Brian Deyo's Professional Portfolio
Reflection for Standard 4 Communication
4. Communication - Communicate clearly to achieve professional goals using visual and verbal modes to explain and persuade.
561 New Student Orientation Video
Reflection on Communication Work Product
At the time of this project, I was enrolled in EDTEC 561 with Dr. Hoffman and I had just begun my new job as an Adult School Computer Applications Teacher. The structure of the class was individualized instruction and enrollment was open to the public throughout the semester. These two conditions of my classroom would result in me taking 15 to 20 minutes to explain classroom rules and procedures repeatedly to every new student that arrived. At the same time, a mountain of questions would arise from the other students in the class. I could never properly orient the new student without interruptions from the other students. I had to come up with a series of activities to best orient the new students while I could still attend to the rest of the students in my class. The product that I created was a new student orientation video. This became the first activity in my series of new student orientation classroom activities.
The EDTEC standard I am demonstrating with this project involves communicating clearly to achieve professional goals using visual and verbal modes to explain and persuade. This video was designed to clearly explain the classroom rules and procedures to new students. I used my digital video camera to shoot the video footage and the computer program, iMovie, to edit my orientation video. In the video, I was able to visually demonstrate the appropriate classroom behavior for the students. Once the students saw me in the video, they knew that I was serious about my classroom and that I had the technical skill to create such a product. The video gave me instant credibility with the students and that helped me persuade the students to model the desired classroom behaviors.
One problem that arose during this project was the lack of help I could find in shooting the footage. None of my friends would play the student for me. I had to come up with a way to act out both parts and still give the appearance of two separate characters. I decided to dress the teacher in blue with glasses and dress the student in red with a baseball cap on backwards. I also changed the voice of the student to contrast my natural voice I used as the teacher. This experience taught me to look within myself to create innovative solutions when no outside help was available. I learned to do the best that I can with what I’m given no matter the circumstance.
I feel that this work demonstrated my ability to look for innovative solutions within myself. I can be very creative when pressed to do so. I also showed myself that I can be successful when no other people are willing to help me. This project was an example of my multimedia talents. I know that I can plan out a video script, storyboard it, get the shots, and make a polished final product. Even though this video solution is usually cost prohibitive for most clients, I know that if given the opportunity with such a project that I can be very successful.