Friday, April 20, 2012
WK3 Reading
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wk2 Comments to Sahpreem's post
Original Post:http://www.gottagetsigned.com/2012/04/wk-2-reading-there-is-only-box-if-you.html
FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012
WK 2: Reading, “There is only a box if you build one”.
RIP George Carlin, Ph.D in Common Sense
The book The Art of Possibilities by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander is beyond fantastic. Although this book had nothing to do with creating media assets, it has everything to do with creating socially conscientious thinking assets. The authors clearly understand thank thinking is the stuff the universe is made of, which reminds of the Henry Ford quote, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.”
In the chapter, “Its all been invented”, the authors discuss the concept of thinking inside or outside the box. Personally, I have never bought into this concept because as a right-brained dominant learner who has struggled to achieve mediocrity in left-brained dominant academic arena, I have always wonder why I need to understand how I got from point A to point B, when the only think that was important was that I arrived? As an adult I find that I am working on multiple things at once and they are all out of linear order, but then again, this is own I think. Furthermore, with the increase in use of brainstorming or brain mapping as a viable catalyst of learning, I have witness a paradigm shift in education that has transcended beyond the outdated assembly line of academic practice and has rooted itself into the understanding that everyone learns using multiple intelligences and at their own pace. Merely implying that there is nothing new under the sun is a cop out because even though we live in the most technologically advance civilization in history, we still have not invented away provide everyone with an equal education.
In chapter 2, Stepping into a Universe of Possibility: We live in a world of measurements, the Zanders advocate that when we look at how different things appear we can see them as possibilities, which offers an age old perspective on keeping an open mind. When you change the things you think about, the things you think about change. When I think of this philosophy, I am reminded of the philosophy on why Muslim pray five times daily. If a man lives on a riverbank, it is difficult to remain dirty. From what I read in the Koran, Islamic practitioners pray five times a day to keep themselves free of sin throughout the day. The mind is a sponge and needs to absorb as much information as it can process. The things we see, experience, and visualize become pieces of our life’s puzzle, which shape the direction of our individual journey through life.
Chapter 3. Giving an A: Giving Yourself an A.
This argument is as old as the American education system is self and is worth the same in my opinion as a penny with a whole in it, worthless. For example, a student may study all night long take an exam an get an A, but when faced with an opportunity to apply the contents of the exam to a real situation, they folded like a cheap lawn chair. On the other hand, another student could study a few hours a day for weeks leading up the exam and only get a C, but can apply the information they have acquired in multiple situations. In my opinion, the entire academic evaluation system needs to be revisited.
Chapter 4 made an excellent point, what can I do to be contribution in the world today?
As Gandhi stated, “be the change you want to see in the world.” Simply put; if you want kindness, be kind. If you want love, give love. If we spend our lives in service to our fellow man, human beings would have a whole lot less to fight, argue, and complain about.
DrichardsApr 15, 2012 07:28 PM
Sahpreem,
I thought your post about giving an A from the reading The Art of Possibilities was great. When you stated the educational grading system is worthless and provided an example of a student studying one night and getting an A but could not apply it to a real life situation, but the student that makes a C on their test can apply the knowledge to real situations. I see the same thing everyday in my construction class. I have students that can take tests and make A’s all day long but when the class has to apply the same information to a hands-on project they have no clue where to start. In my class I try to off set this by making the test carry the same weight as projects. I know some students do not test well and I also know you need to know the materials and be able to apply that knowledge to a real life situation. If you know all the components required building a house but not the process to start building the house what good is it if you are suppose to build the house. That is like an old saying I once heard about the definition of a consultant. A consultant is someone that knows 101 ways to make love but does not know any women.
ReplyDelete
FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012
WK 2: Reading, “There is only a box if you build one”.
RIP George Carlin, Ph.D in Common Sense
The book The Art of Possibilities by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander is beyond fantastic. Although this book had nothing to do with creating media assets, it has everything to do with creating socially conscientious thinking assets. The authors clearly understand thank thinking is the stuff the universe is made of, which reminds of the Henry Ford quote, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.”
In the chapter, “Its all been invented”, the authors discuss the concept of thinking inside or outside the box. Personally, I have never bought into this concept because as a right-brained dominant learner who has struggled to achieve mediocrity in left-brained dominant academic arena, I have always wonder why I need to understand how I got from point A to point B, when the only think that was important was that I arrived? As an adult I find that I am working on multiple things at once and they are all out of linear order, but then again, this is own I think. Furthermore, with the increase in use of brainstorming or brain mapping as a viable catalyst of learning, I have witness a paradigm shift in education that has transcended beyond the outdated assembly line of academic practice and has rooted itself into the understanding that everyone learns using multiple intelligences and at their own pace. Merely implying that there is nothing new under the sun is a cop out because even though we live in the most technologically advance civilization in history, we still have not invented away provide everyone with an equal education.
In chapter 2, Stepping into a Universe of Possibility: We live in a world of measurements, the Zanders advocate that when we look at how different things appear we can see them as possibilities, which offers an age old perspective on keeping an open mind. When you change the things you think about, the things you think about change. When I think of this philosophy, I am reminded of the philosophy on why Muslim pray five times daily. If a man lives on a riverbank, it is difficult to remain dirty. From what I read in the Koran, Islamic practitioners pray five times a day to keep themselves free of sin throughout the day. The mind is a sponge and needs to absorb as much information as it can process. The things we see, experience, and visualize become pieces of our life’s puzzle, which shape the direction of our individual journey through life.
Chapter 3. Giving an A: Giving Yourself an A.
This argument is as old as the American education system is self and is worth the same in my opinion as a penny with a whole in it, worthless. For example, a student may study all night long take an exam an get an A, but when faced with an opportunity to apply the contents of the exam to a real situation, they folded like a cheap lawn chair. On the other hand, another student could study a few hours a day for weeks leading up the exam and only get a C, but can apply the information they have acquired in multiple situations. In my opinion, the entire academic evaluation system needs to be revisited.
Chapter 4 made an excellent point, what can I do to be contribution in the world today?
As Gandhi stated, “be the change you want to see in the world.” Simply put; if you want kindness, be kind. If you want love, give love. If we spend our lives in service to our fellow man, human beings would have a whole lot less to fight, argue, and complain about.
DrichardsApr 15, 2012 07:28 PM
Sahpreem,
I thought your post about giving an A from the reading The Art of Possibilities was great. When you stated the educational grading system is worthless and provided an example of a student studying one night and getting an A but could not apply it to a real life situation, but the student that makes a C on their test can apply the knowledge to real situations. I see the same thing everyday in my construction class. I have students that can take tests and make A’s all day long but when the class has to apply the same information to a hands-on project they have no clue where to start. In my class I try to off set this by making the test carry the same weight as projects. I know some students do not test well and I also know you need to know the materials and be able to apply that knowledge to a real life situation. If you know all the components required building a house but not the process to start building the house what good is it if you are suppose to build the house. That is like an old saying I once heard about the definition of a consultant. A consultant is someone that knows 101 ways to make love but does not know any women.
ReplyDelete
Friday, April 13, 2012
WK2 Comments to Amanda's blog
original post: http://experiencinglearning.blogspot.com/
WK 2 Leadership Project: Project or Presentation?
After we were first introduced to the concept of the leadership project, I began thinking about how I will share with others the overall aspects my CBR project. I decided that the best way I could do this was to publish my findings. It would be ideal to get my work published with Edutopia. I find Edutopia to be such an amazing and beneficial website that supports transforming education by providing ideas, tips, and offering 21st century teaching skills that are applicable in the classroom.
Posted by Amanda Castaneda at 7:03 PM
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1 comments:
DrichardsApr 13, 2012 05:37 AM
Amanda,
After working with you on group projects over the course of the EMDT I think with your writing skills publishing is a great choice. It would be great to see your CBR project published in Edutopia. I agree that Edutopia is an amazing and beneficial website that supports education. On the other hand I also believe you would be great at presenting. I think with your strengths you could publish or present. I think my only choice was to present because writing is not my favorite thing to do.
WK 2 Leadership Project: Project or Presentation?
After we were first introduced to the concept of the leadership project, I began thinking about how I will share with others the overall aspects my CBR project. I decided that the best way I could do this was to publish my findings. It would be ideal to get my work published with Edutopia. I find Edutopia to be such an amazing and beneficial website that supports transforming education by providing ideas, tips, and offering 21st century teaching skills that are applicable in the classroom.
Posted by Amanda Castaneda at 7:03 PM
Email This
BlogThis!
Share to Twitter
Share to Facebook
1 comments:
DrichardsApr 13, 2012 05:37 AM
Amanda,
After working with you on group projects over the course of the EMDT I think with your writing skills publishing is a great choice. It would be great to see your CBR project published in Edutopia. I agree that Edutopia is an amazing and beneficial website that supports education. On the other hand I also believe you would be great at presenting. I think with your strengths you could publish or present. I think my only choice was to present because writing is not my favorite thing to do.
WK2 Comments to Michael's blog
Original post: http://macedm613.blogspot.com/
APR
10
Week 2: To Publish or Present?
Decisions, decisions...
The decision whether to publish my Capstone/CBR project as an article or present it at a conference or training was an easy one for me to make. I believe that speaking is one of my strengths, and though I'm an adequate writer, I believe that I am much more effective in conveying thoughts when speaking in person. In addition, I can make my work and research come alive more effectively through direct interaction with the audience.
Speaking of interaction, I would probably have the audience demonstrate my work as I present the information, creating a challenge to find solutions to in the midst of the presentation, then help them see what they have done at the end of the presentation. I might leave some breadcrumbs for the audience to follow though, as adult minds tend to be a bit more challenging to change and adapt than those of 10 year olds, in my honest opinion. I’m certainly going to integrate all of the various things that I’ve learned over the course of the EMDT program and attempt to demonstrate how the Challenge-Based Learning approach can be transformational in the classroom and for the students, even in the music/band classroom that can, at times, be very resistant to change.
Posted 2 days ago by Michael
Labels: CBR present speaking leadership audience publish
Michael,
My decision to publish or present came easy to me also because I believe my strength is in speaking too. I think it is great how you talk about making your research come alive through interaction with the audience. Expressing your passion about what you are presenting makes all the difference in the world between good presentation and a great presentation. Implementing all the various things learned over the course of the EMDT program will make your presentation even better.
I agree that adult minds are more resistant to change than young students.
APR
10
Week 2: To Publish or Present?
Decisions, decisions...
The decision whether to publish my Capstone/CBR project as an article or present it at a conference or training was an easy one for me to make. I believe that speaking is one of my strengths, and though I'm an adequate writer, I believe that I am much more effective in conveying thoughts when speaking in person. In addition, I can make my work and research come alive more effectively through direct interaction with the audience.
Speaking of interaction, I would probably have the audience demonstrate my work as I present the information, creating a challenge to find solutions to in the midst of the presentation, then help them see what they have done at the end of the presentation. I might leave some breadcrumbs for the audience to follow though, as adult minds tend to be a bit more challenging to change and adapt than those of 10 year olds, in my honest opinion. I’m certainly going to integrate all of the various things that I’ve learned over the course of the EMDT program and attempt to demonstrate how the Challenge-Based Learning approach can be transformational in the classroom and for the students, even in the music/band classroom that can, at times, be very resistant to change.
Posted 2 days ago by Michael
Labels: CBR present speaking leadership audience publish
Michael,
My decision to publish or present came easy to me also because I believe my strength is in speaking too. I think it is great how you talk about making your research come alive through interaction with the audience. Expressing your passion about what you are presenting makes all the difference in the world between good presentation and a great presentation. Implementing all the various things learned over the course of the EMDT program will make your presentation even better.
I agree that adult minds are more resistant to change than young students.
WK2 Leadership Project: Publish or Presentation
I have thought about publishing my project but after thinking about the conferences that I attend each year GACTE and TIEGA winter conference. I have listened to different ideas of presenters on a variety of topics but have never heard any that relates to my CBR. I usually attend sessions about construction classes and rarely ever had any talk about implementing technology or implementing a Learning Management System (LMS) into the construction program. I would like to have the opportunity to present my ideas and findings to other teachers in a construction program. I believe presenting would be better because I could have questions and answer/discussions about implementing technology/LMS into a construction program. I believe having the opportunity for discussion would help get the message across. I believe I like the idea of presentation better in with my CBR than having my CBR published.
I found a conference that is interesting and that would be great to present my project. The Georgia Educational Technology Conference (GAETC) and they are looking for presenters in the area of emerging technology for education.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coreytempleton/3494442525
Thursday, April 12, 2012
WK2 Wimba
Wimba was about our reading from week one copyright. Covering the copyright reading and taking a quiz on various parts including basic copyright, Fair Use and Creative Commons. Professor Bustillo stated that the quiz responses did not show who made each one. I thought about this weeks reading and the fact that professor Bustillo took away our fear of failure because he was grading the quiz. By taking away the fear of failure it makes it easier to answer the questions.
I thought the discussions during Wimba were great. Dwayne commented about the movie RIP Remix manifesto that was also about copyright. He stated it was a good movie and the artist Girl talk who was in it was also in Good Copy Bad Copy.
Dwayne also had a great idea about blanket coverage for education. I think that would be great for schools and teachers. Artist would get additional recognition from more people id additional teachers could use their work in class. I think teachers and schools would benefit from this idea because some teachers either chooses to ignore or do not truly understand copyright laws. I know that teachers show complete movies in class and do not think it is wrong. This same act was mentioned in Wimba and I would be surprised if everyone in our class knew it was a violation of copyright laws.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/2762543380
Friday, April 6, 2012
WK2 Reading Entry
In Zander’s book The Art of Possibility, a couple of things caught my attention. Notes on practicing, Roz tells a story about her first white water rafting trip and the guide educating everyone about what to do if you fall out of the boat. The guide kept repeating toes to nose and look for the boat. It reminded me of my boss, Mr. Williams, telling our department staff to sell your program. He said it over and over in our department meetings. About the time the economy went south, the Georgia Department of Education changed the name of my introduction to construction class to Occupational Safety and Fundamentals. My first thought was what high school student would sign up for a class with that name. I thought about it for a few minutes knowing that to keep a CTAE Program alive you had to have numbers. My numbers were always high because my class was easy to recognize by the name until now. Then I could hear Mr. Williams say you have to sell your program. I began to sell my program by talking about what the new class would offer. I had to re-call the catch phrase that Mr. Williams had provided to me in advance.
Giving an A and taking away the fear of making mistakes would benefit my students. I remember back to my first construction job. I ran a crew for a small company remolding offices. My boss had a saying if you get into a situation and was unsure about what to do, he would say do the best you can with what you got. He also gave me an A from the start. He said to always make a decision and go with it and if it’s wrong we will fix it later. He said it was better to make a decision right or wrong than to just sit around and not do anything. I think as teachers we need to do the same for our students. I think if we provide for students with a learning environment free from the fear of making mistakes student learning will increase. I think sometimes teachers hold back students from learning because of the fear of failure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheesy42/1874677681
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