Reflection on the Post Below

I have recently been acclimated to graphic organizers...ONLINE, that is. I have been using them off and on during my schooling. Throughout my search, I have noticed a lot of templates that are offered for a teacher's convenience. Graphic organizers are one thing that have few cons.

Graphic organizers are both creative and help students to continue to foster the trait. They let students make observations, brainstorm, make prototype hypotheses, and implement/apply their lessons to life (which are the four major elements of creativity by the way...). In this case, graphic organizers are especially important for brainstorming. It encourages a student community instead of working individually and attempting to mash all ideas together. In this, organizers are more smooth, whether they are passed out or shipped through the projector at the front of the classroom.

Actually, I'm beginning to see that graphic organizers really shout out to the American values: efficiency, practicality, structure (don't all cultures love this?), speed. Not simply because it is technological, yet organizers can save time while piqueing to student's interests and learning needs.

Since there are so many types, I think a teacher could use many graphic organizers routinely. In my field of Literature, I could use organizers concerning vocabulary, timeline, relationships, words vs. ideas, fact and opinion, and so on. I had a teacher in high school that used the idea web every single day in his classroom.

I LIKED THIS A LOT!

People would think that is repetitive and no longer useful. But take note, friends! The method is repeated, the ideas are new. Students are not learning the same things, they are just using a proven method.

As for me, I would use graphic organizers heavily for group projects. For instance, I would assign groups to invent their own story through a prototype storyboard. In other news, I would use word-webs and idea maps to push kids off their apathetic stools and compel them to contribute. No more staggering lack of response, as teachers all discover. Find ways where kids are not only needing to contribute, but want to. To boot, use methods where instructions are clear so they may be able to provide some feedback.

A Little Mind-Mapping

A Teaching Tool

Start the tunes!





http://musictheory.net/trainers/html/id90_en.html

Voice thread

Embed Link #3

For this last link, it is purely hypothetical. I imagined as if my class was in the middle of reading a novel taking place in Dubai, India. Though the story is fictional, the places and events are real events. I would research a map of India and make some doodles to explain different parts of the story. I pretended that the student who was aiming to be a biochemist had no vehicle. Therefore, he would walk from his school (point A) to the laboratory (point B) everyday. Then, as the sad story turns out, the medicine that he offers to the community turns out to be malignant, causing mini-plagues in the surrounding hospitals. Rather creative, eh? And the map would give students a good picture of the real place!

Embed Link #2

This flowchart is a neat and perfect aid to make a successful discussion forum. The content can speak for itself. It is a wonderful visual that allows each student to know where the lesson is headed.

Embed Link #1

This is a survey I could give my students at the beginning of the year. It would start class out with a creative lesson in certain areas. It would also give me a good picture of the general attitude of the incoming class along with their learning styles so I can best serve them.

A Fun Story

A Possible Assignment

This fine looking rubric would provide wonderful clarity for students looking to score highly on this assignment. As a teacher, I definitely fail if my assignments keep cycling in the same redundancy. I shall need novelty and relevance. Perhaps I could assign a paper, poetry, have the students write a short play script, pass out those envious wordsearches, do something technological (!), or assign this timeline project. I have just finished reading My Name is Asher Lev in my World Literature class and I thoroughly enjoyed. So, I pretended as if I would have my English class read it and now we are in the "follow-up" process. All the have to do is nab some huge butcher paper and chart up the sequences of the book. However, they will find that they will need to douse those empty spaces with creativity. This could be completed with drawings, online printouts, etc. However, they will also see a requirement for neatness; simply tarting up pictures with the famous scotch tape may not win too many points. Overall, this is an assignment that I may give part of a day to work on in class. Hypothetically, I would notify them of the assignment on a Monday and have it due for Thursday or Friday.

An Educational Opportunity

I took this picture in light of my "specialty": English. Luckily, art falls in the category easily and pictures are great for stirring the imagination. I could use this in classroom mainly as an assignment. I could have students write a poem about the woman's emotion or assign a short story that involves the man and the woman. Plenty of combinations are at play here...

How to post a blog

The Instructional Assignment

I went to play practice for 7 hours...from 10 am til 5 pm...it was busy but oh so fun.

I smile when I think about...

From Thisby's Travails

I learn a lot.

I'm Made of Preference

I just took some surveys...and the irony of these surveys was that I had been learning about their topics-multiple intelligences and learning styles-for a while yet I never concretely decided what mine was. This is why I love being assigned to little duties like these!

Well, let's begin with my first survey: Multiple Intelligences. 40 questions later I come to find out that I have a bent towards musical and linguistic. I'm tune smart and word smart. And for that personality review, I have a bit more of the interpersonal, yet it's pretty balanced with intrapersonal. I'd hope it's that nice balance where I can handle being alone yet enjoy being others. Anyways, do these results ring true in everyday life? I would say a nice yes. I have been regarded as a "walking dictionary" and I'm always thinking of ideas instead of facts. Unless, the idea that I am thinking about is a reality, which would be a fact...oh philosophy. And I love music too! I expand my genre and playlists almost daily and I do a lot of composing as well. However, I find that sometimes when I study, music doesn't help me. I enjoy the music too much and get distracted from my work! But songs and jingles are also helpful to memorize things and what not.

Now, how could my preferences affect my students? Very easily, I'm afraid. It has already been my thought to have music playing as students enter and exit. But especially for the linguistic part of things, this could pose a problem. I am perfectly fine with using words to create pictures. Truthfully, making painstakingly neat diagrams doesn't sound delicious to me. Still, I will need to adjust this in order that students (almost all a majority of visual learners) will be able to learn better. To counteract, I will have to use technology, video, and visual objects to create another component to learning.

Time for the other survey: Learning style. Actually, I didn't really understand the scale, but I can speculate a little bit...or after reading the explanation, everything makes sense now! In a quick list, I am an active, intuitive, verbal sequential learner. However, I am well-balanced in the areas of active-reflective learning and sequential-global. It all seems to make sense (duh, it's a professional study). For the intuitive and verbal bit, I tend to internalize ideas before I act them out, and I do a lot of thinking in words...Ask my friends! I'm not concise at all! To answer the previous questions, my best response is that I am content of my balance for sequential and global learning. This area defines those who learn in great big jumps or those who live in steps. I should say I keep these pretty well balanced: inductive vs. deductive, general vs. specific, parts vs. whole.

It seems that my philosophy of teaching is pretty comprehensive in including students to learn proficiently. However, my method will always need tweaking. I can't just give kids a theory no matter how much I love thinking about one, I need to be able to offer them a practice. In the end, this will keep my classroom relevant.

Saying Why I Chose Education

Well, to be honest, when I think about teaching, I don't get instantly emotional thinking about the prospect. I think this is an advantage. Maybe it assures me I'm being sober-minded and not just choosing from a season in my life. Apparently, the passion and reason that I want to become a teacher comes deeply from my will instead of the nervous system.

People just so happen to be very intriguing. They also can be amusing, annoying, avariciously stubborn, auspicious, or amiable. These descriptors just proved that they aren't machines, and I couldn't simply work with machines. For the ratio of working between people and computers, humans need to be the majority. Education provides that.

And I don't think it is unreasonable to say that I have certain gifts that align well with the vocation. I am able to communicate in an appealing way to students, I have an earnest desire to be a counselor and grow them up to be able citizens and humble servants (depending where I am placed).

However, there are some who just love the kids but simply cannot help them. It's time to stop leaving kids apathetic. It is also time to admit that sometimes our teaching philosophies will need revamping and our lesson plans will turn archaic twenty years down the road. Relevance is key. And in my opinion, education lacks one resolute virtue: Critical Thinking! It is definitely promoted, but it is barely manufactured. Formal education structures learning to look for "one right answer." We live in a world that is a tapestry of different experiences and perspectives.

I want to use English and Drama-two very metaphorical arenas-and challenge students to observe real-life applications and apply them accordingly. I don't happen to only have a passion for the subject area, but also for the students themselves; I'd like them to live abundantly and be able to know they are.

Whether we need to reform things a little bit or to hold on to those academic ideals, the educational forum requires new insights to keep teaching compelling and thinkers competent. I aim to provide that.

Beginners

This is a good first post