The Power Of Media

How appropriate, as my students are studying the events leading up to the necessity of the Declaration of Independence, the NFL decides to collaborate with U.S. government to produce a video that reminds us all of this great document. The video above was broadcast prior to the beginning of the game letting us all know that the game itself, is what it is... a game. The real battle is in the pursuit for continued freedom predicated on the foundation of our country.

When reading the Declaration of Independence from the book, the impact was minimum. However, after showing this video to the class, the Declaration came to life for my students. The use of media in the classroom is a touchy subject, but how else are we going to make the learning relevant? Students have lost the desire to learn because educators have discontinued providing a real-life benefit to the knowledge gained. Along with that, educators have been so caught up into testing that they have forgotten to make learning directly applicable to the student's everyday situation in life. However, with the use of media in the classroom, what's happening in everyday life is available for viewing all over the social networks and general internet browsing. Why not use to bring engagement back into the classroom environment and get our students back. What do you think about that?