EMD613 Week 3 Free response blog

Topic #1: Briefly share any experiences you’ve had when you’ve had a part in introducing a new program or a new way to do things at your job site. Please share any triumphs or frustrations you’ve had trying to improve the system or when you’ve pioneered or piloted some outside the norm.

This is easy for me because I’m the one at my school that is alway trying out something new. What I find is that some of my fellow teachers, love trying new things and some hate it. Most of the teachers I work with are very supportive of me trying new things as long as it does not mean they have to try something new. Well this year I introduced a program that came to be called, “summer school now”. It is basically, having student come in on a Saturday for four hours to make up work they missed to try and improve their grade so that they did not fail the class and therefor have to take summer school. As I expected, some teacher thought is was great and some did not like it. The ones that did like it, did like it because they did not feel they had the time to do another program to give student yet another break, when we already give them so many breaks already. Well when it was adjusted so that it did not really required that much more of the other teacher time they became much more supportive. We did the program and it was a great success. Now we are offering the program after each of the six week grading periods and the best thing is the teacher are now getting paid for the extra time they are spending on the program. It tool a lot of work to get started and there was the risk that it would not be successful but if we don’t try we’ll never know.

EMD613 Week 3 Project of the Week

I want to start out by saying, "I HATE WORD COUNTS ON ASSIGNMENTS !!!" I remember when I was in high school, I would struggle to find extra words so I could get to the word count that was needed for the assignment. Well this weeks project was the summary page and the word count needed to be 500-700 words. I got the summary page finished and submitted. I think it looks good but it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. The problem for me was not getting 500 words but instead the problem was staying under 700 words. My first draft was over 1200 words. The 2nd draft was about 900 words and the final draft was still about 800 words. I really did not want to leave out any of the content in the final draft but I still needed to cut another 100 words. Finally want I had to do was take out all the extra little words and do some clean up and I got the word count down to where I needed it to be. The process was frustrating, I found myself reading the summary over and over again till I was so frustrated. I just could not find any shorter way to say what I needed to say. Now I face the same issue with the final presentation. It may be too long or it may be too short. This is why I really hate word counts on assignment.

EMD613 Week 3 Response to Karlene

Karlene Young Wk 3 Project frustrations – Long windedness

I have a problem with being a little too prolific. I had all the ins and outs of my summary completed then I realized I hadn’t checked the word count. I had over 1300 words and it’s supposed to be 500-700 words. Yikes! Now the opposite problem faces me. I found a site I would like to send an article to for publication. It can only be 500-700 words, but Full Sail’s requirements say 2000 words for the publication project. ARGG!!! Help, my edit button is on overload. Any suggestions fellow students?

EMD613 Week 3 Response to Taylor

wk3 leadership project-Oh boy

Here I sit, still staring at the overwhelming task of getting something published. I know I could bang out an article. That's not the problem. It's just that right now there are so many other things that are being demanded of me from this program, my other masters program, work, my life outside of these other areas, that I just haven't had time to focus. I think a personal day will be in order to devote time to that. Perhaps this week. Perhaps tomorrow. It's tough, but I will get this done.

EMD613 Week 3 Reading The Spark

I’ve often explained to my student’s that, “at some point in life you will have to decide if you will just make money or you will make a difference”. I made that choice when I chose teaching over the world of high finance. For me, teaching science is only a tool to get me in the door, what I really hope to teach student are the lesson of life that are far more important than any science lesson. The idea of, “Enrollment” is one of those life lessons. I love how the author put it, in his ended statement of the chapter, when he refers to Enrollment as lighting a spark from person to person, scattering light in all directions. This for me is what teaching offers, a chance to light spark in the future generation. Just this pass Friday, I was speaking to a group of students is one of my classes about the fact that so many of their classmates seem to have this attitude of indifference. This is one of the greatest challenges facing this current generation. So many students don’t have a spark for anything. This is what makes the idea of Enrollment such an important idea we must help this generation to check the sparks that will become the future issue that they will choose to stand for. I believe this is the most important job that any teacher can do.

EMD613 Week 2 Project of the Week

Week 3 Project, AR SUMMARY

A summary, is a shorter version of the original. It is suppose to help the readers to understand what the original work. But with the AR Project I'm not sure a brief summary can give a reader a good understanding of the process of my AR project. I feel confident that I can complete a summary of my work and accomplish the goal of the summary page of the AR website but I'm not sure that my summary page will be a good representation of what I want readers to know about my AR project. It will be difficult to put into a short summary page all of the factors that went into my AR project. Again I understand that much of what I'm making reference to here will be contained more in a reflection rather than a summary page. My concern is that if the reader uses the summary page to decide if they want to spend the time to read the rest of my pages on my AR website, then the summary page will not do the job that I want it to do. I know that this is no the job that we are being asked to do with this page but I also know that this is often the method that I use to decide if I'm interested in spending time full exploring the content of a website. I guess it is possible that this is not the case with other people so I will trust the process and put anyway my concerns. Maybe I can add some content to one of my pages to accomplish the task of hooking the reader. Possibly the welcome page. The format and content of my welcome page was produced very early on in my AR project so it may be appropriate to make some changes to this page to better reflect my AR project and hook the reader interest in my AR website.

EMD613 Week 2 Free response blog

CD Ownership, Music Sharing or Spontaneous Listening

Well when it comes to music I have come from tape to CD and now mostly I used MP3, as for where I get my MP3 I say mostly from Peer-to-Peer networks like Lime Wire or if someone just sends me a MP3. I have also gotten a few songs from Itunes but not many because I don’t like to pay for my music. I did get a bunch (about 75 songs) for free from a service called e-music. There gave me one of those free trails where you get to keep 75 downloads even is you don’t keep the service. I thought that was real cool.
As far as how I use music, mostly I find myself listening to music when I workout at the gym. Often I listen to music with Pandora, using my iphone. I really like how they choose songs for you based on the songs you have already listened to.
I also listen to praise and worship music which really helps me feel closer to God. Music in general is important to me but I don’t get to spend as much time listening as I would like.

EMD613 Week 2 Comment on Bonita Blair blog posting

Bonita said: I would have to say that I am a CD collector more than any of the other selections listed above. It isn’t that I’m not interested in music; it’s taken up a big part of my life. More often than not, I am a movie watcher, and I listen intently to the soundtracks of movies I watch. Also, I am one of those annoying people who hum constantly, and in no specific order. I think in music sometimes, trying to match snips of phrases I hear with lyrics to songs I know. For example, in my previous life, I often had to give motivational speeches to groups of sales managers. Sales were down, so to motivate the group I rewrote the lyrics to the music of the song “Fame,” and turned it into a song for “Sales.” Everyone in the conference hall had to sing it, and one of the vice presidents ran to get the president of the company to hear us sing for “Sales.” He thought we were all nuts, I am sure, but he appreciated the idea.

Gary Commented:

Good idea to have people sing for motivation, I often have my students sing both for motivation and just for laughs. I find that chemistry can be a stressful subject for some student and adding a song to the middle of a stressful time in class really helps.

THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010 - 07:34 PM

EMD613 Week 2 Comment on GLStrom blog posting

The ability to give seems such a rewarding experience that you would imagine being done by everyone on a daily basis. After all, we all appreciate receiving, but of course that doesn't occur without giving on the other end. As enjoyable an experience as it can be, it is not something all of us do consistently. In chapter three of The Art of Possibility the authors reflect on this practice by suggesting that we give A's so people have the room to realize themselves. I must admit that to me the most valuable thing we have to give is our time, and I feel people generally appreciate this. I never placed much emphasis on giving grades for the theater and photography I taught because it is quite impossible to put a letter or number on artistic expression. What is measured is the caring, time, improvement, ability and finally presentation of final work. They shared their gift with me as I did them, and the anxiety of taking chances and competing with others was minimized. Another important part of education is giving students the ability to overcome fears and believe in themselves and their abilities. When I consider where these fears come from I come back to the fact that what people worry about is not measuring up,about making mistakes and ultimately, about being judged. One of the greatest compliments a student ever shared with me was her love of my class because it was the one time a day where she didn't feel judged. In sports, classes, lunch, at home and at work she felt like she always had to perform to measure up lest she fail. She admits to always being anxious because that wasn't really her, and in my class the mask came off and she was able to be herself. Eight years later she let me know how much that meant to her and how she will never forget how it felt. She gave me one of the reward of teaching we all hear about and hope for, and while can never spend are priceless.

EDM613 Week 2 central self

The idea that deep within all of us is a central self has all the markings of a King Arthur and the Knights of the round table tale, the problem I see fear is that it's just that a tale. It's not that I don't believe in the possibility of a central self that's better than the one that the world sees on most days it's more that I have a hard time believing that this central self is the real part of you that wants to get out. And even more unbelievable is the author's assertion that accessing a central self is as simple a process as he describes in his book. In the story he told about the two business partners and their conflict about the contract and how he was able to resolve that by accessing their central selves was for me a little unbelievable. I had our time coming to grips with how easily they were changed from the self-centered self-absorbed man that he initially described into the ultra-mistake Cooperative central self people that they became all in less than an hour. Again not that I don't believe that humans are striving to become better than they are and that the goal of all this shouldn't be gain access to your central self but for most people this is an lifetime journey and not one that can be made in less than an hour.

This being said I love Rule Number 6, to be able after oneself is a critical skill that everyone needs to learn but it is especially important if you're going to teach at today's high schools. Many times I find myself bouncing between entertaining my students and educating my students and the art of good entertainment involves the ability to be able to make jokes often times at the expense of yourself. If I find myself taking the life of teaching to serious it can become very depressing and frustrating very quickly so the ability to take things lighthearted and not so serious is indeed a skill that I value.

Today I spoke to a few key people at my school about the possiblity of using Udutu to create our own learning module. I was putting out some feelers and WOW was I surprised at how positive the response was. First thet were all suprised they you could even do this, they really had no idea that this kind of thing was possible. Second and more important, they though it was a great idea, they could think of serveral ways that the school as well as the district could use these online Learning modules. They really loved the idea of having local control over the content and how the content was presented. They also loved the idea that this could all be done for free. I think they are still a little sceptical about the free part. But they gave me some contact info for some people at the district office and encouraged me to contact them. I'm still try to feel out the best way to approach people at the district level with this. I know that the way you approach people can sometimes make a difference. More to come but this is a great start.

EMD613 Week 1 Free Choice Blog Posting

EMD613 Media Asset Creation:

Here are my first thought about this months course. I’m going to take a risk and maybe trash my grade up front by blogging about my first thoughts on the current course I find myself. I need to preface my comments by admitting that I had some preconception about this month’s course going into the course. It was suggested to me, by a source I choose not to reveal, that this months course was going to be all about putting together our AR project and the website that goes with the AR project. This same source even suggested to me that I not worry about completing my AR website prior to this months course because there would be time to spend on my AR website during this months course. With this in mind I came into this month excepting to put behind me all the extra stuff we usually have to do and be able to focus on my AR project. So I was quite disappointed when I found out about all the extra non-AR requirements for this months course. Had I not had expectation going into the course I would not have felt this way but none-the-less this is where I’m at and because I like most everyone else am working for the grade, will work long and hard to complete all the assignments on time and to the best of my abilities. On a positive note, I was glad to see that the CD added a due date message to FSO because I was/am very confused about what is due when. For example, I had no idea that the 5 blog posting where all due by tonight at midnight. I got on today and just happened to check the announcements and saw the due date announcement and when I checked it, WOW I had some work to do. So anyway this is where I am at, I know some of you have comments about this so be brave and let me know.

EMD613 Week 1 Weekly Project AR Status

EMD613 Week 1 Comment on Katherine Pine blog posting

The book, The Art of Possibility has a lot to say about life in general and how we approach it. I can definitely see how these ideals can be incorporated and used in an educational setting as well. I think it is overly important that everyone sees possibilities instead of barriers. Think of all of the issues that are around us that we wish we could do something about and this sort of learned helplessness that society is in that feels like there’s nothing one person can really do to make changes, so why try? This book is telling us all to try. To put aside the measurements and designs of a society that would hold us back by regimenting and exacting how and what can be done. Instead, we need to step in and say, anything can be done.
With this in mind, the idea of giving yourself an A means that there is no longer a measure of your success over your head and you can be free to test yourself, challenge yourself, and surprise yourself. It is not about the destination, but the journey as said before. It’s time to move beyond the expectations of a grade for any area in which you are learning and accept the real-life consequences and effects as the whole sum of what you are learning and to put value in that.

SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2010
1 COMMENT
GARY MILTON
I agree and would add to what you have said by saying that some of life greatest lesson can only be learn through failure or at least what the world would label as failure. I think it is time to change what we label as failure. I have often told my students that the only person who fails is the person who refuses to try. Because if you refuse to try you have denied yourself the chance to success and more importantly to learn. We must begin to reach past what we know is true to what we think could be true. We need to dare to dream and then reach for that dream with the expectation that we have in us what it takes to make that dream come true.
SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010 - 05:37 PM

EMD613 Week 1 Comment on Rita Martinez blog posting

I think this idea of granting others A’s would go far in helping to re-establish respectful interactions in the world today. It seems like too many people are not open to perspectives that are different from their own. The idea of tolerance got twisted somewhere along the way to mean that others need to tolerate me, but I don’t need to tolerate others. I am not trying to make a blanket statement and say that everyone is like this, but whether you are in a classroom or at the doctor’s office or at the store, it does seem to be that there is more of an air of disrespect for other human beings than respect.

I attended a training today about safety protocol at the community college where I work. We went over things like what to do in the case of emergency situations, like a hostage taker or active shooter on campus, and how to handle disruptive students in the classroom. During the presentation, the Dean of Students mentioned that the many of the problems in higher education today are because the students are not respectful to each other, to faculty, to staff, to security, to administration, and even sometimes to themselves. He said that many of the students that are attending the school operate under the assumption that they own the process and the faculty and staff. They don’t have to (and are not going to) do what is asked of them. Now, I am not saying that I believe that this is true of all students, but I would agree that there has been a shift in the mentality of the student population at large.

I do try to operate by giving my students or others that I encounter A’s, I just wish it felt like more people were operating with the same motivation.

Gary Milton

I understand what you are saying here and I totally agree. I experience this quite often at the high school that I work at. I hear quite a bit from students that, I (the teacher) get in trouble if students don't pass the teacher class. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are saying here but I think it goes toward the general mentally of today students, that they own the system and they can do what the wish. However that being said, I don't want to let the student's attitude determine my attitude. I see this a lot with others that I work with. I think the the idea behind giving people an "A" is not to give the "A" so that you can get the same back from them but instead to free yourself to partner with them and not have to stand as their judge. I find that the truth is, most of the time my student's action are not about me and therefor my student's action should never dictate my response. This is easy to say and hard to do but it is my goal.

Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 03:19 PM

EMD613 Week 1: Giving An "A"

"In the realm of possibility, the literal or figurative giving of an A aligns teacher with student", this quote from Zander's book, "The Art of Possibility" define the goal of teaching for me. I love partnering with my students on the journey of discovery that chemistry offers. But all to often I find myself falling short of this goal and this is where another of the many great messages from this book, the message of giving yourself an A, should serve as a reminder of the real meaning behind the expression, giving an A. I often find myself telling my students, "you are more than the grade that you have in my class" and on the good days I find myself really believing this and this belief changes everything. The two students in the picture to the left are both below average students but on this day we were on a quest together to discover the answer to a chemistry question. We were partner, "in an effort to produce an outcome"(Zander, 2000).

All to often teacher's find themselves so focused on the grades a student has that they forget to notice the student behind the grade. I know I have been guilty but this last semester a personal tragedy with one of my students reminded me of the importance of the relationship with the students. It was the beginning of a long weekend for the students but the teacher's were not off, we were required to be at school for training and a teacher workday. The training began that day with an announcement of a fatal car accident that involved several students from our school. One of my students was sitting next to a young boy who died in the accident. After the shock I drop everything to go visit with this student and make sure she knew that I was there for her. I was amazed that her first concern was that she would miss school and get behind in my class. The words that I spoke next changed everything for our relationship, I told her, "somethings are more important than school" and you are one of those things. She understood, she would always have an A with me no matter what her grade in my class. I really love when my relationships with my students progress to this point but for most students it takes almost the whole school year before we get to this point. The message of the first three chapter of Zander's book, "The Art of Possibility" is that this can be a paradigmatic shift toward a non-judgmental lifestyle.

Test. This is a test to make sure this works. I have set up my phone to be able to send post to my blogger blog. This is very cool. So let see if it works.