The first video I watched was "The Edible Schoolyard" and I was amazed. I've read a few articles about this in magazines but getting to watch the video along with it was really cool. The Edible Schoolyard is located at Martin Luther King Middle School in California. It began as a way to improve school cafeterias and what students eat, along with teaching students where our food comes from and other valuable life lessons. The garden is the central focus of learning at Martin Luther King Elementary. Math, Science, Social Studies, and Reading are all taught using lessons from the garden. The innovative idea gets students outside, doing hands on activites and learning through other methods rather than the traditional book method our society seems to favor. The extremely beneficial part of this is that everyone has a chance to flourish. Students that don't test well and learn well in traditional classroom settings may be expert gardeners. Working in the garden also promotes teamwork, communication, and generosity. This is such an innovated and remarkable way to learn.
The second video, "A Night in the Global Village" was pretty neat as well. Students take an overnight field trip to a remote area that is set up as a global village. It is sponsored by the Global Gateway Program. The global village field trip focuses on hunger, poverty, sustainable development. Students are selected to live in either a refugee camp, Guatamalan, Thiland, Zambian, or urban slum area. All groups, with the exception of the refugees, are given some necessities needed to survive, but not everything. Therefore, they must barter and borrow from their neighbors in order to have what they need to live. Students must work together to cook their own food, which works on communication and team work. The idea behind this is that lessons learned the hard way often stick with us, rather than simply hearing about them. In the morning, students have to chop wood and feed the animals to get the area ready for the next set of campers. From the accounts of the students on the video, this field trip really opens the students eyes to world poverty and hunger.
The amazing thing about having these videos accessable on iTunes is that even if you can't grow a garden at your own school or travel to the Global Village in Colorado you can pull these videos up with the click of a button and begin exposure to these subjects. Having these video's accessable for the classroom can lead to smaller versions of what these schools are doing. You can take ideas from other schools and begin to implement them into your own school. These videos prove what many are beginning to realize, and that is students need to be doing hands on activities to have a complete education. Providing hands on enviornments and lessons help every student learn, not just those that are traditionally considered "smart."
I think in many schools, teamwork and communication is considered a good thing but not necessarily encouraged. For example, a student that has trouble keeping quiet in class and always wants to talk may have terrible conduct grades and may be a constant frustration to the teacher. However, a student like that would thrive in an environment where talking was necessary to learn. In an outside environment that demanded communication between students and teachers. So often lessons that are needed for life, such as generosity, uniqueness, and communication are left out of school lessons. These are lessons that are taught indirectly in the classroom but have a much better chance of being achieved if students are doing hands on type lessons.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is inspiring on many levels. Especially for teachers or future teachers. There is an abundance of teaching techniques that Pausch talks about. Many of these are lessons for life that should be applied in the classroom. One of the first points that stands out to me in his lecture is that you can't change the cards you are dealt. As a teacher, this is important to remember. Many times, it is easy to blame the families, environment, or general knowledge level of a failing student. However, I feel like as teachers, it is our job to take what we have and inspire children, no matter what the case is. You can't change the class you have, only the attitude with which you approach them.
It is important to remember to have childhood dreams, and to keep your childhood wonder. This is extremely relevant in the classroom. Students need to have specific dreams of their own, it is our job to encourage these dreams. Many times it is easy to disregard the dreams of a child because they seem so far fetched. Randy Pausch was proof that with hard work, determination, and a focused mind, nothing is out of reach. Students today face so many obstacles, it is important for teachers to keep their dreams alive. Along this same line Pausch brought up the idea that brick walls are there, not to keep us out but to show us how much we want something. We should relay this to the students.
I think it is mandatory that teachers push students to succeed. Teachers and students should never be complacent with the level on which they are working. There is always room for improvement. If your students impress you, keep pushing them, you will be even more impressed. However, we need to be careful in the ways which we word things. Students should know that their teacher cares and is impressed, but also knows that they can do better. Sometimes, just the way we word things and our tone of voice can be enough to turn a child away. Teachers should never be arragant, remember that there is alot to learn from students. We are always learning, even if it is indirectly.
For me, probably the most important point that Randy Pausch made in his lecture regarding education has to do with the "head fakes." To me, this meant he was adressing the idea that burp back education doesn't work. The head fakes meant that most of what we learn, we learn indirectly. For example, when working in a group you focus on acomplishing the assigned task, but you are also learning how to communicate, cooperate, and have fun while learning. Many times, this is more beneficial for students than giving and A,B,C mulitple choice test. Studnets learn better in a hands on environment. It is our job to make learning fun. Boredom in the classroom often leads to disinterest in education. Keeping the children engaged in what they are doing keeps their interest and they don't realize they are learning sa much as they really are. Every moment is a teaching moment.
All in all, this lecture and Randy Pausch inspired me in many ways. It made me want to strive to be a better person and helped me reevaluate what is really important in my life. I think many times we take the small things for granted and spend way to much time focused on material possessions. Pausch reiterated the importance of dreams and childhood wonder, which I think many adults forget. I think everyone should watch this lecture because it has a lot to offer for all.
It is important to remember to have childhood dreams, and to keep your childhood wonder. This is extremely relevant in the classroom. Students need to have specific dreams of their own, it is our job to encourage these dreams. Many times it is easy to disregard the dreams of a child because they seem so far fetched. Randy Pausch was proof that with hard work, determination, and a focused mind, nothing is out of reach. Students today face so many obstacles, it is important for teachers to keep their dreams alive. Along this same line Pausch brought up the idea that brick walls are there, not to keep us out but to show us how much we want something. We should relay this to the students.
I think it is mandatory that teachers push students to succeed. Teachers and students should never be complacent with the level on which they are working. There is always room for improvement. If your students impress you, keep pushing them, you will be even more impressed. However, we need to be careful in the ways which we word things. Students should know that their teacher cares and is impressed, but also knows that they can do better. Sometimes, just the way we word things and our tone of voice can be enough to turn a child away. Teachers should never be arragant, remember that there is alot to learn from students. We are always learning, even if it is indirectly.
For me, probably the most important point that Randy Pausch made in his lecture regarding education has to do with the "head fakes." To me, this meant he was adressing the idea that burp back education doesn't work. The head fakes meant that most of what we learn, we learn indirectly. For example, when working in a group you focus on acomplishing the assigned task, but you are also learning how to communicate, cooperate, and have fun while learning. Many times, this is more beneficial for students than giving and A,B,C mulitple choice test. Studnets learn better in a hands on environment. It is our job to make learning fun. Boredom in the classroom often leads to disinterest in education. Keeping the children engaged in what they are doing keeps their interest and they don't realize they are learning sa much as they really are. Every moment is a teaching moment.
All in all, this lecture and Randy Pausch inspired me in many ways. It made me want to strive to be a better person and helped me reevaluate what is really important in my life. I think many times we take the small things for granted and spend way to much time focused on material possessions. Pausch reiterated the importance of dreams and childhood wonder, which I think many adults forget. I think everyone should watch this lecture because it has a lot to offer for all.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
iPods in the Classroom
Starting in 2004 Duke university implemented a technology based curriculum that includes the use of iPods. iPods, which are usually used to listen to music are now being used to download lectures and talks from iTunes. There are at least four other universities that are using iPods in the 2008 school year. These are University of Maryland, Oklahoma Christian University, Abilene Christian and Freed-Hardeman. Standford University is also beginning to use iPod technology in the classroom.
An article written by Robert Craven says that the iPod should revolutionize the way that students learn. Some suggestions he has for implementing technology, even in elementary classrooms, are downloading and playing famous speeches, listening to audio books or even creating their own podcasts reviewing the weeks lessons. Craven suggests that when using an iPod for the classroom the iPod should contain only school related material so that the students aren't distracted. All-in-all iPods in the classroom can prove to be a very useful tool when used appropriately.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/technology/21iphone.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604276
An article written by Robert Craven says that the iPod should revolutionize the way that students learn. Some suggestions he has for implementing technology, even in elementary classrooms, are downloading and playing famous speeches, listening to audio books or even creating their own podcasts reviewing the weeks lessons. Craven suggests that when using an iPod for the classroom the iPod should contain only school related material so that the students aren't distracted. All-in-all iPods in the classroom can prove to be a very useful tool when used appropriately.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/technology/21iphone.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604276
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