The Crew

7/28/06 San Diego

It's all in the Question

What I learned on Tuesday is essential. We had the mindtool and standards presentations on Tuesday. I learned for myself in my presentation not to get nervous and blow the entire presentation with something that I happened to know pretty well before hand. That was a big mistake...
Anyway, the real learned topic here was what Geoff brought to our attention at the end of class; we should not ask,"Are there any questions?" What we learned was that by asking such a simple one-sided question, especially to junior high students, we would not get any responses. To help us understand through a peer example, Geoff reminded us of Scott's presentation. In it, Scott performed a series of questions throughout that were directed to particular individuals in the class. He called on students by their names, which got their attention, and he asked questions that had to be answered in other ways than a simple "yes" or "no." Scott did a really good job at this, I think. I also think that every one else who presented was awesome. But what I need to do to become a better teacher is learn how to invent and spontaneously apply direct and thought-invoking questions. If I can stimulate learning and a learning desire by the questions that I ask, then my students will have a better understanding, will want to learn more, and hopefully remember the content to be able to teach another the same stuff.

We All Have A Little To Learn From Gong

--and especially for a few teachers who have been in the field a number of years. Do you think that they too learned about Gong and his teachings? Even from some one's point of view that does not have much experience to back it up, like mine, teachers could get so much more out of their day and so much more out of their students if they would apply Gong's teachings. Gong taught about his applied methods of getting his students to like learning. He wanted his students to respond genuinely to his teachings and take what they had learned to build upon it. In this, learning would never cease; ambition to learn would never cease. Students had better academic outcomes in Gong's classes, I believe, because he had real concern for his students. I also think that he tried to understand them and did not try to put them on a lower pedestal than himself. -- My teaching observation experience on Thursday brought this concern to my attention. Even though the three class periods that I attended were quite excellent and the teacher did a pretty good job in my perspective, I think that he could have applied more of this subject of Gong's theory. I noticed at the beginning of the first class period a student walked in normally and sat in his chair. He looked alert and ready to learn. I was not sure if it was his Hispanic ethnicity or maybe something from his prior class behavior that made him stand out, but the teacher seemed to latch on to him almost immediately from the time that he walked into the classroom. Out loud and in front of the whole class, the teacher asked the student where he had been for the last few days of school. The student did not answer. The teacher continued with his persistence in inquiry. The student then finally replied that he had been absent because he had his reasons. The teacher did not quite hear the student's sheepish and quiet answer, so he asked again with more intent. The student then began to become more insecure, looking around at his peers who were then staring at him. He bowed his head and replied more loudly that he had this reasons. The teacher then doubtfully muddled,"Oh, you have your reasons."
I think that Gong would have handled things differently. I don't think that he would have embarrassed his student in front of his peers, which could in time make the student not want to learn or even attend class. I think Gong would have pulled the student off to the side at a different time when no one else was looking and inquired about concerns if they happened to be present. That's what I would have done. In order to have a desire to learn, students need to want to respect their teachers, not hate them.

What Kind of Learner am I?

Learning about the seven different types of learners or learning styles made me really think what kind of a learner I am. I am not so sure I even know yet. I find myself leaning towards so many different styles of learning that I get myself confused. I thought that I was only a hands-on learner, but now after learning more in depth about each style, I think that I prefer auditory and visual. I am for certain that I don't prefer a couple of them. I know that I would rather learn on my own instead of being in a group, unless I get along with the people well, and I know that I don't like to hear people talk too much. I guess that would explain the results of my learning survey. It said that I am a visual and nonverbal learning. It also said that I enjoy learning by working with my hands. I think that I would have to agree with the survey results. I think it is a lot easier to be a learner if you listen more than you talk. I know that this statement is my own opinion based on my personal character. I think that God gave man two ears and one mouth for a reason; we must listen twice as much as we talk. I believe that observation, visually or auditory, is a key factor in learning. I believe that one must think things through before doing in order to be assured that the results will have less error. By observing and thinking, or not speaking, I have found my better way of learning.

Technology in the Classroom

After having the opportunity to observe the seventh grade students at Centennial Middle School with Rachel and Jess, I have come to the conclusion that technology has greatly benefited the learning curve. We had the chance to sit in and observe students in their technology and engineering class. They were in the process of constructing mini bridge models out of thin bass wood strips. Their goal was to use basic engineering skills, that were previously taught in class, to make a bridge that would sufficiently withstand a machined pressure/weight test. If a student's bridge could withstand over thirty-five pounds of downward pressure, then he or she would receive an A. I was deeply amazed at the ingenuity of these students. They were smart and dedicated. They were focused; I give much credit of that ambition to the computer program that was learned prior to the direct construction of the bridges. It was called Bridge Builder 2006. It was amazing! We got to use the program briefly and I must say that the program threw me for a loop; I wasn't able to make one bridge that could hold up a truck. When I finally made one that could support the truck, I realized that it cost over two million dollars. This program was able to supply a number of different materials and material sizes all while keeping track of the cost. The students in the class were challenged to make a cost-effective bridge that had little weight stresses. The instructor added that most of the kids were able to do it. I think it helped exponentially in their learning curve for their bridge building assignment. Technology had completely aided these students in learning.

Sometimes the Greatest Teachers are Your Peers

Every time I go to my education class, 276, I am dumbfounded by the magnitude of intellegence from my peers. They seem to have answers, suggestions, and ideas that boggle my mind because I find that I had never thought in that way previously. Not only that, I have noticed that every student, teacher as well, is more than willing to help and aid any questions or misunderstandings that I might have. They are genuine and unrestricted by their personal affairs at the time. I just want to add that such support and behavior means a lot to a person like me that has a hard time understanding many concepts and procedures, especially those involving the computer. I thank them all.
Now getting back to the fact that your fellow students or peers can be the greatest teachers, I must say that I learned a lot from the presentations that were delivered yesterday in class. I was amazed at the level of talent from those who presented. They might not notice or agree with me, but I think that they did an excellent job with their ability to speak publicly, articulating well and showing a real sense of personality and character; that which is different from many teachers who try to impress or don't seem monotone and uninterested. The information given to the class during those presentations helped me to easily capture, on my level of understanding, what a mindtool is and can be. I thank you all once again.

It's Wiki Time

It's a wiki world. Who could have guessed that I would be helping to design a wikipedia web page today? Two days ago I did not even know what or who a wiki was. I thought it had something to do with Star Wars--go figure, I work with wood. Even so, I learned a handful today.
Has anyone ever asked you to define a word before? Sure. I suppose one has. But after you gave that person your answer, did he or she ask you to analyze it again and expand on your thinking? Then an hour later ask you to give a more integrated definition? Well, it hasn't happened to me before and I am glad it did because it helped to realize that there is much more to a word than a simple bland definition. Today I had the chance to define what a teacher and teaching are. After critiquing my initial general answer, and after a given opportunity to broaden my vision by our instructor, I came to the conclusion than in my field of technology, a teacher is much more than one who spews out information. The best thing that I realized today was that the best teachers put the burden on the students to learn. He also does not attempt to manipulate the student in becoming like himself, but he will teach in a way that allows the student to take what it taught and expand on it. I learned that a good teacher will influence the student to have a genuine disposition to procure learning on his own with a passion for the content. If the teacher does well, the student will not only learn well about the taught material, but also use it as a concrete base to take off and search for larger possibilities and opportunities.
The world of technology is like this in our day and age. If students were taught the same exact things yearly without the opportunity to expand on those ideas, then the technical world would never progress. Things like computers and other modern-day inventions would have never sky-rocketed in their innovations like they have within the last ten to twenty years.

Reflection 9/4/07

It was quite an interesting morning, one that did not line up with what I had imagined. I had no idea that I would have to have a special code to get into my classroom; that was a great start. I guess my imagination is geared in the wrong direction because though I was locked out of my classroom for a moment, I found that this 276 course is awesome. A class size of eight and a highly personalized atmosphere add good ambiance.

For starters today we had a fun activity to not only get to know one another a little better, but to also learn a little lesson. First of all we learned a little about networking. In this, each of us had the opportunity to write a few things about our self on the whiteboard and somehow make a connection to another person's list of qualities using a web-like diagram. In the end, there were many different words scattered across the board that represented each student and the teacher, with lines connecting anything in common. I think this was an excellent method of getting the jitter bugs out of the students and being able to who carried with them what qualities. By making connection among the students with simple circled words and lines, everyone was able to notice the similarities among all of us. I believe it made us feel more like a team working together in a classroom setting, rather than a number of students competing for position in the class. The great lesson behind all of this, I think, was that in the real world it is necessary to make connections with people, to make a network. In doing so it will be much easier to receive and give information and also expand in a career.

The next thing on the list today was another game involving sticks. There were twenty sticks drawn on the whiteboard and two players were to compete using the drawn lines. Each player had a turn to remove either one or two sticks at a time starting left to right. The player to remove the last stick won. It seemed to me that there was a certain strategy to this game, for the instructor was so adamant that he was going to win every time. Actually, he ended up loosing every time. Nonetheless, the strategy behind the game involved a method of breaking the precession of lines down into groups of three. By doing so, the player was able to dis guard his focus on a victory over the extent of the large line of sticks and narrow his aim to mini victories over each section of three lines. In this the player was able to have an unwaivered focus on the overall goal. Life is much like this stick game. Many times people tend to focus only on the immensity of a huge problem; something that seems almost too hard to attempt to overcome. In correlation to the game one may learn to redirect his focus off of the big problem and onto the little stepping stones, which are usually more easily conquerable, and one step at a time overcome the overall problem. This was a great game.

These exercises applied well to the three points of Dewey's Reflection that we learned about today in class. Dewey came up with a three point system of how to make a proper reflection. His three points include description, critique, and action. In order to remember one thing taught and make sure it is applied to life, one must make a note of what it is, analyze its content, and then come up with a way that pushes him to improvement. There must be action.