Reflecting on a SAMR Assignments

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One lesson I remember from my own experiences as a student using technology comes from my eighth grade English class. I would consider this project as being on the redefinition rung of the SAMR ladder. For the assignment, we were asked to give a how-to speech. The teacher told us that she would keep the topic open to anything we wanted to do as long as it fulfilled a few basic requirements. I was a little worried about talking in front of my class for an extended time so I did a little differentiation on my own. At the same time that the English project was assigned, I also heard about a local photo contest that was going on. I do not remember a lot about the requirements for the photo contest but I remember a light bulb going off in my head: Could I find a way to connect the two projects together? I talked with my teacher and she approved of my idea. That next weekend, I went out to a creek near my house. I took with me my new point and shoot digital camera to start my project. After my mini photo shoot, I went straight to the computer to upload all the photos. I picked out my favorite one and began to edit it. At the time I thought it was really cool to change the color and properties with the simple photo editing software I had on my home computer. After a while, I was satisfied with my creation. The next week when it was time to give my demonstration speech, I was ready with my props. I opened my speech by telling the class about the photo contest and told them that I would teach them how to edit a photo. During the speech, I showed a video I had created of myself during the editing process. Since I had it pre-recorded I did not have to speak during that section which put me at ease. Up on the projector the class could watch my step by step process. Afterwards, I took out my final printed copy of the photo that I was going to submit to the contest and passed it around the classroom. I think that this specific project meets the criteria of using technology in a way we would otherwise not be able to do the same task. If I wasn’t allowed to use a digital camera or editing software I would not have been able to teach the class how to edit a photo.