Coming together.
Independent thought and planning came together with minimal collision, I thought. It was to be expected, as we each took our outlined segment and made it our own. Naturally, the excitement of the whole idea led to some passionate feelings about what was and wasn’t kosher. We’re all still friends, though… and we have a rubric!
Tomorrow is the last day of school for the semester. It’s already over!!! This semester presented me with some new challenges… but I learned so much, and looking back, I really had a lot of fun. It was all worth what I invested, and I am so glad.
[RACHEL]
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4 things.
I was all dolled up in my black dress and high heels, waiting at the crosswalk, when some guy drove by slowly and got me with a snowball. It was pretty weak. He could have gone all out, but he softly threw a small clump of snow at my leg. It could have been huge. It could have been thrown with great force. It could have been spectacular. People here are way too nice, even when they’re out for a night of pranks.
So, learning about the automotive design process has turned out to be pretty fun. Really, there’s 4 things to it: exterior, interior, color, graphic design. It’s not that easy, though. FUNCTION needs to be factored in, or else it’s doomed, like I learned with my bridge. As my dad hinted to me earlier today, we can’t all be engineers. Some people are good at making things work. Others are good at making things pretty. I am glad that we are incorporating the different aspects of this particular design process into the group work, so that the hypothetical students can make every part of their project the best it can be. I always liked those projects the best.
[RACHEL]
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Free willy.
It really feels like the end of the semester, and like it came too quickly. Today in Shum’s class after my beautiful, wimpy balsa wood bridge exploded in a very spectacular fashion (I think I put too much energy into making it look nice, and not enough into the structural properties), I filled out a survey about being a student in TechEd. It sort of blew my mind, by calling my attention to a couple of things I usually don’t think about– my age and my class standing. I’m usually just Me, going to class day in and day out… but when I did the survey I was brought back into some concept of time– I am a junior. And I am 20. When did that happen? I don’t think I’m even close to old yet, but I think I lose track because I am so into today, rather than the cumulative yesterday. I was further cemented in that concept by working next to Damon in the lab this afternoon. He had Michael Jackson’s Free Willy song playing. I remember being five years old, watching that ridiculous movie, and hearing that song. Sometimes I forget how time passes.
That really has nothing to do with Tuesday’s class. I am excited to get started with the lesson plans. I think we have some good ideas going. It’s going to be awesome to see what everyone thinks of, and how it comes together. I really liked the idea of taking a broader approach with the lesson plans, to include a variety of technologies. Not everyone learns in the same way or shares the same talents, so I think that it is important to include different approaches and units so that every student is able to learn about something new, and build upon things they may already know. I think it will be cool to explore industrial design a little more in preparation for my part of the lesson plan.
[RACHEL]
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Ref 1.
One of my recent goals was to become more politically informed/active. Moving from a blue state and a sort of “purpley” family, to a very red state has really opened my eyes to a variety of stiff and odd things, in addition to some OK things; and really caused me to evaluate where I stand. I never really thought about educational issues until I got serious about a career in teaching, though. So, here I go with Ref 1. This is one of the first issues I’ve ever read up on seriously. I’m not quite set in stone, but I have a better idea.
In my independent research, and that with the “debate” team, I would have to say that while YES brings up some valid points, I am sold more on the NO points. I will acknowledge that YES would provide a better situation for charter schools, and allow students and parents the choice about where learning will come from. It also has the potential to lower class sizes in the public schools. On the flip side, (a reason I had a hard time defending YES in class during the debate) will the voucher be incentive enough for low-income families to send their children to private schools? In some cases, yes. But really, if the tuition is too high, $2000 isn’t enough of a selling point. Maybe my perspective comes from the fact that I grew up in Southern California, but $2000 is rent for a tiny horrible apartment that’s usually packed with kids and 2 working parents (or 1 working parent) who are (is) barely making it. It seems silly to only send one to a private school… and it’s pricey to send them all, even with the vouchers. They tried this in California in 2000 with Prop 38. The voucher was at $4000 and it was shot down overwhelmingly. The consensus: public schools need help, and rich kids don’t need help to go to a private institution of learning– money shouldn’t be going to an institution where the state’s standards of accountability are not necessarily upheld.
I feel that instead of helping those who want to jump ship and head to a private school, it might be a better idea to put the support into public schooling. I heard a little bit about how passing YES might kick the public system into shape and reform… but would it really happen?
[RACHEL]
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Review and such.
Tuesday was the second day of recovering from a too-short vacation. Coming back to Provo and sleepily walking to school in the forty-degrees-cooler air was a shocker, and admittedly, still is. It’s like bodysurfing in February. Only worse. It’s nice to be back though, I can finally say on Wednesday night.
Tuesday’s class helped ease me back into the swing of things… providing the confirmation that I do know what’s going on in class, along with a nice review of things I was a little rusty on. About halfway through vacation I remembered that 276 had a final and panicked a little about how much (I thought) I didn’t know. It was also good to discuss education outside of theory and psychology… to gain a little understanding of credentials, pay scales, and how to work on optimizing the teaching experience. I also enjoyed being able to share and learn about the things we researched and posted on the wiki in our jigsaw activity. It was a good day in class.
Oh, and it is possible to have gourmet green beans… preservative-free, non-Campbell’s, non-canned veggie, with fresh mushrooms, green beans, shallots and perfectly diced onions, in a lovely homemade rue sauce made with extra-virgin olive oil, a little bit of butter, and lots of love. Is that not delicious? I’d say that’s a nice step up from the usual sodium-loaded heart disease inducing chemistry experiment of a green bean casserole on the cream of mushroom soup label.
[RACHEL]
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GPS!
Today’s visit to Mountain Ridge showed me that you need to have examples and activities that the students can get excited about if you want the best interaction and learning. Pliers? Not cool. Shoes? Better. GPS? Sweet! When I was filming today, I got a chance to see all the students that were in my little group the last time we came. They were total zombies for me, because they couldn’t get excited about the activity. There was one student who did not join our discussion circle so I asked him to scoot towards us. He did, but the second I wasn’t looking anymore, he slid away to his desk again. This same student was happy and participating today. I am glad I got to film the other group’s teaching experience. I think I learned more about interaction by having that contrast.
So, I finally got CS3 last night. A triumphant purchase, if you ask me. I decided that my next triumphant purchase will be a hot computer… I’m thinkin a Mac. But that will have to wait for later. Much later.
[RACHEL]
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I know you can talk.
So, on the whole, our teaching experience at Mountain Ridge went well. To be honest though, the class had an interesting mix of spaz and zombie. Nothing too out of control… it was just another part of really teaching. A classroom is not filled with robot-children programmed to be participating and well-behaved. I learned that I need to constantly adjust to the way that students behave, in order to teach effectively. It was sometimes difficult to get them into discussion mode, especially during the group activity. A smashing total of 3 people spoke out loud and contributed, even when I asked others (they shrugged their shoulders instead of actually saying “I don’t know”). Maybe pliers aren’t exciting to advertise? I don’t know… but I had to force everything out of them. Hey, that sounds like Sunday School. Maybe they just thought it was really weird that a bunch of kids from BYU came to teach them a lesson, and half of them had video cameras. I do know that foreign situations and video cameras have the potential to make people go a little nuts.
I also learned that observing at a middle school and giving a lesson at a middle school are two completely different things. Now that I’ve been there (of course, once is not enough to form a solid opinion), I am starting to understand the pros and cons of it. Most of all, I found it strange to be around people my size or bigger, when they were not my intellectual peers. Oh well, another thing to get used to, I suppose.
I should also take note of the fact that seagulls are even dumber than I thought they were.
[RACHEL]
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Today.
Today was a very Thursday kind of day… the kind of day where it feels like the end of the week because you’re a little worn out, but still painfully aware that the week is not yet over. Tomorrow is Friday, though; and that is some consolation. Our group was all in our Thursday mood. It’s very interesting to note that we all handled ourselves in very different ways while dealing with the same situations– whether it be catty, indifferent, halfhearted, or playful.
It was again brought to my attention that it’s important to have a set goal for learning outcomes when preparing a lesson. I’m glad we have classes like this to learn how to teach so that we don’t make as big of mistakes when we start out for real.
In preparing this lesson, we tried the best we could to see through the eyes of an early teen, so that we could pick examples and activities they could relate with. I have a brother that’s 13 years old. It made me realize how out of touch I am with my younger siblings, being away from home and all. It also got me thinking that I grew up too fast and as a result robbed myself of the classic young adolescent lifestyle. The funny thing is, I don’t feel like I missed too much. No regrets there. I turned out just fine, right?
[RACHEL]
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Getting ready.
I am excited to have a group teaching experience next week at Mountain Ridge. Planning was great because everyone was enthusiastic and contributed. I am supremely distracted right now. I’ve had the same opening sentences for about an hour, maybe more… between phone calls, trimming paper, and wimping out and turning on the heater, I haven’t gotten much done with blogging.
Teaching effective communication methods through media will be really fun, I think. I don’t claim by any means to be an expert, so I’ll do a lot of good learning in preparation, and add to what I already know. One thing that my English teacher never told me was that the rhetorical triangle’s principles apply to basically anything that is supposed to create an appeal. It’s not just about writing. The presentation of information and its desired effects depend upon three things: ethos (the credibility/skill of the presenter), pathos (the audience’s emotions and values), and logos (logic, reason, and evidence). The elements of design are manipulated to contribute to one part or another of the rhetorical triangle. I probably won’t get into that when I’m at the school… it’s a whole new lesson in itself. I do, however, have lots of ideas to show the diversity of print communications.
[RACHEL]
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On camera.
Watching myself teach about farms was a little boring… a little painful… but also a little reassuring. I say boring because it was just that. I spent more time learning about farms than I did deciding how to make farms appear awesome. I say painful because I could see where I came short– in my resources, knowledge, and sometimes excitement. I say reassuring because I could see where I wasn’t too bad. I could also see where I wasn’t so good, and draw conclusions about improvements. I also decided that my lesson was more interactive than last time, which is a step in the right direction. Now, it’s just a matter of moving forward. There is always something that can be done better. I think I like it that way.
Geoff really showed us how it’s done today. Not only do I have the last two STLs ingrained in my mind (manufacturing and construction), but I learned that you don’t have to spew information for students to understand the subject matter. It is indeed possible to be interactive and not boring! I am so glad to have reached that understanding.
My favorite part of the learning process is feedback. It really helps me to hear from someone else, what I can do better. When I design things for fun at home my family and roommates are too scared to tell me if I made something mediocre or ugly… except for my sister. She’s got an eye for design as well, and she’s always got a good idea up her sleeve when I get stuck. Again, why I love feedback. It helps me to get to a better place, to produce something great. Feedback is not criticism. Criticism means “this is terrible, but I am not going to help you improve.” That’s something I don’t stand for, as some of my classmates from TEE 255 might know. You might as well get out of my face if that’s how it’s going to be– It’s called feedBACK. I’m done now 
[RACHEL]
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