Tonight, I realized the importance of getting an education, of bettering myself, and of moving forward in life rather than stagnantly and lazily keeping the status quo, the easy way out. Tonight was one of those nights; we've all had them. Tonight... well, let's not talk about tonight.
I'm sure many of you know that working fast food or retail jobs can be an absolute nightmare at times. But, we do it because we need to pay the bills and the work is easy to find and get. We work these jobs not necessarily to take advantage of the easy way out but because we have to. We have to temporarily sacrifice our livelihood so that we can someday work the job of our dreams.
Others take the easy way out. They don't have the drive to continue in school, nor the desire to work their way out of the minimum wage rut even if they can't get through school.
We, as future teachers, hold a huge responsibility. We have to teach kids more than just the materials; we have to teach them about life. We have to encourage them to be everything that they can be, to meet their potential. We have to let them know that they don't have to be rocket scientists or nuclear engineers, just that they can't settle for the easy way out. We have to encourage them to make the best of what they have and to always be pushing for more.
No one wants to work in a fast food joint all their life. Let's help the next generation so they won't have to put up with nights like this for any longer than they have to.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Video production in the classroom
Coming a high school experience in which the teachers gave us A LOT of freedom in our projects, I've been exposed to both the advantages and disadvantages of using a video production as a means of evaluation.
Lund was absolutely correct in saying that the the pre-production aspect of the project was the most important. In high school, we were given almost too much freedom with our projects. The focus was really only placed on the final project, not so much in how we got there. As a teacher, I'd like to follow Lund's opinion and focus a bit more on the planning aspect of the project. I would set up a few days for the students to work on making at least a general script and plan out exactly how they would go about conveying their message. The actual production element, I wouldn't stress over as much. It seems as though we often get caught in the little, meaningless bits when we focus too much on production, and I'd rather steer the class in a different direction.
(By the way, this is one reason why I'm looking forward to the 20 shot film project that we'll be doing later this semester.)
I also liked that Lund said "visual and aural must be complimentary." Again, the planning portion of the assignment can assure that there is a connection between the two. If you just hand a group a camera and tell them to make a movie, you'll probably end up with something that has moments of good aural content and moments of good visual content. Though they may happen to mix without much planing, they would certainly match up better if there were more focus on the pre-production and less on how polished the final product came out.
Lund was absolutely correct in saying that the the pre-production aspect of the project was the most important. In high school, we were given almost too much freedom with our projects. The focus was really only placed on the final project, not so much in how we got there. As a teacher, I'd like to follow Lund's opinion and focus a bit more on the planning aspect of the project. I would set up a few days for the students to work on making at least a general script and plan out exactly how they would go about conveying their message. The actual production element, I wouldn't stress over as much. It seems as though we often get caught in the little, meaningless bits when we focus too much on production, and I'd rather steer the class in a different direction.
(By the way, this is one reason why I'm looking forward to the 20 shot film project that we'll be doing later this semester.)
I also liked that Lund said "visual and aural must be complimentary." Again, the planning portion of the assignment can assure that there is a connection between the two. If you just hand a group a camera and tell them to make a movie, you'll probably end up with something that has moments of good aural content and moments of good visual content. Though they may happen to mix without much planing, they would certainly match up better if there were more focus on the pre-production and less on how polished the final product came out.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Not feeling too "Grande" today.
This is most likely going to be a short post. It's been a LONG week capstoned by an even longer day today. 7 minutes after I normally leave my house, I decided to finally wake up. Then worked what turned out to be about a 10 hour shift serving greasy pizzas to the hungry masses hoarding the store. Anyhow, no time for thinking and even less time for blogging.
Pages 82 and 83 of the Kist reading bring up an issue that I've always had with blogging and podcasting--what is the likelihood of someone actually viewing it? I mean, obviously we're all going to view each other's blogs and such. But if we removed ourselves from the class, we most likely wouldn't be getting much response from the random passerby. At that point, I would almost feel like I were just posting a personal journal. Granted, there's a time and place for that, but what if you're truly seeking to have an audience?
I honestly don't know how to get more traffic to a blog (or to any website for that matter). Short of advertising through twitter, facebook, etc. I can imagine that it would take quite a while for a blog to really take off.
Kist gives us the blog search engine Technorati, but I have my doubts about how closely it combs through the millions of blogs that existence in the depths of the web.
I don't know. I guess I'm just being a bit cynical about the amount of traffic the average blogger is going to generate. It'd be nice if some could convince me otherwise.
(And in the meantime, enjoy the break!)
Monday, October 1, 2012
Exploring the blogging world
Welp, we spent some time playing around on the internet. Usually, that's a terrible idea; the internet is a scary place, ya know. (If you don't think the internet is all that scary, that's good; you haven't gone too far in yet. Once you get to the core depths of the internet, you'll never be able to return.)
Anyhow.
I was surprised when I went to one of the first blogs that Wilber suggested, Plethora Tech. It almost seemed as if the blog has taken a shift away from teaching and is now focused more on some sort of insurance policy jargon. Honestly, I didn't get much of anything from it and I was a bit disappointed.
Moving on then...
Next I checked out a science teacher's blog that is, in fact, about teaching. This one, I definitely recommend. It is mostly personal reflection, almost a bit of a journal. I found his writing to be inspiring and extremely thoughtful. At the same time, I also learned some things from him. His post about evolution and religion was especially insightful. He presents it in a very neutral way that few often take.
Finally, I ended the internet expoloration by checking out Mrs. Polselli's Grade 3 Wiki. It seems like a fairly basic wiki. She posts resources for both students and parents. I didn't find anything particularly insightful here, but that isn't necessarily the nature of a wiki. She uses it as a substitute for programs like D2L and BlackBoard. A good example to follow if needed.
Anyone else check these ones out?
Anyhow.
I was surprised when I went to one of the first blogs that Wilber suggested, Plethora Tech. It almost seemed as if the blog has taken a shift away from teaching and is now focused more on some sort of insurance policy jargon. Honestly, I didn't get much of anything from it and I was a bit disappointed.
Moving on then...
Next I checked out a science teacher's blog that is, in fact, about teaching. This one, I definitely recommend. It is mostly personal reflection, almost a bit of a journal. I found his writing to be inspiring and extremely thoughtful. At the same time, I also learned some things from him. His post about evolution and religion was especially insightful. He presents it in a very neutral way that few often take.
Finally, I ended the internet expoloration by checking out Mrs. Polselli's Grade 3 Wiki. It seems like a fairly basic wiki. She posts resources for both students and parents. I didn't find anything particularly insightful here, but that isn't necessarily the nature of a wiki. She uses it as a substitute for programs like D2L and BlackBoard. A good example to follow if needed.
Anyone else check these ones out?
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