Television and Education: Shows that Inspire Classroom Lessons - Recap
When I was selected to present at the ISTE 2014 Opening Ignite, I was shocked. I, Amanda, was selected to present alongside very talented, educated, Twitter famous individuals? This had to be a mistake. I mean, I had 42 followers at the time... and even my biography that I submitted to the committee said something along the lines of, "I'm totally new at this." It was a disaster waiting to happen, but then, a miracle happened --
I did it.
And, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life!
Below you will find a transcript of my presentation... in case you missed anything. If you have any questions, you can find message me on Twitter (@futuretvwriter) or shoot an email to [email protected].
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Most people don’t think television and education go together, and maybe they don’t. At least not in a typical peanut butter and jelly kind of way. But, let’s not think typical. Typical is boring, and we don’t have time for boring. So, let’s open our minds, get creative, and have some fun!
Try taking the number of weeks in your semester or year and counting down – 24-style. Incorporate weekly missions that fit with your curriculum. Accomplish a mission? Unlock classroom rewards. End weeks off on a cliffhanger to build excitement for Monday.
Dog with a Blog showcases personification, but it also promotes blogging. But, why have your students write a blog as themselves when they can be a famous historical figure or animal? It will require some research, but it’s a change of pace from a standard essay!
The show Numb3rs featured some great examples of using math in real-life, so maybe students will stop asking “when am I ever going to use this?!” Navigate to the Google Docs document on the PowerPoint for episode-based classroom activities.
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon features hashtag Wednesday. This fun approach can easily be added to a classroom. Just create thought-provoking hashtags like #whatmakesushuman and have your students add their voice to the conversation.
As a student, I walked into class one day and saw crime scene tape up and a dead body outlined on the floor. It was like an episode of CSI. It turned out to be an assignment where we analyzed evidence, only to discover our victim died of a virus… which, ironically, was our next lesson.
Psych and The Mentalist are all about fake psychics, so give your students a third eye and use augmented reality to make them feel like they have psychic powers too. Using an AR app, such as Layar, hang pictures around the room that reveal clues to solve a complex problem.
Phineas and Ferb is about brothers who conduct insane experiments all summer. Not all experiments can be duplicated, but there are science concepts and lessons explored in many episodes. Books are also available with experiment ideas that may excite the younger scientist.
Hannibal features strong symbolism examples, which are perfect for the older student to examine. Have them dive into social media to see what others are saying and how they interpret the symbolism. Then, discuss why these symbols are interpreted differently by different people.
How I Met Your Mother provides a unique way of storytelling… it’s a love story in reverse. Encourage student to write their own reverse stories. How I won first place? How I aced the test? Students can use digital storytelling apps to create and share their final story.
What Would You Do is a question asked in this series and is great for sociology classes. For a college class experiment, I once dressed in a robe and grandma’s wig and sang around campus. The campus police thought I escaped from a mental hospital. Awkward, maybe, but a valuable learning experience.
SpongeBob SquarePants is famous for jellyfishing – a hobby similar to butterfly catching. For a fun classroom activity, teachers can create paper jellyfish with questions. Catch a question? Answer it. To blow the jellyfish around, check out the Hasbro game, “Elefun.”
Quantum Leap your students into a period of time. Perfect for history classes. Use videos, pictures, and sounds to send your students to a different time, and then use GoSoapBox to have your students respond with where they think they’re at.
Much like the news, have your students virtually bring in an interviewee and interview them on the spot via Skype. It’s a lot more fun than using a tape recorder, which not to sound too much like an AT&T commercial, but back in my day is what we had to do!
Games like Jeopardy are usually used in classrooms, but they start to phase out in older grades. I once created my own game in which I developed pictures of pig organs. The photo guy thinks I’m crazy, but I aced the test. Moral of the story: Stop the embarrassment. Play Jeopardy in class.
Shows like the Americans and Game of Thrones are two more hit shows but how historically accurate are they? Have your students do some research and put together a presentation with their findings. Who says pop culture and education don’t mix?
What would your students say to next year’s students if they had a chance? Similar to Good Luck Charlie vlogs, try having students make their own vlogs that contain advice about how they succeeded in the class. Vlogs can be shown to next year students, preparing them for the school year.
The Amazing Race is one of those reality shows that breaks the stereotype of horrible reality TV and can actually be educational. You can implement your own classroom Amazing Race or have your students design a project based on their favorite destination using apps like TouchCast or Doceri.
iCarly set a standard for tech-savvy kids. Students can create web shows around a specific topic or design a “pear phone” and place items inside of it that best represent them. And, of course, if students are sleepy, you can always wake them up with some “Random Dancing.”
Well, that’s all the time I have. I’d like to leave you off with a quote by Nicholas Johnson, former FCC commissioner and professor at the University of Iowa who once said, “All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?”
