For someone who claims to be insecure technologically, you're awfully present online. So, how's the teaching going? Have you gotten lost at your new huge school yet?
Not lost yet, but I stay out of the basement level - it looked scary when there was no one at the school, I can't imagine what it's like when it's full of hundreds of people. The size hasn't really impacted me much due to my isolation out in one of the auditorium classrooms which is separated from the main building, but I'm making an effort to get around a little each day - I checked out the counseling center the other day, and the library, and I took a walk around the campus (football field, track, tennis courts, pool, etc).
As for the technology, this is the only trick that I've learned so far - well this and now I can adjust margins in Word, and make my tables green if I want to, which are useful things to know! I am not up to speed on any of the other stuff though. This class is going to require more concentrated effort than I anticipated - I hope I have it in me.
Green tables, according to contemporary research, are more effective in the preservation of student morale and positive feelings. Studies which sampled student reactions to RED tables showed, across the board, that performance and motivation were greatly impaired.
Excuse me, but I'm trying to establish my identity here, and the fact that no one has talked to me since February may have some damaging effects on me - I'm not sure yet; I'll have to discuss this development with random strangers whom I'll never meet or know in order to determine whether this is defining or not. Also, since no one is clicking on my ad, I'm not making any money! I thought I had found a way to supplement my student loans while also completing the requirements for this class, but without your support, I'm left with nothing but increasing debt, and of course, increasing knowledge of how to blog. I guess perhaps one ways out the other. Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was that I went to the teacher.net website and checked in on one of the chatrooms to see what was going on, and to see if maybe I could find some more best friends. But they all already seemed to know each other, and were talking about their husbands being laid off and looking for work. No one was talking about teaching, except that I guess this is an aspect of being a teacher, if you happen to be married to a recently laid off husband looking for work. I did not feel comfortable enough jumping in, it seemed to require some background knowledge into their lives, and anyway, the things that they were saying were really funny were not funny at all. I didn't like these people. This makes me wonder about what social tools we bring to the table with us when we go online to socialize. I find that I have very little tolerance for anything that does not immediately either pertain to me, or interest me for some other reason. There is simply too much out there that even the filtering process could consume all of one's time. Not for me. Plus, there's just too much, beyond the mere words, of communicating with people in person that I need in order for communication to be meaningful to me. I don't even like to talk about anything other than a transmission of pertinent information over the phone, for the same reason. That's all for now.
That's a lot for now. Hey, look at me--I'm blogging! This is pretty exciting. I need to get back to PACT, but you made me laugh in the interim and for that I'm very grateful.
Thank You Amelia. It's nice to know that someone who cares is checking in on my online psyche to make sure I'm okay! About PACT: so I finally got my clips downloaded onto one of the desktops in Corey Lab, and I got to view them with adequate sound and no other distractions on the screen. It's somewhat hard to figure out how to talk about the clips for this blog. I definitely learned a lot about myself as a teacher and my teaching style that I don't think I ever would have realized without watching myself on video. I try to imagine being a teenager and being taught by someone acting like I'm acting, interacting the way I am, and saying what I'm saying, and looking like I look. When I'm teaching I think that I often forget about the physical aspects of my presence in the room, I get too caught up in what's going on in my head, and coming out of my mouth - but I know that teenagers care about a lot more than that. Also, my CT did the taping, and carefully included shots of the students while they were asking questions as well as when I was talking, so I got to study their responses to me, as a teaching event. While I'm teaching everything is moving so quickly that I don't have time to reflect on these responses.
In terms of what it captured, and how well that portrays my strengths and weaknesses to those who will judge whether I should be teaching California students, I find that I have to let go of my hopes that I will have a clip that shows my every strength without revealing any weaknesses - I've never had 10 minutes of that in the class. What I think the clips do show is that learning is taking place in my classroom, and that I have a strong bond with my students that allows them to participate and take intellectual risks while they are learning.
It seems I never got around to discussing my views about using video in class instruction. But I also just read through the syllabus and can't seem to find what the assignment actually asks us to do. Therefore, this is me "winging it."
I have actually had very experience using video in my own instruction, other than in my very first lesson at my current teaching placement. For this lesson students had read a chapter from Malcolm X's autobiography that discussed his pilgrimage to Mecca, and how that changed his outlook on life and politics. Students were at the beginning of a unit on Islam and the Middle East, in the History class that is taught in tandem with English. I chose to use clips from Spike Lee's Malcolm X to do a couple of things. First of all, the film begins with a voice over of Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech, which is in direct opposition to the views that he later claims to have taken after his hajj. Also, the audio/visual impact is a powerful - causing students to have to think about the rhetoric. It begins with a black screen, then an American flag, and then the American flag ignites and burns and he finishes his speech.
The students came in to class having read the chapter, but most were unfamiliar with the speech - so this was how they had to absorb it. I believe the single, dynamic image focused the students' intellectual and emotional attention of what was being said, giving them more to go on when it came time for us to discuss the disparities between the rhetoric of the speech and the rhetoric of this chapter (I explained that the speech was given the day before Malcolm began his hajj).
The use of the video, aside from eliciting requests for the whole movie to be shown, effectively grabbed the students' attention, and helped focus it. Though the film has its own biases, it effectively directed students to react emotionally to history, which is something that I think keeps Americans, and others, continually going to the theatre to see films about historical events, figures, and concepts that shape our world.
A last note, this clip worked particularly well in part because there were no characters, or actors for students to react to which might have mitigated the learning that occurred through its use.
For someone who claims to be insecure technologically, you're awfully present online. So, how's the teaching going? Have you gotten lost at your new huge school yet?
ReplyDeleteNot lost yet, but I stay out of the basement level - it looked scary when there was no one at the school, I can't imagine what it's like when it's full of hundreds of people. The size hasn't really impacted me much due to my isolation out in one of the auditorium classrooms which is separated from the main building, but I'm making an effort to get around a little each day - I checked out the counseling center the other day, and the library, and I took a walk around the campus (football field, track, tennis courts, pool, etc).
ReplyDeleteAs for the technology, this is the only trick that I've learned so far - well this and now I can adjust margins in Word, and make my tables green if I want to, which are useful things to know! I am not up to speed on any of the other stuff though. This class is going to require more concentrated effort than I anticipated - I hope I have it in me.
Green tables, according to contemporary research, are more effective in the preservation of student morale and positive feelings. Studies which sampled student reactions to RED tables showed, across the board, that performance and motivation were greatly impaired.
ReplyDeletethat dr. jeng is pretty smart. we should all listen to her.
ReplyDeleteHey Folks, I've been calibrated, and I'm way off!
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, but I'm trying to establish my identity here, and the fact that no one has talked to me since February may have some damaging effects on me - I'm not sure yet; I'll have to discuss this development with random strangers whom I'll never meet or know in order to determine whether this is defining or not. Also, since no one is clicking on my ad, I'm not making any money! I thought I had found a way to supplement my student loans while also completing the requirements for this class, but without your support, I'm left with nothing but increasing debt, and of course, increasing knowledge of how to blog. I guess perhaps one ways out the other. Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was that I went to the teacher.net website and checked in on one of the chatrooms to see what was going on, and to see if maybe I could find some more best friends. But they all already seemed to know each other, and were talking about their husbands being laid off and looking for work. No one was talking about teaching, except that I guess this is an aspect of being a teacher, if you happen to be married to a recently laid off husband looking for work. I did not feel comfortable enough jumping in, it seemed to require some background knowledge into their lives, and anyway, the things that they were saying were really funny were not funny at all. I didn't like these people. This makes me wonder about what social tools we bring to the table with us when we go online to socialize. I find that I have very little tolerance for anything that does not immediately either pertain to me, or interest me for some other reason. There is simply too much out there that even the filtering process could consume all of one's time. Not for me. Plus, there's just too much, beyond the mere words, of communicating with people in person that I need in order for communication to be meaningful to me. I don't even like to talk about anything other than a transmission of pertinent information over the phone, for the same reason. That's all for now.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot for now. Hey, look at me--I'm blogging! This is pretty exciting. I need to get back to PACT, but you made me laugh in the interim and for that I'm very grateful.
ReplyDeleteThank You Amelia. It's nice to know that someone who cares is checking in on my online psyche to make sure I'm okay!
ReplyDeleteAbout PACT: so I finally got my clips downloaded onto one of the desktops in Corey Lab, and I got to view them with adequate sound and no other distractions on the screen. It's somewhat hard to figure out how to talk about the clips for this blog. I definitely learned a lot about myself as a teacher and my teaching style that I don't think I ever would have realized without watching myself on video. I try to imagine being a teenager and being taught by someone acting like I'm acting, interacting the way I am, and saying what I'm saying, and looking like I look. When I'm teaching I think that I often forget about the physical aspects of my presence in the room, I get too caught up in what's going on in my head, and coming out of my mouth - but I know that teenagers care about a lot more than that. Also, my CT did the taping, and carefully included shots of the students while they were asking questions as well as when I was talking, so I got to study their responses to me, as a teaching event. While I'm teaching everything is moving so quickly that I don't have time to reflect on these responses.
In terms of what it captured, and how well that portrays my strengths and weaknesses to those who will judge whether I should be teaching California students, I find that I have to let go of my hopes that I will have a clip that shows my every strength without revealing any weaknesses - I've never had 10 minutes of that in the class. What I think the clips do show is that learning is taking place in my classroom, and that I have a strong bond with my students that allows them to participate and take intellectual risks while they are learning.
It seems I never got around to discussing my views about using video in class instruction. But I also just read through the syllabus and can't seem to find what the assignment actually asks us to do. Therefore, this is me "winging it."
ReplyDeleteI have actually had very experience using video in my own instruction, other than in my very first lesson at my current teaching placement. For this lesson students had read a chapter from Malcolm X's autobiography that discussed his pilgrimage to Mecca, and how that changed his outlook on life and politics. Students were at the beginning of a unit on Islam and the Middle East, in the History class that is taught in tandem with English. I chose to use clips from Spike Lee's Malcolm X to do a couple of things. First of all, the film begins with a voice over of Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech, which is in direct opposition to the views that he later claims to have taken after his hajj. Also, the audio/visual impact is a powerful - causing students to have to think about the rhetoric. It begins with a black screen, then an American flag, and then the American flag ignites and burns and he finishes his speech.
The students came in to class having read the chapter, but most were unfamiliar with the speech - so this was how they had to absorb it. I believe the single, dynamic image focused the students' intellectual and emotional attention of what was being said, giving them more to go on when it came time for us to discuss the disparities between the rhetoric of the speech and the rhetoric of this chapter (I explained that the speech was given the day before Malcolm began his hajj).
The use of the video, aside from eliciting requests for the whole movie to be shown, effectively grabbed the students' attention, and helped focus it. Though the film has its own biases, it effectively directed students to react emotionally to history, which is something that I think keeps Americans, and others, continually going to the theatre to see films about historical events, figures, and concepts that shape our world.
A last note, this clip worked particularly well in part because there were no characters, or actors for students to react to which might have mitigated the learning that occurred through its use.