After reviewing a few videos, I ended up choosing a video from a kindergarten teacher that describes how she uses play in her classroom. This video contained many examples of how play can be used, and different activities students can do. This is not a video I would have my students watch, instead, use different activities the teacher created with my students. At such a young age my students do not need to see this video and understand why they play, they just need to be given the opportunity to play. As a result, learning will come naturally through play and they will not feel forced to make sure they are learning.
The activity that I would pick from the video to include in my classroom would be to have students visit a grocery store and recreate the grocery store in the class, making sure to practice the different character roles. What I could do to include students watching a video is to have students watch a video of people working at a grocery store. They could share ideas in a class discussion about the different things they noticed in the grocery store.
- How much work for you would that activity cause? Would the work be both manageable and worthwhile? Could the activity be scaled for larger numbers of students?
This is a great activity once it is built in the classroom to include in centers. Students can rotate to different centers and when it is their turn at the grocery store, they could act out the different roles and responsibilities at the grocery store. This activity could be scaled for a small group of students or the whole class. It depends on the size of the grocery store made, as well as, how many students participate in each role at once.
2. What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?
If students watch the video about working in a grocery store, they would need to take notes mentally of the different roles and responsibilities in a grocery store. Once the video is over students would need to participate in a think pair share with a peer sharing about the different roles and responsibilities seen in the grocery store. Then students would participate in a class discussion. Finally, students would take the ideas that they have listed and help turn a section of the classroom into a grocery store. Making the pieces needed in order to become a store.
3. How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?
This is an interesting question because students would not get detailed feedback on playing because every student plays differently. Instead, I could collect information on students’ understanding of the different roles and responsibilities that are in a grocery store and assess their understanding of this. I would assess students by observing their interactions with other students in the classroom grocery store, then pull students one on one and show them pictures of different roles in the grocery store. I would ask if they could name that role and what that person’s responsibilities would be. To share this assessment, I would post on the classroom blog/ learning portal a picture of the student playing in the grocery store and a description of what the student understands that contains a quote from what they told me.
4. How could the video have been designed to generate more or better activity from viewers or students?
I think this video should have a follow-up video(s) that goes into one activity in deeper meaning so the viewer can follow step by step how the teacher facilitated the activity in their classroom., from start to finish. It would have been nice to see students on the field trip, brainstorming ideas for the grocery store, making the grocery store, and playing in it. Then I could see some of the student’s growth in knowledge from the process.