Using Digital Media

Aah, digital media! A teacher's best friend. I really love the accessibility of digital media from the computer. How many times has something come up in a classroom that a film clip could explain more quickly and effectively than the teacher? It is the old saw come true: A picture is worth a thousand words. For example, as an "into" to the unit on Anne Frank and the Holocaust, we use a story called "Home Front" by Hazel A in the 8th grade at Jepson. In it, she explains what life was like during WWII, starting her hearing with shocking news of Pearl Harbor being attacked and ending with the demobilization after VJ day. I like to use it primarily to help them understand the concept of rationing, which was a pain in the keister for Americans, but nowhere nearly approached the suffering in Europe regarding food and other material shortages. I also tell them the story of my mother, who was around their ages at the time, having to have a crown put on without anesthesia. It took more that a few visits, as she could only bear the pain for about 15 minutes a visit (it takes roughly an hour just to grind the tooth down.) However, the idea of rationing, victory gardens, scrap drives, etc. is made so much clearer by film clips of that period. I just have to go to Ed1Stop and pull them up from the Discovery Channel, or I can do the same with Safari.