluation and selection groups like this may be at work at the neverending search for better teaching materials better audio-visual teaching materials through which the increasing demand of more and more to teach and less time to teach it may be met the best use of audio-visual materials takes place amid the work-study atmosphere of the classroom in the process little details may interfere which are beyond the skill of student operators when this happens Jim Stern who is almost always near at hand is available for help quietly and skillfully he offers assistance and with little or no interruption of the classroom routine in this room as in many classrooms light control makes possible the use of audio-visual materials at exactly the time the teacher decides the learners need and can benefit from their use pupils and teachers plan together the things they wish to learn they anticipate new words and ideas they may encounter and soon are ready to listen to see and to learn all know what is expected and all help in the teamwork of the group as the projector is switched on a new experience about the world and its meaning is made known to these learners through the realistic and lifelike medium of sight and sound in more and more school systems the audiovisual program has grown into a major area of the administrative organization in more and more cases the full time of an audiovisual supervisor is demanded he reports the audiovisual budget needs to the superintendent he bases his plans on amounts recommended by the National Education Association a minimum of one percent of the instructional budget or from four to six dollars per year per pupil in average daily attendance through which to provide a beginning yet effective audio-visual program the full-time audio-visual supervisor is an important member of curriculum planning committees here he discusses new audio-visual equipment and materials tapes film strips and films the best of which members of the committee will incorporate in the new courses of study they are preparing for their own and their colleagues use the audiovisual supervisor frequently assists at departmental meetings here science staff members examine new micro projection equipment which allows an entire class group to witness movements and changes occurring among microscopically small one celled organisms new and effective teaching ideas inspired through such demonstrations will be incorporated in future science teaching plans and interesting result most audio-visual supervisors is to describe their program to the community history is very difficult to understand let alone read about in order to improve our teaching of history we begin by actually recreating the things and experiences of history itself we examined historical artifacts such as this exhibit of the colonial period and historical documents we may display pictures of architecture and this is Mount Vernon and we often show costumes such as this colonial tricorn finally we are ready to turn back the clock through the use of an appropriate film which recreates history now museum people have supplied information about costumes about manners of speaking and vocabulary and historians have described the events all this has been reenacted by skilled actors who actually live the situation the result which is the history teaching film is a vivid experience in reliving episodes of history how following our classroom study of a film our students read the greatest measurable effect of audio-visual use in teaching history is in reading improvement as indicated by this chart you will notice by the red line the increased improvement in vocabulary building control group was not able to gain as much in vocabulary as the experimental group indicated by the red which used film and on that note I would like to refer a question to our librarian here at niles school miss Randall when we use film film strips models and so forth as we do in instruction here what do you observe happens what happens in the reading that pupils do but you care to come up and answer that thank you mr. stern I once was concerned but no more five years ago our teachers began to correlate films with other classroom activities when a film is tied to the specifics of a lesson students in interest is naturally wakened to answer the questions that are raised he must turn to books today students are doing nearly twice the library reading they once did and the words they read are more than symbol images have made them more meaningful the work of the audiovisual supervisor is permeating the structure of professional education as this is happening over 500 teacher training institutions are establishing courses and centers of audio-visual education here we find teachers in training at work exploring the resources of this field exploring the overhead projector which permits the teacher to watch the reactions of the class while images appear on the screen exploring audio materials disk and tape which encourage learners to identify themselves with the materials or to evaluate their own performance these students are attempting to master the intricacies of projection equipment these will be the teachers of tomorrow from this group may come many of tomorrow's audio-visual supervisors and administrators to continue the highly professional and effective work of improving instructional opportunities for the youth of our land through audio-visual teaching and supervision our educational system can continue its forward progress