To exercise my left brain I completed a sudoku puzzle from the paper. This was the first item I did of the assignment and I really felt it kind of wake me up. When you have to sit down and do some deep problem solving it really does wake you up almost as good as any cup of coffee minus the jitters and crash.
For the right side of the brain I attempted to do a bunch of the puzzles listed on the site. After numerous attempts I came to the conclusion that I was either too tired or just not creative enough to complete barely any of them. I do not feel any more creative after attempting these puzzles, rather I feel quite the opposite. I almost feel defeated from the puzzles.
To cheer myself up from the multiple puzzle failures I read most of one of my Farside books. I believe the choice of material was very important because of rather than doing something that would simply make me laugh I chose the Farside because they are quite an intelligent cartoon. One has to think outside the box to understand them. Reading the Farside could be a combination of humor and right brain thinking.
For something inspirational I went back to my bookmarks on my computer from almost four years ago to an article from ESPN.com that spoke about game seven of the 2004 ALCS. Every once in a while I go back to that article to relive one of the greatest experiences in my life: the Red Sox winning the World Series. The article was released the day of game seven and gives me chills every time I read it. With only one day until pitchers and catchers report, I felt it was time to hype myself up for another Red Sox season.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
How to help someone use a computer
"By the time they ask you for help, they've probably tried several things. As a result, their computer might be in a strange state. This is natural."
When I was first starting to learn the ways of the computer I would get lost in it from messing around with all of the programs and items. For me at least, half the fun of getting lost was trying to find your way back to where you started. The same idea can happen when trying to fix something yourself rather than getting help from someone more knowledgeable. It's probably because their too stubborn or think that they're skills are better than they really are (like me). It should probably be stated in any technology class that they should not be afraid to ask questions or ask the teacher to slow down so they can keep up. It would probably also be recomended to the students that they CAN do more harm by trying to fix the problem themselves.
"Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower that way, and even if you have to point them to every key they need to type. That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction."
I am a very strong believer in the fact that everyone learns better by doing than following. You can point them to where you want them to go, but one should never actually do it for them. This is even more true when it comes to technology in the classroom. I think though that the problems that are listed on that page are slowly going to dwindle away because we are dealing with more and more digital natives.
We will be able to use most of this information because we are mostly digital immigrants and have not been using the technology for all of our lives so it is important that we do the best job possible at teaching this new information.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8821695360431543253
When I was first starting to learn the ways of the computer I would get lost in it from messing around with all of the programs and items. For me at least, half the fun of getting lost was trying to find your way back to where you started. The same idea can happen when trying to fix something yourself rather than getting help from someone more knowledgeable. It's probably because their too stubborn or think that they're skills are better than they really are (like me). It should probably be stated in any technology class that they should not be afraid to ask questions or ask the teacher to slow down so they can keep up. It would probably also be recomended to the students that they CAN do more harm by trying to fix the problem themselves.
"Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower that way, and even if you have to point them to every key they need to type. That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction."
I am a very strong believer in the fact that everyone learns better by doing than following. You can point them to where you want them to go, but one should never actually do it for them. This is even more true when it comes to technology in the classroom. I think though that the problems that are listed on that page are slowly going to dwindle away because we are dealing with more and more digital natives.
We will be able to use most of this information because we are mostly digital immigrants and have not been using the technology for all of our lives so it is important that we do the best job possible at teaching this new information.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8821695360431543253
Monday, February 11, 2008
other blogs
Type I and II definitions and examples:
http://joeltypesofteachnology.blogspot.com/
5 MEL examples:
http://joelmel08.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
http://joeltypesofteachnology.blogspot.com/
5 MEL examples:
http://joelmel08.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Friday, February 1, 2008
Focus The Nation
To learn more about global warming I decided to watch Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". I chose this film because I was always curious about it and wanted to see what all the hype was about. After viewing it though I will say that it may go down as history simply as one of the best PowerPoint presentation ever given. Though that's not to say I didn't learn anything.
1. That if the ice caps did melt off then 100 million people would have to find new homes.
2. Global warming is almost inevitable, the most we can do is simply delay it. We cannot rebuild the ozone, but at least we can slow the damage.
3. I also learned that humans as a whole are going to have to adapt in many and different ways if we have any chance in making a difference. It is not enough that either a small percentage are making big strides or that a large percentage are making little strides in the right direction. We need everyone to pull their own weight.
For how to help with global warming in the classroom I would show the impact it has had throughout history: changes in migration patters, ocean currents,etc. It would be interesting and fun to see how somethings as small as changes in ocean currents can effect so much. If the Atlantic current moves farther south, ships would have to change their courses, using more fuel. Animals would change their migration routes. Temperatures in northern Americas and Europe would lower. Yes, global warming will make the northern land areas much colder. I would probably try to show my student the most practical ways to help make a difference. I do not expect any of my students to go out and change the world individually, but as a whole, with enough common sense and information, maybe then they could make a difference. I believe that in the future, this topic is going to pop up more and more and it will be our jobs as teachers to help the next generation as much as possible.
1. That if the ice caps did melt off then 100 million people would have to find new homes.
2. Global warming is almost inevitable, the most we can do is simply delay it. We cannot rebuild the ozone, but at least we can slow the damage.
3. I also learned that humans as a whole are going to have to adapt in many and different ways if we have any chance in making a difference. It is not enough that either a small percentage are making big strides or that a large percentage are making little strides in the right direction. We need everyone to pull their own weight.
For how to help with global warming in the classroom I would show the impact it has had throughout history: changes in migration patters, ocean currents,etc. It would be interesting and fun to see how somethings as small as changes in ocean currents can effect so much. If the Atlantic current moves farther south, ships would have to change their courses, using more fuel. Animals would change their migration routes. Temperatures in northern Americas and Europe would lower. Yes, global warming will make the northern land areas much colder. I would probably try to show my student the most practical ways to help make a difference. I do not expect any of my students to go out and change the world individually, but as a whole, with enough common sense and information, maybe then they could make a difference. I believe that in the future, this topic is going to pop up more and more and it will be our jobs as teachers to help the next generation as much as possible.
WEB 2.0 Educator
I chose to do Wes Fryer, the man moving at the speed of creativity. His specialty his always being at the forefront of anything and everything that is creative learning. He believes that we are in the most exciting age of earth history for anyone with ideas because at this point in human history, one merely needs to make a blog, or podcast from their living room and they can share it with anyone and everyone across the world. A few of his blogs are just notes he took down in a conference or a meeting. While his presence at the meeting may not be immediately felt, once he blogs about it he really tries to reinforce the ideas that were presented. In one of his blogs he was learning more about the FOSS science curriculum. In the presentation, they said that when a school picks up FOSS there should be one kit per teacher. I will try to explain what FOSS is from my limited researching, FOSS is a tool used from K-8, with a hands-on style of learning. unfortunately the only way to see what it actually does is to have an account with FOSSweb. But from snooping around i discovered that there is a FOSS activity for almost every area of sciences in every grade level. In Fryer's blog they show how they traced out a mountain with topographic map from Google earth then, for each contour line cut out a piece of foam, stacked them on top of each other and build a 3-D map.
In another blog Fryer writes about how we should not be discouraged from using mobile phones for learning. I thought that this idea was amazing. Usually when you want to adapt something from real life, you make sure that everyone has access to it. We started using computers when almost everyone had one. Now we use podcasts because of the convenience. When you think about it, why haven't been using mobile phones in the classroom. We know that every kid has one, and even if they didn't it would not be hard for the school to get a rental track phone to rent, much like how schools loan out calculators in math class. Doing this would be help the kids participate and interact, which is the most important things for learning according to Fryer.
In another blog Fryer writes about how we should not be discouraged from using mobile phones for learning. I thought that this idea was amazing. Usually when you want to adapt something from real life, you make sure that everyone has access to it. We started using computers when almost everyone had one. Now we use podcasts because of the convenience. When you think about it, why haven't been using mobile phones in the classroom. We know that every kid has one, and even if they didn't it would not be hard for the school to get a rental track phone to rent, much like how schools loan out calculators in math class. Doing this would be help the kids participate and interact, which is the most important things for learning according to Fryer.
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