NEWSDAY IN EDUCATION / MIDDLE COUNTRY TEACHER CENTER

Lesson #7

In-service Course

Ben Amato | Newfield HIgh School

Understanding is the goal of all educational pursuits. But along with "enlightenment" come skills. There are ways to give students the intellectual tools they need to better comprehend the world around them and their future place in it. Multimedia lesson number 7 focuses upon the ways video and audio resources can help students with listening, visual and critical thinking skills. By using the Internet, videotape recorders and DVDs, the Multimedia approach can enhance the classroom experience and help students see the world around them.

We learn about the world through experience, our relations with others and the various mass media outlets we choose to pay attention to. Some see the world through the newspapers, while others utilize television news to provide them with a "better" picture. Still others gain understanding through the radio, the movies or literature. Music also affects our outlook on life and the society we live in. These resources have a place in our classroom and their role should be to help students understand better, deeper and on a more personal level.

The NIE Multimedia lesson this week centers on a near disaster. An entire family was almost killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. The Multimedia lesson is located at this address: http://www.newsday.com/about/custom/nie/ny-lesson_11304.story. The article, though compelling, did not have the same effect as watching the video. The house and the victims made it clear that something like this could, and sometimes does, happen in many Long Island neighborhoods. The deaths in Connecticut drives home the point that carbon monoxide kills.

On the ASSIGNMENT PAGE, you will be asked to explore the Internet for resources that will help educate students to the dangers of carbon monoxide. The treasures you find will open your eyes, and ears, to the resources available daily that can make your classrooms a sensory experience that helps students understand their world better.