Ben’s analogy of being the chessboard invokes a responsibility that we should prepare for the possibility that people will not fulfill their tasks in life. When these events occur we should ask our selves what is the ROI of the choice I want to make. Does it benefit the situation or make it worse?
This seems to relate to the different driving styles between my fiance and I. You could say that I am a defensive driver and a creature of habit. My fiance is more of a n offensive driver and subject to randomness. This causes a clash between us when the other is driving. I wasn’t always this way, but major car accidents as a young man altered my perception. I control my actions and compensate for others with out the heightened energy, where as my fiance is subject to the emotional reaction of others actions.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Week 3 Reading
Roz’s ski story is great example of making the best of a situation. Our perceptions many times control our level of tolerance and happiness. Many times in life we are faced with situations where things turn out different than what we originally planned. The severity of a situation affects one person different than another. So a breakup with a loved one can be just as devastating as a death of a loved one depending on the person. Realistically some one dying is not in the same ballpark as a break up, but the perception sometimes is worse than the reality. A sudden tragic death of a young person versus a drawn out death of an elderly person is still death, but the perception changes the reality.
Week 3 comment
Gaming in education is a topic that has fascinated me since we took our gaming class. This video showed a group that incorporated gaming in education. They spoke about the need for gaming in education. Gaming offers students a fun way to learn to solve problems. Learning is often considered "boring" by the students, but incorporate gaming, and suddenly the students are engaged and excited about learning.
This group is doing research on gaming in education. It is important that more groups start this. Gaming is often still looked upon in a negative way. Yet through games, students are learning, engaged, and solving problems. I believe it is important to learn ways to reach our students, and gaming can be a way to do that.
Posted by Elyse at 3:29 PM
4 comments:
Educator Musing said...
Gaming in education is a topic that I also find fascinating. I’ve been curious about their application possibilities in education since the 80’s when I took a college course called Gamed Simulations. Until recent years we were limited to board games and classroom simulations. Now we have technologies that open fantastic possibilities for the use of games in education.
I agree with Coordinator of Technology Education Robert Appelman that we want to be able to give content assignments that have the same attraction and immersion found in games. My current fascination is how big social networks like MySpace and FaceBook use game applications to enhance their websites. I know that my interest in visiting FaceBook and interaction with my friends have gone up since playing the games. Lessons to be learn for eSchooling.
March 16, 2010 7:24 PM
MB Emergent Technologies said...
I agree with you. My view on the importance and affect of using games to enhance learning changed after taking the gamming class too. Games had always been viewed as an entertainment tool or method, and placed under the category of fun and amusement. However, the rapid development of technology raised popularity of online education, and it increased the number of Internet users. These things put games into a new category, one of enjoyable learning. The possibilities in using games to enhance learning are on the rise, and different professions are depending on games to enhance learning, such as in the US army.
March 20, 2010 5:57 PM
Katie Jensen said...
Gaming in education IS fascinating! A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a child who is in first grade and has been diagnosed with Aspergers. He was telling me how he has been playing a game called Age of Mythology. This young boy could tell me more about Greek Mythology than I have EVER known in my whole life. It was amazing. He told me all about the game and the purpose of what you needed to do in it. But the best part.....was when he made the following comment to me:
“Kids can learn so much from playing games, WHY DON’T TEACHER UNDERSTAND THAT?!?”
haha - He said it with such passion. All I could say is, I understand and that there were many more like me out there. :-)
March 21, 2010 10:43 AM
Stand and Deliver said...
Gaming in education is interesting, but I like the trend that the Wii is going with and Microsoft is piloting. Its fascinating to watch these technologies mature. The real interest for me is the technology used in movies like The lord of the rings where the character movements were made by a human using a sensor suit. Mixing that technology and the wii technology would take hands on activities to the next level.
This group is doing research on gaming in education. It is important that more groups start this. Gaming is often still looked upon in a negative way. Yet through games, students are learning, engaged, and solving problems. I believe it is important to learn ways to reach our students, and gaming can be a way to do that.
Posted by Elyse at 3:29 PM
4 comments:
Educator Musing said...
Gaming in education is a topic that I also find fascinating. I’ve been curious about their application possibilities in education since the 80’s when I took a college course called Gamed Simulations. Until recent years we were limited to board games and classroom simulations. Now we have technologies that open fantastic possibilities for the use of games in education.
I agree with Coordinator of Technology Education Robert Appelman that we want to be able to give content assignments that have the same attraction and immersion found in games. My current fascination is how big social networks like MySpace and FaceBook use game applications to enhance their websites. I know that my interest in visiting FaceBook and interaction with my friends have gone up since playing the games. Lessons to be learn for eSchooling.
March 16, 2010 7:24 PM
MB Emergent Technologies said...
I agree with you. My view on the importance and affect of using games to enhance learning changed after taking the gamming class too. Games had always been viewed as an entertainment tool or method, and placed under the category of fun and amusement. However, the rapid development of technology raised popularity of online education, and it increased the number of Internet users. These things put games into a new category, one of enjoyable learning. The possibilities in using games to enhance learning are on the rise, and different professions are depending on games to enhance learning, such as in the US army.
March 20, 2010 5:57 PM
Katie Jensen said...
Gaming in education IS fascinating! A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a child who is in first grade and has been diagnosed with Aspergers. He was telling me how he has been playing a game called Age of Mythology. This young boy could tell me more about Greek Mythology than I have EVER known in my whole life. It was amazing. He told me all about the game and the purpose of what you needed to do in it. But the best part.....was when he made the following comment to me:
“Kids can learn so much from playing games, WHY DON’T TEACHER UNDERSTAND THAT?!?”
haha - He said it with such passion. All I could say is, I understand and that there were many more like me out there. :-)
March 21, 2010 10:43 AM
Stand and Deliver said...
Gaming in education is interesting, but I like the trend that the Wii is going with and Microsoft is piloting. Its fascinating to watch these technologies mature. The real interest for me is the technology used in movies like The lord of the rings where the character movements were made by a human using a sensor suit. Mixing that technology and the wii technology would take hands on activities to the next level.
Week 4 Comment
Posted by Bianca at 9:05 PM Labels: assignment, reading, week 4
What I liked best about this reading was the idea of reframing an event. In Zander's story about the misbehaving teenaged orchestra members, their behavior could have easily been framed as "these teenagers misbehaved and made the orchestra look bad." In that case the trip would be defined as one where some of the participants ruined things for everyone and those teenagers would be defined as people who misbehave on group outings. Both these outcomes take away from the overall benefits of the trip and may have shaded how those particular teenagers were viewed in the orchestra from that point onward.
Instead Zander reframed the event in a more positive way: there were individuals who were elated at their performance and just happened to get carried away because they were still so excited from earlier that night. He gave the individuals a second chance and he kept the event from weighing down the group. Had he verbally reprimanded the teenagers who misbehaved they likely wouldn't have misbehaved again, but the group morale would have severely dropped. Instead he gave everyone the chance to not only brush off the event, but also to focus on what good they could do during the rest of their trip.
When terrible or disappointing things happen to or around us it's important to try to reframe the event in the most productive way. That's not to say you should always put a Pollyanna-type spin on everything and sweep negative thoughts or feelings under the carpet, it's more to say that you try and view things in a way that allows you to move forward positively after the fact.
For example, back in 2008 I left a job where I was paid well and respected by my bosses but wasn't doing something I loved (I was working as an executive assistant) and moved to a job where I was going to be paid terribly but was doing something I was passionate about: teaching (that's my old classroom there on the right). I was quite excited about the opportunity, but it turned out to be a massive bust. As I've complained in class before, the school I worked for was a private institution that cared only about making a profit and truly didn't have the students' or the teachers' best interests in mind. I became so run down and put out by the situation that I quit my job after only 11 months even though I didn't have another job lined up.
I could have looked at that experience as a massive mistake. I left a good job at a company that really cared about doing their job well and moved to a horrific company that didn't care at all about doing a good job. I could have seen this as a terrible error and let that mistake haunt me... except I don't. I learned so much in that job about teaching adults, what I didn't want in a future job, and how I still really wanted to follow my passion for teaching; just not there. I think it was an important experience for me, even though it was also a pretty painful one as well. I was able to frame the experience in a way where I actually don't regret making that decision, even if it turned out to be a bad place for me to work in the end.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
2 comments:
Oaster said...
Thanks for the story Bianca. This reminds me of the Steven Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford that Joe gave us. You took a risk to satisfy your heart and that is what life is about. If you stay in the same unhappy job, you will always be unhappy. I would be willing to bet that your time spent at the school will continue to pay dividends later in life. As Jobs mentioned with the calligraphy class, you can never be sure how a situation and a decision will affect you later in life. I am sure that life will show that teaching at that school was a great decision for you in the long run. I’m glad you have come to terms with it!
March 28, 2010 4:39 PM
Stand and Deliver said...
Bianca, your story reminded me of my first teaching job. I was so excited to have the opportunity, but that soon changed after the first few months. I received a dose of reality when I realized that public education is a business too, but just has different metrics to to track, incompetent workers, and career minded management just like the business world.
What I liked best about this reading was the idea of reframing an event. In Zander's story about the misbehaving teenaged orchestra members, their behavior could have easily been framed as "these teenagers misbehaved and made the orchestra look bad." In that case the trip would be defined as one where some of the participants ruined things for everyone and those teenagers would be defined as people who misbehave on group outings. Both these outcomes take away from the overall benefits of the trip and may have shaded how those particular teenagers were viewed in the orchestra from that point onward.
Instead Zander reframed the event in a more positive way: there were individuals who were elated at their performance and just happened to get carried away because they were still so excited from earlier that night. He gave the individuals a second chance and he kept the event from weighing down the group. Had he verbally reprimanded the teenagers who misbehaved they likely wouldn't have misbehaved again, but the group morale would have severely dropped. Instead he gave everyone the chance to not only brush off the event, but also to focus on what good they could do during the rest of their trip.
When terrible or disappointing things happen to or around us it's important to try to reframe the event in the most productive way. That's not to say you should always put a Pollyanna-type spin on everything and sweep negative thoughts or feelings under the carpet, it's more to say that you try and view things in a way that allows you to move forward positively after the fact.
For example, back in 2008 I left a job where I was paid well and respected by my bosses but wasn't doing something I loved (I was working as an executive assistant) and moved to a job where I was going to be paid terribly but was doing something I was passionate about: teaching (that's my old classroom there on the right). I was quite excited about the opportunity, but it turned out to be a massive bust. As I've complained in class before, the school I worked for was a private institution that cared only about making a profit and truly didn't have the students' or the teachers' best interests in mind. I became so run down and put out by the situation that I quit my job after only 11 months even though I didn't have another job lined up.
I could have looked at that experience as a massive mistake. I left a good job at a company that really cared about doing their job well and moved to a horrific company that didn't care at all about doing a good job. I could have seen this as a terrible error and let that mistake haunt me... except I don't. I learned so much in that job about teaching adults, what I didn't want in a future job, and how I still really wanted to follow my passion for teaching; just not there. I think it was an important experience for me, even though it was also a pretty painful one as well. I was able to frame the experience in a way where I actually don't regret making that decision, even if it turned out to be a bad place for me to work in the end.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
2 comments:
Oaster said...
Thanks for the story Bianca. This reminds me of the Steven Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford that Joe gave us. You took a risk to satisfy your heart and that is what life is about. If you stay in the same unhappy job, you will always be unhappy. I would be willing to bet that your time spent at the school will continue to pay dividends later in life. As Jobs mentioned with the calligraphy class, you can never be sure how a situation and a decision will affect you later in life. I am sure that life will show that teaching at that school was a great decision for you in the long run. I’m glad you have come to terms with it!
March 28, 2010 4:39 PM
Stand and Deliver said...
Bianca, your story reminded me of my first teaching job. I was so excited to have the opportunity, but that soon changed after the first few months. I received a dose of reality when I realized that public education is a business too, but just has different metrics to to track, incompetent workers, and career minded management just like the business world.
Week 4 DQ #2
The things that stand in the way fall into several areas such as the plan to do it, the funding to do it, the school system, the families, and the students. I bring the technology, teaching, and coaching experience along with the vision and passion I have for making it happen.
The concept is explained in the question one post, but the details still need to be worked out. This is not a environment to save troubled kids, its about maximizing the potential of students that can learn in a self directed manner. There is a large portion of our student populations that are not challenged or get left behind because there is so much focus on low-level learners.
This project would be started as a small school or school with in a school format and expand out from there. All the stakeholders need to grow with the program, not be thrust into it unprepared.
The concept is explained in the question one post, but the details still need to be worked out. This is not a environment to save troubled kids, its about maximizing the potential of students that can learn in a self directed manner. There is a large portion of our student populations that are not challenged or get left behind because there is so much focus on low-level learners.
This project would be started as a small school or school with in a school format and expand out from there. All the stakeholders need to grow with the program, not be thrust into it unprepared.
Week 4 DQ #1
My dream is to create a blended learning charter school. Where the students can self-directed courses in a causal learning space managed by a facilitator and tutors. They spend there day engaged in online courses that are aligned with hands on activities done in learning space. If there is a need or desire for a student to take a course in a traditional setting then they can do that as well.
This allows them to have better flexibility in their schedule to participate in elective and enrichment activities. They find fulfillment by learning a sport, playing and instrument, and being creative in an artistic manner.
The learning day replaces the school day. The student participates in a 7am-7pm learning experience. That does not mean sitting in classes for 12 hours, but rather does their course work, homework, and enrichment activities in that time period and enjoys the time afterward with their family.
This allows them to have better flexibility in their schedule to participate in elective and enrichment activities. They find fulfillment by learning a sport, playing and instrument, and being creative in an artistic manner.
The learning day replaces the school day. The student participates in a 7am-7pm learning experience. That does not mean sitting in classes for 12 hours, but rather does their course work, homework, and enrichment activities in that time period and enjoys the time afterward with their family.
Week 4 Project
The realization that my media project had too much depth and breadth for what is needed for the project has hit me so I have adjusted my focus regarding the amount content for the project submission. However, the usefulness of my other lesson ideas is not lost. I will be continuing my creation of content for the project well beyond graduation.
Hopefully, I can create my self as a technology coach and informally help other teachers in the short term and generate some consulting business in the long term.
Hopefully, I can create my self as a technology coach and informally help other teachers in the short term and generate some consulting business in the long term.
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