Week 1 Reaction to Readings-Blog #3: Guiding Others To Achieve Greatness!

Guiding others to achieve Greatness!

In chapter 3 in the book entitled, "The Art of Possibility," the authors express their point of view on grades. They feel that when grades are administered, that they are given based on that student's performance in comparison to the other students in the class, and that it does not represent mastery. However, I disagree. I am a teacher myself, and I am going to speak for others when I say that I do not give out grades to a student based on his performance in comparison to others in the class. My grades are given out based on tests, quizzes, classwork, and participation, and most of these assignments are graded via a rubric or an answer key.

Because they started out their chapter with this belief, I found it harder to buy into what they were saying. However, upon further investigation, I began to understand what they were trying to get at. Ben and Roz want us to see the inner beauty within each person, and respect each other's individuality. If we can do that, then we can enable that person to blossom and grow into their full potential. Instead of sizing up people according to our own preconceived standards, view them with mutual respect and understanding. Ultimately allowing them to find themselves, rather than trying to get them to conform to our ideas of what should be.

I do agree with this in some manner. Letting children and people be themselves, and follow their dreams is of upmost importance. However, keeping with tradition by teaching basic family values and morals are also of the upmost importance. It is great to let a child find themselves, but we also have to remember that they are still that..."children." We as adults need to guide children while they explore the world.

It is kind of like taking a puppy for a walk. You give them room to walk, but (in order to guide them properly and keep them safe from harm) you need to keep them on a short leash.

Week 1 Reaction to Readings-Blog #2: Reinventing Our Perceptions

Reinventing Our Perceptions: What Do You See?

Often times we can get caught up in the daily rituals of our lives. Eventually, these rituals become habits, and fogs our vision to enable us to see past paths that have etched themselves into our existence. However, the book "The Art of Possibility" written by Benjamin and Rosalund Zander are teaching us to see past these habits that we have formed. Many times dreams and goals get put to the wayside because the path to achieve these becomes clouded. This cloud that forms is based on our perceptions of the world around us. In this book, Benjamin and Roz (Rosalund) teach us that if we re-create our thinking and our perceptions, good things can happen. They challenge us to take new paths, and see things in a new light, regardless of how it may feel the first time out. These new ways of viewing things might feel illogical or counterintuitive, but the only way to get out of an existing rut is to create a new path. We must transform ourselves into who we want to be.

This all may sound great, but you are probably asking yourself, as I was, "How do we do this?" According to Ben and Roz, this is not done by self improvement, nor by changing the way we do things, but by looking at things in a new light. By having totally new perceptions, beliefs, and thought processes.

To do this, Ben and Roz have set up a few practices for us to memorize and use. The one that I am going to address in this blog is the catchphrase, "It's all invented." All our stories and experiences are invented from our own perceptions and pre-conceived notions, causing us to find many dead ends in life. However, when encountering problems or road blocks, if we stop and view them in a different light, we will begin to see new solutions and new opportunities will appear.

According to Ben and Roz, when we encounter different situations in our life, we should ask ourselves the following questions:

What assumptions am I making,

that I am not aware I am making,

that gives me what I see?

Secondly:

What might I invent,

that I haven't yet invented,

that would give me other choices?

Practice asking yourself things questions whenever you can. Remember, it really is all invented. So, start thinking out of the box, put in a fresh light bulb, or reinvent your view, and tell me what do you see?!

Week 1 Reaction to Readings-Blog #1: The Impossible is indeed, possible!

The Impossible Is Indeed, Possible!

This book talks a lot about the world of possibility that we live in. It also mentions that often times, the obstacles in our world that we believe keep us from achieving our goals and dreams are often just assumptions of pre-conceived notions. According to this book, extraordinary achievement and success can be an everyday occurrence given the right framework. This really interested me, and it was an idea that I had never come across myself. It seems as though if we “reframe” the circumstances, we will begin to see new pathways that we did not know were there.

This book was written by two very extraordinary people, Benjamin and Roz (Rosamund) Zander. I watched an amazing speech given by Benjamin Zander the other day on TED.com. He was captivating and enlightening, and he brought music to life. He was also very inspiring. And, after reading this book, I find his writing partner, Roz to be the same. After reading what she does for a living, and the type of person she is, it made me want to meet her. She listens to people talk about their goals and dreams, and then helps them find pathways that they may not have known existed to get to them. She almost sounds like a psychic in that she seems to have the gift of reading people’s innermost desires, and helps them find a way to achieve them. I think if I ever met her, she would say I was on the right path. However, I would love the chance to see if she saw a dream in me that I did not realize that I had, or if she made me realize a better way to get exactly what I was longing for.

I believe the whole title of this book says it all. “The Art of Possibility” lends us the idea that all things are possible, and that there is a fine art, that once learned, opens up many doors ways to make the impossible possible.

Check out this book for yourself, and see where it might take you! "The Art of Possibility" -Written by: Rosalund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.

Second Life: Education in a Virtual World

Have you ever been to the Second Life?   You've probably heard of it before, but maybe have not experienced it yet.  No, I am not referring to what happens to you when you die, I am referring to the virtual world that is now accessible via the internet.  This virtual world, known as Second Life, is an online 3D virtual world where users can collaborate, network, share, and even play with new ideas and concepts.  However, this virtual world is not like any other virtual world that you may have been to before.  This virtual world is unique in the fact that it can take you to actual places that exist in the "first life," but have been re-created for users to visit and explore in this 3D world.  

Second Life is very useful for education because so many of us learn by seeing, and by doing.  Well now, when you are learning about the "Great Wall of China,"  you could actually go visit it in Second Life.  Their 3D models of these different places are so realistic, it is almost like actually being there.  Want to show off the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michaelangelo to your history students?  Well now you can by visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Second Life.  

Many teachers complain about how hard it is to keep the students' interested in their assignments.  Well, if you think about it, what are many of the students in today's world doing when they go home?  Playing on their computer, adding music to their ipods, texting, and playing with their playstations.  Well, Second Life is great because it is similar to entering into the internet gaming world.  Users get to pick an Avatar, choose their clothing, and then explore the many virtual communities and places that Second Life has to offer.  What a great way to get your students interested in your class, but still keep it educational!  

A teacher by the name of Nik uses Second Life to teach English.  She blogged about her teaching experience in Second Life at the following website:  http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2007/08/teaching-english-in-second-life.html.   She found Second Life can be a very useful tool for teaching English.  However, this teacher did come across a minor difficulty.  She needed to find a way to put the students into groups so that they did not overhear each other while conversing in English.  Although, what she did find was that the students seem to enjoy having class in Second Life, and that the class size continuously increased.  

In addition to visiting different places in second life, you can also visit and join different communities.  These communities can not only be useful for students, but for teachers as well.  Second Life can be a great way for educators to collaborate, network, and share best practices with other educators, all over the world!  If you visit http://www.slconvention.org you will see that there are actual conventions that are being held for Second Life users.  This particular convention is the largest virtual world convention being held online that combines art, business, community events, music, education, and much more. 

While I was in Second Life, I visited the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which is, "the trusted source for professional development, knowledge, generation, advocacy, and leadership for innovation."   This organization offers a nonprofit membership which provides various leadership services for teachers to improve education and teaching.  While I was there, I met the online resident for ISTE.  Her name was Maggie Marat.  She goes there every Sunday, and she also conducts meetings for the Second Life Edvserse.  She helped me join their group, which will be a great source of information for my own personal professional development.

So, if you are interested in exploring Second Life for educational purposes or just for fun, visit http://www.secondlife.com and create your avatar today!  You'll be on your way to an awesome 3D virtual experience, and you might just learn something along the way!  While your there, look me up, and befriend me.  I go by Meschele Marenwolf in the Second Life.  I'd love to chat with you, and I hope to see you there! 

Second Life in Education Wiki:

http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/

International Society for Technology in Education:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/168/29/30

Second Life:  Hype or Reality

http://bit.ly/Wh4rT

How Do Education Enterprises Uses Second Life

http://bit.ly/b9pW4

Teaching English in Second Life:

http://bit.ly/42ZSeO

Podcasting for Education

Podcasts are a way to record and deliver information and multimedia to a large audience almost instantly.  It can also be a much more interesting way to receive information as opposed to receiving it through an email, or by some other multimedia means.  In addition, podcasting can be a great way to bring education to a whole new level by sparking students' interests in various subject areas and technologies that they may not have ever cared about before.

I think podcasting would be great to use in the classroom to distribute homework and weekly/nightly agendas.  In the middle and high school grades, teachers are constantly looking for ways to increase a student's interest and participation in and out of the classroom.  By using a technology that they already love, this might be all that is needed to get them tuned into your classroom.  Teachers are constantly telling students to put away their ipods and cell phones.  Now, with podcasts, teachers can gladly tell students to take out their ipods to send and receive educational podcasts.  

Just imagine, all of the ways that you could use podcasting to improve the academic achievements in your classroom.  For a science class, students could subscribe to receive National Geographic articles and other articles via their ipod, which would be great for research assignments and to really spark their interest in that particular subject.  So, in reality students could receive internet information at home, without having to own personal computer.

Now, think about how many students who live in a home where both parents work.  Many of times, the students will come home to an empty house, and often times will have no help for completing their homework.  In addition, a lot of times parents do not have the knowledge or ability to help their children with their homework either because they do not remember the material, or because they never learned it themselves.  So, now imagine that child being able to access math tutorials via his/her podcast to help him/her with that math homework without a parent's help.  Many times a child is reluctant to attempt their homework assignment because they are unsure how to begin or they do not understand the assignment.  With educational tutorials sent via podcasting, that would no longer be a problem.     

So as you can see, podcasting can bring education and educational media to a whole new level, and quite possibly could be what sparks the initial desire for educational achievement in today's youth.  So sign up today for a podcasting program like itunes, and you might just be podcasting tomorrow! 

Learning in Hand:

http://www.learninginhand.c...

Apple's Podcasting in Education:

http://bit.ly/rhiSw

How to create your own podcast:

http://bit.ly/19DV0E

Article on Podcasts:

http://net.educause.edu/ir/...

Why is podcasting relevant to Education?

http://bit.ly/pTjNC

RSS Feeds: So that's what that little orange symbol means!

All this time, I never knew what the little orange symbol meant.  I never really knew it had any meaning at all.  I always thought that it was just an icon for the website.  Little did I know that it was a major link to a whole another world... a way to subscribe to a site!  RSS stands for "Real Simple Syndication."  RSS feeds make it possible for a blog reader to "subscribe" to a blog.  This way, readers can continuously receive updates and new blogs to read without having to continuously visit the bloggers site.  All of this is possible through software called an "aggregator."  The aggregator is a feed collector that regularly checks for new information from your selected sites about every hour.  What makes this real simple syndication simple is that the information comes to you, instead of you having to go to it.  Wow!  What a great concept.  We, as Americans, are constantly looking for ways to make technology better, faster, and more technologically advanced, and it looks like we have done it.  Instead of searching for the information, we now have it coming to us, which is great, but how are we going to use it? Better yet, how can we use it for education?

RSS feeds can be very useful for in the educational realm, for both teachers and students.  One really great way for teachers to use RSS feeds is for grading purposes.  For example, if you assign your students to write blogs as an assignment, it might be really time consuming to visit each blog website to grade all of them.  However, if you subscribed to the RSS feed, then the blogs would automatically come to you.  Voila, grading made easy!  Now all you would have to do is go to one site to grade all of your students blogs.  

Another great way to use RSS feeds would be to subscribe to a "thought for the day."  This is a great way to receive daily prompt ideas for writing.  This can make writing a little more fun, and increase the anticipation of not knowing what you are going to be writing about until you check your site.  In addition, the students can't blame you if they are not crazy about the prompt, i.e., "I didn't make up the prompt, lol!"  

Lastly, RSS feeds can be useful when having students conducting research for various assignments.  It can be especially useful in group assignments.  It is a great way for the students to share their research findings.

So, as you can see RSS feeds can make your life much simpler for both teaching and learning.  So, the next time you see that fancy little orange sign, go ahead, click on it.  You'll start to receive updates without having to go back to that site, and you'll start to make your internet life a breeze!

How can I use RSS feeds in education?

http://www.flairandsquare.c...

RSS:  A quick start guide for educators:

http://bit.ly/4E9Zh4

RSS Specifications:

http://bit.ly/id1ue

RSS feeds for teachers:

http://bit.ly/OlPGd

RSS feeds in the classroom:

http://bit.ly/12Td8U

Twitter...What are you doing now?

Twitter is a social network that allows you to receive updates on what someone is doing throughout their day from all over the world in a 140 characters or less.  When I first heard that you could "follow" someone on twitter, I just thought it meant to watch for their postings.  I now know that you can sign up to "follow" someone which simply means that you will receive any update or link that they post throughout the day.  With twitter, breaking news and updates can be spread across the nation almost instantly, reaching millions of tweeters.  Just think of when the news of Michael Jackson's death occurred.  Millions of tweets went out about peoples feelings and thoughts on the matter.  In addition, facts and breaking news were also added.  Like a wildfire, twitter allows news and information to spread rapidly over a large area within minutes.    

Twitter is especially popular when dealing with fans of celebrities.  People can sign up to follow their favorite celebrity and know almost instantly where they are or what they are doing at that very exact moment.  Wow, this brings stalking to a whole new level! :) 

So, twitter is obviously popular among celebrity groupies, but what about education?  Is twitter useful for educational purposes?  Absolutely!    Twitter can be used to help students keep in touch with their instructors on a daily basis, and it can also help students and educators alike share and receive valuable information to make the learning process a more successful one!  The following is a link to a website that contains a list of some top 10 uses for Twitter in the classroom put together by Steve Wheeler:

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html  

Steve Wheeler is a part of the Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth.  He is responsible for, in his own words, "conveying the University's e-learning research network and co-ordinating technology mediated learning for the Faculty of Education."    One of his ideas for using Twitter in the classroom is to have students read their assigned articles and then attempt to post of summary about the article on Twitter in a 140 characters or less.  This is good because it really makes them concentrate on what is the most valid information needed in their summary, and it forces them to delete unnecessary information.  This is just one of the many educational uses for twitter.  Another great use for Twitter in education would be to post updates of the class, and to allow students to collaborate on h.w. and group projects.  Steve Wheeler even suggests having a class meeting on the site!   

So, whether you are interested in using twitter for educational purposes,  keeping in contact with friends, or you just feel like stalking a celebrity, sign up today, and tell us (in a 140 words or less), what you are doing right now!  

Twitter used as a teaching tool at the college level:

http://www.citytowninfo.com/career-and-education-news/articles/twitter-used-as-a-teaching-tool-at-colleges-09060302

Twitter Transforms Teaching

http://brainbasedbiz.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-tips-for-teaching-and-learning.html

Teaching With Twitter

http://chronicle.com/media/video/v54/i25/twitter/

7 Things You Should Know About Teaching

http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutTwitt/161801