To Help Them Learn (1977)

w [Music] important developments that distinguish the Renaissance from the medieval period who can tell us what one of those developments was race uh trade that's right there was an increase in trade between city states and what effect did that have on people [Music] Robert now the Renaissance started at different times times in different countries who can tell us where the Renaissance started George uh Italy that's right Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance and when did the Renaissance start in Italy Francis all right Paul these kids have seen men walking on the moon now that's a phenomenon this is a different world and a different new breed of young people we just can't expect them to respond to that old history lecture the same way they did back in the 30s children really need everything you can give them after all look at what we're competing against in the home they had television radios all sorts of media bombarding them and if you come to school and you just say sit down my dear you must learn this let me tell you all about it you're going to miss out really living in a world in which children are bombarded with all kinds of stimuli and we can't expect them to leave those stimuli at home when they come to school um they're aware of so many more things than our parents were than we were in this day and age when there are so many new things to learn uh just a lecture and the book and the chalkboard just does not do it the media brings the outside world into the classroom back to this matter of teaching history for decades we were in the old names and dates Kings and battles lecture run there's just no question that there are better ways to teach history is not my wish to offend Madam but listen to a man who speaks with the voice of parliament listen to wentw gracious queen your Reign has gloriously begun yet we urge you to choose some Lord or Prince of your particular choice to be your husband I commend Parliament for not having appointed me a husband that question is never distant from my mind be assured as be assured it is better thought of by me than any other person or body we think only of England ma as God is my judge everything I think can do is for the good of England if the history is contemporary film can bring the actual events right into the classroom I have an adquate education this is the problem that there are those who are not willing to do this the Marchers continued until an agreement was reached with Chicago officials this agreement was hailed as a major victory but black militants were dissatisfied with the results achieved by methods of negotiation and compromise and here's American history that you wouldn't believe [Music] [Music] you were to say to me um you can't have any more media now but this is it I would say oh wait a minute let us talk let us go back to our psychology books let us go back to our our sociology and let us see how people learn best let's think about you too the person anybody not just children learns best through media I think a great many people look upon um media as not useful uh in teaching Basics um those things like Reading Writing and arithmetic that our parents stress so much and um uh they fail to see that uh media can be used in in a variety of ways for teaching Basics and for enriching the whole quality of life there are lots of other kinds of media besides film here's something that I find enormously useful called a multimedia kit this one has a poster and film strips and other follow-up activities that are all related to one idea that animals and people live in different kinds of groups it's their houses isn't it we call that their habitat that's where they live what would you call these oh um mountain mountains what kind of animal would you find in the mountains a deer a bear a deer Buffalo [Music] Ram okay in a few minutes we're going to be seeing a film strip and you'll be seeing a lot of these animals in the film strip and you're also going to hear some new words solitary animals herds colonies packs society and Clocks by living and working in groups people are able to do jobs better than one person can do alone when people work together in this way they form form a society many animals also form sociey a society is a group of animals of the same kind living and cooperating together a teacher has a real challenge keeping children interested day after day after day materials like these help present facts and subject matter but they also add spice and variety to learning of some insects like ants are all connected together with everyone sharing the same system which would you rather do Cindy would you rather live by yourself or would you rather live in a group in a group in a group what would you do if you lived in a group what kind of help would you provide money I help um get some food you would help get some food did you see the city of ant go for Gophers built a city there was another group of animals that made a city or a colony who was that Liz be the beans and who is in charge of all those beans when you use something like a film strip you don't just say well that's that and go on to the next lesson you use it for oral expression and practice in organizing thoughts on paper and exercising imagination in story writing and of course reading reading their stories out loud makes children feel that their work has value it's not just an assignment to turn in and forget if I had a penguin I would name it wobbly and I would make a tunnel and fill it with ice and that would be his house and I would think it and I and I think it weighs 90 lb and sometimes we would go and see his mom and dad at the South fall I I think the the the key to individualizing is seeing each child as a very separate a very special person um who must be regarded in in terms of his learning style in terms of his special needs in terms of his interest and his capabilities all of us learn in different me ways and some children learn visually some children learn orally and uh having all these different approaches to learning makes it all more interesting and more meaningful to the children you can reach them better that way my special interest is our media center where I teach many schools have media centers a special room where children come from their classes at certain times to do part of their work some may have a research project that the teacher has given them each child learns to find what she or he needs other children work on one of a list of assignments that they've been given to do here for instance a couple of friends may share our small film strip machine they can work along at their own pace nearly every Saturday Frank and a sister Mimi go to the market to shop for their aunt Myrtle Aunt Myrtle is C usually they won't need help but if they do I'm there for question each part underneath is called a subtopic to complete the arrang then when they've finished they'll turn in these assignments as part of their regular class workk another child may watch a pantomimed picture then write a story about what happened this develops powers of observation and English skills and it's fun they get to run a machine see a little movie and work independently none of these activities is just watching or listening each one requires thought and writing sometimes when the teachers do it you know it's awfully boring and hard but if it's fun then if it does it in such a way that it's fun then the kids enjoy it more and they they'll try to study harder often a group activity will require a teacher so I'll work with the children this is an arithmetic game for kindergarten children that helps teach counting addition and organizing in groups of 10 7 cents 8 cents 9 cents 10 cents so can he keep these I can tell you that this is far more fascinating than writing on the board 5 + 5 = 10 Tiffy your turn another 5 cents does she have enough pennies to make 10 cents no no not yet all right Brent let's hope you get to have something oh Brent what can you put together to make 10 cents 5 cents and what's two five cents what's five and five Tiffany 10 10 so you get to have your first sense BR good for you my feeling and of course I'm sure I'm supported by research is that there are many many different modalities of learning and if you rely just on um visual or just on AAL or just on kinesthetic you may miss something so really in in order to be quite fair with all children you should give them as many different types of learning experiences as possible if you don't you're really sure changing them I teach in a remedial reading lab if kids are going to get turned off to school junior high is where it really begins to happen they need to be interested and they need variety for instance vocabulary and word recognition can be pretty dull this way it's a game idea drop River son F while I'm working with one group others can be working individually when teaching remedial reading this is another important way of building word recognition and pronunciation the student listens to the taped instructor's voice then records the word in his own voice for comparison family family and the man aboard move to the ship's a sound film strip can be used for purely motivational purposes if students enjoy listening to a visualized story they'll be encouraged to read the book later I am Captain Nemo he said you are talking to a person who has left the outside world you now another way of gaining reading comprehension is by hearing the words as you see them I use other tapes to teach students to listen they answer questions on the content but they also get drills in following directions precisely you got it mm train cough evening note pet in room clue office cow visit if I can get kids turned on they begin to learn that accomplishment has a tremendous mendous effect on them and believe me I'd be in real trouble if I had to try to do this without the help of media oh girls the boys [Applause] won when the blood returns from the lungs it goes to the chambers on the other side of the heart the pump on this side forces the blood out through the body the systemic circulation it's called the upper chamber on each side is called The Atrium or sometimes the Oracle the lower Chambers are called ventricles does anybody Recall why we find the thicker portion of the heart at the left ventricle if I just stood up with a chart and tried to lecture about the circulation of the blood I'd come up against a blank wall a film teaches and motivates then I can reinforce the teaching that the film has started on the right side heart careful to the lungs multip it by four multiply it by four to write down the number of beats per minute to compare it with the standard okay you can start do it at your will I follow up with a lab work that gives the kids actual experiences such as having them time their own pulse rates before and after exercise then when we get back to the textbook the students will be involved when you first hear the pulse with your stethoscope with lab and lecture and the visual experiences of the film circulation becomes something personally understood rather than just learned to pass a test films can make difficult complicated ideas not only clear but fascinating let's get back to our Circle and triangle roll it and we have a a a [Music] whe the circle has been the basis for many of man's important [Music] inventions the mind can create the most amazing things if we spin the triangle we have a con slice the cone the cone is full of useful mathematical shapes slice it again slice it several times the orbits of all planets and satellites can be found in the cone no matter how you slice it it's always mathematics and here's a clip from a television program used for bilingual education [Music] take your take your one you must learn take your turn take your turn that's [Music] one I know that the cost of a film or a film strip um a set of film strips may sound pretty expensive to the Layman but when you consider that lots and lots of children are going to be using these materials um and that these materials are probably going to be far more effective when they're used correctly than any other kind of teaching then they're not expensive at all in fact we can't afford not to use them you say to yourself what's the cost of all this can we afford these things for teachers to teach with well the figures show that less than 1/4 of 1% of the education budget goes for media films film strips Etc and about a third of 1% goes for all other instructional materials excluding textbooks out of the whole school budget that's not much it's not enough a lot of people aren't happy with our schools these days and they're not happy paying taxes for something they don't approve of well we're a long way from perfect some schooling is pretty poor but there are also marvelous teachers and class classrooms full of learning and excitement good library books films film strips and other media are terribly important in creating this atmosphere of excitement for learning after all present day education is not just a quantity kind of emphasis it's quality it's got to have something to do with the child's entire life [Music]