Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blog Post #10

An Open Letter To Educators

In her blog post, Morgan Bayda wrote her reaction to an ingenious video by Dan Brown, a student who dropped out of school because he claimed his "schooling was interfering with his education." She agrees with many of Dan Brown's opinions and voices that she too has felt cheated by universities in the manner they consume your money with textbooks and seemingly useless lecture courses. While she does says she wouldn't have dropped out of school, she is proud to admit that she also wishes to accept the inevitable change that is currently dawning on us, which is also inescapable.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Summary Post C4T #3

My comment was for Jerrid W. Kruse, a teacher, writer, editor and researcher. His first post that I commented on, "Pseudoteaching with Demos," was about his concern that many teachers and other individuals use demos for science classes and the like, which is, in and of itself, a good thing, but far too often the sole idea of these demos is essentially a form of entertainment, and falls short of any lesson learned. He says these demos have a 'whiz-bang' factor, which of course students are drawn to, but what else do children take from it? That is the question with which Jerrid is concerned.
In my response I told him that I greatly admire the fact that he stated entertainment is not equivalent to engaging, and that we as teachers or teachers-to-be should be readily prepared to differentiate between the two in any given circumstance. I told Jerrid that often I create in my amigination scenarios in which I am teaching the class, and all too often I fail to emphasize the importance of education, and instead emphasize that 'fun-factor' we've grown too accustomed to nowadays. As Jerrid said, we can't let students fall into the habit of wanting to learn only when 'fun' is promised.

My second comment for Jerrid W. Kruse was on his blog post "Edcamp should not be a conference," in which he described something called Edcamp, a conference where essentially a lot of teachers gather together to formulate ideas on how to learn and teach, but not in the same rigid format which people are more often used to. Jerrid said "What I see here is what classrooms & faculty meetings should be like," after explaining that people attending Edcamp aren't acting as "experts" which, in my opinion, is how conferences should be conducted: more layed back and not as stiff, so that creativity can be more easily shared amongst attendees. I told Jerrid that my sister, who is currently doing her student-teaching and will graduate this semester, recently attended a conference which she described as the complete opposite of what Edcamp sounds like: dull, rigid and dragged out, as apposed to Edcamp's laid-back approach, which to me seems more productive.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Blog Post 9

What I've Learned This Year

Mr McClung's post, "What I've Learned This Year," is a list of tips for first-time teachers, or, in fact, teachers in general. Mr. McClung himself had only taught for a year when he had written this post, and decided to pass on his newfound knowledge to others. He spoke of how we as teachers need to realize that how we plan a lesson is going to be very different than what the lesson actually turns out to be. We need to be flexible as teachers and allow students to be a part of our lessons as well. Mr. McClung mentioned that first-time teachers put far too much emphasis on the lesson itself, instead of on the students, who are the most important. Without the students, what good is the lesson, no matter how fantastically it is prepared? Also, Mr. McClung mentioned in his blog post that one of the main ways students know that the teacher respects them is if the teacher listens to thier input. Students want to feel like they're part of the lesson, which is how it should be. They are the whole reason why we are up there teaching in the first place!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Summary Post C4K #'s 4-6

C4K #4

This was a comment on James' blog at Pt. England School in Aucklund, New Zealand. He is in Mr. Barks' class in Room 18. His post was a picture of Goku, a character from an animated fighting series called Dragon Ball Z. I admitted to James that I did not know much about Dragon Ball Z or Goku, so I consulted a website called Dragon Ball Wiki in order to conduct some research. I informed James that I found out, through the aid of the website, that Goku is the protagonist in the Dragon Ball Z series, trains intensely to become a heroic figure, and keeps peace. I told James that this Goku character sounded like a very admirable figure, and finally, I thanked James for his post.

C4K #5

This was another comment for James. James' blog post was about Tarantulas. He wrote of how they move softly and silently through the desert in search of their prey. James also wrote that the spider can sense its prey from a meter away, then injects its victim with poison from its fangs which are two centimeters long. Through all of this James was a very good writer, making everything sound interesting, scientific as well as entertaining.

In my response to James' post, after introducing myself, I told him that I thought spiders, especially tarantulas, are fascinating creatures. I wrote how in nature shows the viewers see the spider lurking in the shadows, awaiting its victim, when all at once, before the audience or prey even has the remotest time to act, the spider lunges forward and claims its victim. I thanked him for his post and informed him that I often research spiders because they're so interesting to me, and that because of his post I would be researching a bit more.

C4K #6

This comment was for a video post done by students in room 8 at Melville Intermediate School. It was a series of two videos, the assignment being for the children to create a slideshow which featured 4 sets of 5 pictures, with themes being the Library, around Melville, Odd and Students of MIS. The students completed the assignment wonderfully, with interesting and very well-taken pictures from the aforementioned themes.

In my response, after introducing myself, I explained to them that I've always enjoyed learning visually and auditorily, and their videos stimulated my senses of sight and hearing. I actually danced to the catchy music they chose, and was quite awestruck, in fact, at a number of the pictures these young students took; they were of very good quality, a quality I am sure even skilled photographers could have captured at such a young age.



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

SmartBoard Project #13



Questions on our Smartboard Form:
1)      Did the group as a whole cover the mypyramid categories effectively? On a scale of 1-5, all 3 participants answered 5.
2)      Was the presentation content easy to understand? All 3 participants answered yes.
3)      Did the speakers feel comfortable teaching the topic? On a scale of 1-5, 2 participants answered 5 and the other answered 4.
4)      Was the speakers’ volumes good enough? All 3 participants answered yes.
5)      Were all food categories discussed in the lesson? All 3 participants answered yes.
6)      What were your favorite parts of the lesson? 2 participants said animation, the other said content and animation.
7)      Did the animation contribute to the overall presentation? All 3 participants answered yes.
8)      Any way(s) that we can improve this lesson? Great job! I think the lesson was extremely effective! I think the lesson was great and didn’t need any work! I don't think you needed to learn the lesson. You came up with a fun, easy to understand lesson. I learned some stuff that I didn't know before. Great job!!
9)      Would you use this lesson in your own classroom? All 3 participants answered yes.

Blog Post # 8

Watch Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2



I am going to be honest and say that I, personally, am not very keen on writing with multimedia. That is, of course, in the style of writing I most wish to produce. I'm currently working on a novel and, while I do use microsoft word to type it up (I loath with a passion writing by hand anything longer than a few pages), I am intending on publishing it (if I do get blessed enough to do so) the good old-fashioned way: a nice, hardcopy edition distributed into bookstores and the like. I would much prefer that than an entire novel of my own available only on the internet. I can't explain it to the degree with which you as readers of this blog post wish to understand, but I will say this: there will be nothing more satisfying than picking up a hardcopy of a book published by yours truly and gently turning each individual and touchable page. I'm not trying to be smug here at all; in fact, if I were to publish a book and become famous, I'd without a doubt hide from sight and wear sunglasses, hat and hoodie wherever I went. I'm just saying that I prefer reading entire novels in hardcopy form rather than on a screen. As you're reading this, you may think I missed the point of this presentation.


So allow me to switch gears. Writing a novel, that is, is something different. Let me talk about writing other things with multimedia. I love the idea! It's not just about text; visuals, audio and much more can be utilized when using multimedia. I really enjoy writing some of these blog posts; they're challenging, cause me to think and do research extensively. My personal opinion regarding writing with multimedia (other than a novel) is that it is a great experience and helps build the bridge from what we used to do to what we'll be able to do in the future.

 The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies


EDM310 for Dummies and (especially) The Chipper Series had me laughing. The Chipper Series is essentially about a girl (Chipper) who believes that by procrastinating she can still manage to pass Dr. Strange's Class. Dr. Strange explains that work can only be submitted on time if full credit is wished to be recieve, so Chipper does anything and everything in her power to do what she wants. She tries to re-invent the definition of procrastinate so that, instead of meaning waiting until the last minute, it means waiting until after the deadline. She even tries to persaude Dr. Strange that she can see the future! All of this is to no avail, for the only way life goes smoothly is to plan your time wisely so that you don't procrastinate or submit late work. EDM310 for dummies concerns the frustration that ensues when things like twitter, skype and google docs doesn't come easily to you. In this video there is a promotion for a book (unfortunately one you can't actually buy) that helps in aiding the wondering and clueless student.


A video that I would enjoy promoting or being a part of would be would be a step-by-step instructional how-to lecture for EDM310, but approached in the way the RSA Animate videos are. 


Learn to Change, Change to Learn


I like the music in this video. Alright let's get to what's more important.


At the very end, when the insightful fellow said "It's the death of education, but it's the dawn of learning" pulled at me in some way. By that I assume he meant that the traditional styles of teaching and administering knowledgeable information to students will, before long, be a relic of a time gone by. That will be replaced by what the people in this video are a vouching for: a community of individuals, both students and teachers, formulating together and giving and recieving knowledge. All of this is very insightful, and it really makes me wonder what schools will look like when my children are students, and when their children are students. Will we have schools anymore? Will the definition of 'school' be entirely re-invented? Will we have an actual 'building' where students come together to learn from teachers? I don't know, I don't know. We as a society are always apprehensive when it comes to change. But we need to embrace that change, and go where the wind takes us.

Zambardo The surprising truth about what motivates us

The Secret Powers of Time instills within its audience the idea that time has changed, and with it, so should our take on how we aproach students with a particular form of education. Childrens' brains are being re-wired because of the re-wiring of technological media. There needs to be some re-wiring associated with our aproach as individuals, whether already a teacher or aspiring to be one.
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates us was extremely ensightful. The presentation explained that, if you have a high incentive for mechanical skills, performance increases, but a higher incentive for cognative skills results in a fall in performance, which I thought was particularly interesting. When people think something is work, no matter how much pay they recive, it's still work, so performance is naturally not going to be the best. That's why I didn't think it too odd when I found out, by this presentation, that people were willing to share their expertise, at perhaps even better performance than if they were working for money, for absolutely no pay. Sounds crazy, right? Not really. Because the idea is their own, they have control, therefore more incentive to creat something that exceeds our expectations, even if they aren't getting payed.


Thursday, March 3, 2011

Post 1st Progress Report on PLN Project #10

PLN

This is incredible! So far I haven't done much, but I can tell in the near future I'll be expanding and utilizing my PLN extensively! Currently, I have signed up for an account on one of the two recommended accounts, 'Symbaloo.' From there it was relatively easy to get a start on it; the tour was easy to understand, and all of the little links were fascinating. It was interesting seeing what 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' looks like on a smaller feed. So far I've allowed my Symbaloo sight access to my accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Gmail, and Email, as well as reset the weather icon from its default location (New York) to Mobile, Alabama. How wonderful it's going to be to check the weather or the news on CNN with just a click of a button on the same webpage!

Short Movie Project #11

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

My heart was beating faster than normal as Randy Pausch's astounding last lecture came to a close, with so many things resounding in my head. I want to do better. I want to be better. And not for the good of myself.


But this Blog Post isn't about that. It's about the techniques Mr. Pausch used in his lecture. Here is not where I say "Well, he used a powerpoint and some visuals..." No. The first technique of his that stood out to me was his organization. Now, when I say that, think of an ordinary conversation between you and your friends. Not your aqauintances. Your friends, and while we're imagining, imagine your best friends. The conversation is rather flee-flowing, correct? None of it seems planned or premeditated; the talking simply happens. It's natural, as all conversations between friends should be. Likewise, Randy Pausch's speech is natural. Yes, we know he's conversing with an audience and not his best friends, and yes, we know that his speech is in fact premediated. Notwithstanding, he presents it in a fashion that appears flee-flowing and natural, which is how speeches and lectures should be conducted. There's no stiffness. Yes, he stumbles here and there with a word or two... but who doesn't? The thing is, we don't concentrate on that. He picks himself right up and keeps going.

From the aforementioned we can assume that Randy Pausch did a lot of planning, which is another technique behind his wondrous lecture. Although everythinjg seems natural, the slides, pictures, stories and examples are there for a reason. He didn't just present them in his presentation in the order which he located them or thought of them. Everything in a lecture must planned and exact. It's not an accident.

A third technique of Randy Pausch's is his confidence. Yes, he is a college professor with years upon years of public-speaking experience under his belt, and yes he has numerous friends, and yes he is exuberant, funny, entertaining, likeable... wait a minute. Did he get like this over night? No. He spoke. You know, I must interject here that to do good things does not take rocket science. How do writers write so well? They write. How to do runners run so well? They run. How do speakers speak so well? They speak. If you want to gain confidence with speaking... the answer's simple. Speak! Get in front of a mirror, your brother, sister, best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, puppy, etc. And speak. You will gain confidence. Randy Pausch has confidence, not because he was born with far more than just adequate speaking skills, but because he did it time and time again. We all want to listen to a confident person.

And lastly, I want to mention one more technique Randy Pausch used. He made us think. Think about brick walls, think about that "the best of the gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap," and that being valuable is being good at something. He didn't just spoon-feed us a lot of statistics, graphs and facts. He made us really think, which is what a lot of our assignments in EDM310 are stressing for us to learn how to teach our students. We don't want them to just know things. Anybody can know something. We want them to come up with their own revelations and ideas.

One more thing I'd like to mention. I have a childhood dream of my own. It's to write a book and get it published. Ever since I was a small child I wrote, whether it was a five-page book about pancakes (then spelled 'payunkayks' by yours truly) when I was 5, a 100-page book when I was 14, and now a work-in-progress-novel which is currently over 70,000 words long. It's speeches like Randy Pausch's which make my dream seem a little less like a dream, and more like a reality. Thank you Randy.