After learning about learning networks, we actually had to join one and get in on the action. I'm not gonna lie, I was not very excited about having to engage with someone I didn't know. For one, I felt that since I wasn't a teacher, some of the net workers wouldn't really be interested in what I had to say. Also, I had this fear of doing something new and going out of my comfort zone. When I realized I was just being stupid and lazy, I decided to join the Classroom 2.0 site. This site seemed to be strictly for education and required approval from the site owners to gain access.
When I joined the site I made sure to put up a profile picture and put a little bit of information about what I was doing on the website. I didn't know exactly where to start when it came to conversing with the other teachers so I put that part off for a day or 2. When I finally went back on the site, I started reading some of the other conversations that teachers had been posting to the forums. Some of the discussions were very interesting, but I wasn't sure if I had enough expertise to give back any good feedback. I quickly came across a posting about a teacher asking if she thought that Facebook could be a useful tool for education. I got really excited and immediately replied. I told her about our Art Show project and how Facebook, so far, has been the best mode of communication for the students. I haven't received any replies back yet, but when I do, I'll have to comment back on this post.
Overall, I think that Classroom 2.0 is an excellent way to increase your learning networks. It still amazes me what we can do with technology and how we can use it in such a positive way to enhance our learning and communication. I can speak to a teacher from half way across the world and share ideas and collaborate. When I have a problem trying to create a difficult lesson plan, or am having trouble trying to reach a difficult student, I can post my troubles online and another teacher with a great idea can post back to me and offer advice on how to deal with these problems. Yay!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Social Action and Communication Skills
Today I am reading about social action and the importance of communication skills for effective social action. My response to the video and presentation are below the activity.
Activity:
3 Social Action Related Site:
1. http://www.dosomething.org/
This site would be appropriate for high school students and higher levels of middle schools. This site encourages teens to get involved in real world causes. This would be a good site for maybe a history teacher, who is teaching about social injustice. The teacher could have students use this site to find ways to help fight the repercussions of social injustices they have learned about.
2. http://redblueamerica.com/
This website could be used in a high school history or government class. Students could relate the history of government to what is going on the government currently. This site would allow them to view both viewpoints of a debate.
3. http://www.greenbin.com/
This site could be useful for high school students. Students in a science class could do a research project where they find an idea that someone posts about how to be green and then research the validity of if this "green idea" would really work and why and how it would work.
Communication Skills related Site:
1. http://www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/improve-communication-skills.html
This site could be useful for high school and college students. It is a site to help students improve their communication skills. An English or speech class could use this sites communication exercises to learn and become more confident with their communication.
2. http://www.communication-skills.info/
This site could be used for high schoolers and college students to learn how to communicate effectively.
3. http://www.kidscom.com/
This blog could be used for elementary school students. This site allows kids to chat with other kids in a safe environment. They could practice their communication skills online while playing games with other students.
Reflections:
Here are my thoughts on a video of Tony Robins:
What Skills being demonstrated? Tony is an extremely gifted speaker that immediately drew me in to what he was saying. I was watching the video in the morning and was certain I was going to fall asleep if I was going to try and watch it, but I didn't because he was such a good speaker. He basically used all of the skills of effective speaking, especially taking command of his message and doing so with passion.
Is he acknowledging differences? Yes, he acknowledged several types of differences in his examples. He often used examples which could apply to a borad spectrum of people who think and feel differently.
Is he being assertive? He was very assertive and confident in his speaking. That is definitely what drew me in to listen. He used creativity and humor to get people's attention, which I really enjoyed.
Is he sharing his feelings? He shared his feelings about how important this message was to him and how it has personally affected him in his own life. What really stood out to me was his idea that strangers DO care about you, so you should care about them.
Is he aware of the information that is "coming in"? He was aware of incoming information. He made real world connections with 9/11 and he made use of Al Gore being in the audience to play into his ideas.
Is he being concise, clear, and providing specific details supported by concrete examples? He was very clear and concise. He didn't try to over complicate what he was saying. He just made some very simple points with very strong examples to help visualize what he was saying. He made all of his examples relatable to audience members.
I then watched a presentation by Simon Jones about using technology to communicate effectively. More specifically he addressed slide presentations. I agreed with most of what he was saying as far as not putting too much information on a slide and using repetition when necessary. I was not sure about his ideas on not using bullet points. I use bullet points in personal work when studying because I am comfortable with them. His reason for not using them was because students quickly tire of them. I think bullets can be used in moderation, especially when making a point. For me, having a bulleted form, or outlined form, better helps me to organize the incoming information in my brain.
Activity:
3 Social Action Related Site:
1. http://www.dosomething.org/
This site would be appropriate for high school students and higher levels of middle schools. This site encourages teens to get involved in real world causes. This would be a good site for maybe a history teacher, who is teaching about social injustice. The teacher could have students use this site to find ways to help fight the repercussions of social injustices they have learned about.
2. http://redblueamerica.com/
This website could be used in a high school history or government class. Students could relate the history of government to what is going on the government currently. This site would allow them to view both viewpoints of a debate.
3. http://www.greenbin.com/
This site could be useful for high school students. Students in a science class could do a research project where they find an idea that someone posts about how to be green and then research the validity of if this "green idea" would really work and why and how it would work.
Communication Skills related Site:
1. http://www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/improve-communication-skills.html
This site could be useful for high school and college students. It is a site to help students improve their communication skills. An English or speech class could use this sites communication exercises to learn and become more confident with their communication.
2. http://www.communication-skills.info/
This site could be used for high schoolers and college students to learn how to communicate effectively.
3. http://www.kidscom.com/
This blog could be used for elementary school students. This site allows kids to chat with other kids in a safe environment. They could practice their communication skills online while playing games with other students.
Reflections:
Here are my thoughts on a video of Tony Robins:
What Skills being demonstrated? Tony is an extremely gifted speaker that immediately drew me in to what he was saying. I was watching the video in the morning and was certain I was going to fall asleep if I was going to try and watch it, but I didn't because he was such a good speaker. He basically used all of the skills of effective speaking, especially taking command of his message and doing so with passion.
Is he acknowledging differences? Yes, he acknowledged several types of differences in his examples. He often used examples which could apply to a borad spectrum of people who think and feel differently.
Is he being assertive? He was very assertive and confident in his speaking. That is definitely what drew me in to listen. He used creativity and humor to get people's attention, which I really enjoyed.
Is he sharing his feelings? He shared his feelings about how important this message was to him and how it has personally affected him in his own life. What really stood out to me was his idea that strangers DO care about you, so you should care about them.
Is he aware of the information that is "coming in"? He was aware of incoming information. He made real world connections with 9/11 and he made use of Al Gore being in the audience to play into his ideas.
Is he being concise, clear, and providing specific details supported by concrete examples? He was very clear and concise. He didn't try to over complicate what he was saying. He just made some very simple points with very strong examples to help visualize what he was saying. He made all of his examples relatable to audience members.
I then watched a presentation by Simon Jones about using technology to communicate effectively. More specifically he addressed slide presentations. I agreed with most of what he was saying as far as not putting too much information on a slide and using repetition when necessary. I was not sure about his ideas on not using bullet points. I use bullet points in personal work when studying because I am comfortable with them. His reason for not using them was because students quickly tire of them. I think bullets can be used in moderation, especially when making a point. For me, having a bulleted form, or outlined form, better helps me to organize the incoming information in my brain.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Curiosity, Imagination, Creativity, & Play
Step 1: What do I know about curiosity, imagination, creativity, & play?
So far in my life, I fell that I know a great deal about the above topics. I think they are the fundamentals of how and why we learn at such a young age. I was a curious child, which made me experiment, which in turn made me learn. Also at a young age, I think most everyone had wild imaginations which I think goes hand in hand with creativity. And of course playing made learning seem all the more fun.
Step 2: What do I want to know about Curiosity, Imagination, Creativity, & Play?
I want to know why we sometimes lose our sense of the above as we get older. And how can we regain these important aspects back to help us make learning more fun. How can I incorporate these things into a lesson plan for highschoolers or college students, without making them run screaming because they are too embarrassed to have fun and explore.
Step 3: What did I learn?
Through the videos, I learned how important it really is to not lose sight of curiosity, imagination, creativity, & play in education. Below are some of the key points that stood out to me.
1. We get educated out of our creativity because we are taught not to be wrong. It is extremely important for us to take risks in life because that it how we learn. Many times, the way I learn best, is when I make a mistake. Yes, its no fun to fail, but learning it first hand helps you learn it better.
2. Open your mind to new experiences and use your imagination to imagine how other people live. This forces us to leave our comfort zones, which can be very hard. But there is so much in the world out there for us to learn, we just have to go out there and experience it.
3. Play is natural-this came as no surprise to me. This made complete sense. Especially when they showed how animals play, all the way through adulthood. It appears almost unnatural for us to not include play at older ages in education.
4. Why isn't everyone successful in life if everyone is capable? Is it laziness or fear? This question really spoke tome when I thought about a lot of the decisions I made in my decision to pick a major even. I told myself that I was afraid to be a premed major because I was not smart enough. But really, when I look back on my thinking, I know I was capable of being smart enough, I just was too lazy to put the work in to be that smart.
So far in my life, I fell that I know a great deal about the above topics. I think they are the fundamentals of how and why we learn at such a young age. I was a curious child, which made me experiment, which in turn made me learn. Also at a young age, I think most everyone had wild imaginations which I think goes hand in hand with creativity. And of course playing made learning seem all the more fun.
Step 2: What do I want to know about Curiosity, Imagination, Creativity, & Play?
I want to know why we sometimes lose our sense of the above as we get older. And how can we regain these important aspects back to help us make learning more fun. How can I incorporate these things into a lesson plan for highschoolers or college students, without making them run screaming because they are too embarrassed to have fun and explore.
Step 3: What did I learn?
Through the videos, I learned how important it really is to not lose sight of curiosity, imagination, creativity, & play in education. Below are some of the key points that stood out to me.
1. We get educated out of our creativity because we are taught not to be wrong. It is extremely important for us to take risks in life because that it how we learn. Many times, the way I learn best, is when I make a mistake. Yes, its no fun to fail, but learning it first hand helps you learn it better.
2. Open your mind to new experiences and use your imagination to imagine how other people live. This forces us to leave our comfort zones, which can be very hard. But there is so much in the world out there for us to learn, we just have to go out there and experience it.
3. Play is natural-this came as no surprise to me. This made complete sense. Especially when they showed how animals play, all the way through adulthood. It appears almost unnatural for us to not include play at older ages in education.
4. Why isn't everyone successful in life if everyone is capable? Is it laziness or fear? This question really spoke tome when I thought about a lot of the decisions I made in my decision to pick a major even. I told myself that I was afraid to be a premed major because I was not smart enough. But really, when I look back on my thinking, I know I was capable of being smart enough, I just was too lazy to put the work in to be that smart.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Fair Use, Copyright, and Creative Commons
Guide
Notes
Presentation
Please describe how the multimedia artifact you submitted for this assignment demonstrates your understanding of the following issues:
(a) Educational Fair Use
To me, fair use is a hard concept to describe with short terms or a presentation. The only way I really understood what is fair under fair use was to read the limitations in the PDF file. So intstead of trying to overexplain, I just provided the link to the PDF which describes the Fair Use policies.
(b) Creative Commons
I described Creative Commons in a basic manner. After showing how confusing it might be to understand fair use, I lead into Creative Commons and showed that its an easy way to share and collaborate information. I also showed that Flickr is a website that works in conjunction with Creative Commons.
(3) Please provide a self-evaluation of your artifact using the following criteria:
Creativity: This presentation was very basic with a few pictures to help explain the text. It was not very creative in its style and gave just basic information
Artifact design: The artifact was very simple. I just uploaded the picture from Flickr and made sure I provided a link to give credit to the author. Very basic.
Success in demonstrating knowledge of content: I think I gave the bare minimum when it came to describing the information. I myself don't fully understand copyright and fair use so it was hard to try and present the information.
Effort put forth: As far as creative effort, not very much was put forth. I think after being so frustrated with trying to understand what I was supposed to be doing I failed to put much effort forth in the actual artifact.
Level of learning attained: I attained an Okay amount of learning.
(4) Provide feedback on the assignment so I can continually improve the course.
This was one of my least favorite assignments so far. It might have been that I had so many tests this week. It was hard for me to try and focus and learn the material. I think the creating of a multimedia artifact part was too much for a homework assignment. I already dreaded trying to figure out copyright because it always confuses me and when I knew I had to create something to demonstrate my learning about it, I kind of just gave up before I even began.
Notes
Presentation
Please describe how the multimedia artifact you submitted for this assignment demonstrates your understanding of the following issues:
(a) Educational Fair Use
To me, fair use is a hard concept to describe with short terms or a presentation. The only way I really understood what is fair under fair use was to read the limitations in the PDF file. So intstead of trying to overexplain, I just provided the link to the PDF which describes the Fair Use policies.
(b) Creative Commons
I described Creative Commons in a basic manner. After showing how confusing it might be to understand fair use, I lead into Creative Commons and showed that its an easy way to share and collaborate information. I also showed that Flickr is a website that works in conjunction with Creative Commons.
(3) Please provide a self-evaluation of your artifact using the following criteria:
Creativity: This presentation was very basic with a few pictures to help explain the text. It was not very creative in its style and gave just basic information
Artifact design: The artifact was very simple. I just uploaded the picture from Flickr and made sure I provided a link to give credit to the author. Very basic.
Success in demonstrating knowledge of content: I think I gave the bare minimum when it came to describing the information. I myself don't fully understand copyright and fair use so it was hard to try and present the information.
Effort put forth: As far as creative effort, not very much was put forth. I think after being so frustrated with trying to understand what I was supposed to be doing I failed to put much effort forth in the actual artifact.
Level of learning attained: I attained an Okay amount of learning.
(4) Provide feedback on the assignment so I can continually improve the course.
This was one of my least favorite assignments so far. It might have been that I had so many tests this week. It was hard for me to try and focus and learn the material. I think the creating of a multimedia artifact part was too much for a homework assignment. I already dreaded trying to figure out copyright because it always confuses me and when I knew I had to create something to demonstrate my learning about it, I kind of just gave up before I even began.
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