Come to Bucheon this Friday!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Blog #8 Concept to Put into Practice
I have to admit, while I was excited about this course, I had no idea I would get so much out of it. The tools I've learned and the information I've absorbed in the last five weeks have been and will continue to be invaluable for my growth as a teacher, in turn creating a far better experience for my students.
The assignments we were given in this course were those which I can apply to my own classes. They were the type of assignments that forced the student to explore and discover skills he or she perhaps otherwise never would have. This left a true sense of ownership of the learning experience on the part of the student.
I think it is this 'student- centered' learning approach that I will be able to most benefit from. I've always said that my goal was to have as little as possible teacher talking time and more student interaction time. I believe putting into practice what I've learned will help me take that concept and make it a reality in my own classes.
The assignments we were given in this course were those which I can apply to my own classes. They were the type of assignments that forced the student to explore and discover skills he or she perhaps otherwise never would have. This left a true sense of ownership of the learning experience on the part of the student.
I think it is this 'student- centered' learning approach that I will be able to most benefit from. I've always said that my goal was to have as little as possible teacher talking time and more student interaction time. I believe putting into practice what I've learned will help me take that concept and make it a reality in my own classes.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Blog #7-New Tool for this Teacher's Shed!
During this course, I've acquired a number of good tools to help me enhance my teaching and hopefully my students' experience in my future classes. I would say my favorite would be having a better handle on iMovie, with knowledge of using Prezi coming in at a close second place. I have to admit, three plus years after having made the transition from PC to Mac, I still hadn't bothered to delve into the program at any depth-that is until this past weekend. The movie unit in this course has forced me to open the program up and have a go. And well, I love it! Here are a couple reasons why:
1. It's so easy!
I never realized how simple it could be to make a relatively high quality looking video. Whether involved in some sort of music video or the like, I've always just left the video 'stuff' to the video 'people'. However, with just a few hours of tinkering, and simply dragging clips into the timeline, I saw what was the beginning of a piece of video I might actually be proud to say I took part in making.
2. From, "Ah, I dunno." , to , " It looks pro!"
Well, maybe not 'pro', but the editing features in iMovie are ridiculously cool for a first-timer. Sure, at some point after using iMovie on numerous projects one might want to take the leap to something more comprehensive and in-depth like Final Cut Pro, for example. But for hobbyists, or teachers and students in this case, iMovie can't really be beat. Lori, my partner, and I were amazed with the results, even from the beginning of the editing process for our little vid. We took 28 minutes of footage from her camera and condensed it into a pretty decent looking 4 minutes.
I will more than likely be asking my students to create their own videos in the future. For an ESL class, it could be particularly fun and useful, taking something like role-play to a whole other level. What's more is that I could easily brief my students on the basics of iMovie (I hear Windows Movie Maker is very similar in its ease of use, and would almost certainly be what most of my class would be using due to the lack of Macs at my school, and the majority of Korean students having PCs at home). If I can do it, my students should have no problem. I'm looking forward to incorporating video-making into my future classes.
1. It's so easy!
I never realized how simple it could be to make a relatively high quality looking video. Whether involved in some sort of music video or the like, I've always just left the video 'stuff' to the video 'people'. However, with just a few hours of tinkering, and simply dragging clips into the timeline, I saw what was the beginning of a piece of video I might actually be proud to say I took part in making.
2. From, "Ah, I dunno." , to , " It looks pro!"
Well, maybe not 'pro', but the editing features in iMovie are ridiculously cool for a first-timer. Sure, at some point after using iMovie on numerous projects one might want to take the leap to something more comprehensive and in-depth like Final Cut Pro, for example. But for hobbyists, or teachers and students in this case, iMovie can't really be beat. Lori, my partner, and I were amazed with the results, even from the beginning of the editing process for our little vid. We took 28 minutes of footage from her camera and condensed it into a pretty decent looking 4 minutes.
I will more than likely be asking my students to create their own videos in the future. For an ESL class, it could be particularly fun and useful, taking something like role-play to a whole other level. What's more is that I could easily brief my students on the basics of iMovie (I hear Windows Movie Maker is very similar in its ease of use, and would almost certainly be what most of my class would be using due to the lack of Macs at my school, and the majority of Korean students having PCs at home). If I can do it, my students should have no problem. I'm looking forward to incorporating video-making into my future classes.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Blog #6-In response to Grant Wiggins' article, "Everything you know about curriculum may be wrong. Really."
I think the line,"All I know is that I don't know nothin'..." from the Operation Ivy tune , "Knowledge" describes at least in part what Grant Wiggins is wanting conventional writers of curricula(specifically K-12) to admit to. By listing example philosophies of famous scholars and educators alike, and using various analogies he takes a strong position in favor of curriculum reform.
In brief, he says the end goals of both traditional and non-traditional curricula are the same: to help us improve as people and live better in this ever-changing world. Unfortunately, the conventional curriculum is unsuccessful in doing so. He indicates that kids are bored and have no attention spans. He proposes the idea of a backward approach to learning, performance followed by knowledge as opposed to the traditional knowledge followed by performance. He compares his and others' philosophy to sports calling the curriculum the 'game'. You can't 'know' the game without actually playing and learning from experience. In contrast, conventional curriculum would propose that learning the rules and different plays beforehand are enough to know how to play. Similarly, he describes learning in the conventional curriculum as requiring a "didactic march through content." But then notes that if this is true, "why are movies and stories so memorable?"
I like what Wiggins has to say about curriculum reform. I think what he says certainly holds true in real life. I just think of a friend of mine who graduated with honors with an arts degree. Like many people though who decided to change their career path, he went to learn a trade. He had a lot of knowledge in his head after university but wasn't really sure where to go with it. So, he chose to change his path, and finds it very fulfilling both socially and economically. Kids don't have much of a choice of what or how to learn in the conventional learning environment. Maybe we should be giving them more choices, and chances to learn hands-on and cooperate and create with their peers at an earlier age instead of just letting them memorize dates and the like. Perhaps it would help them figure out their personal strengths, weaknesses and passions earlier on in life. This would help them be better prepared for real life challenges and confrontations, and just better off socially.
In brief, he says the end goals of both traditional and non-traditional curricula are the same: to help us improve as people and live better in this ever-changing world. Unfortunately, the conventional curriculum is unsuccessful in doing so. He indicates that kids are bored and have no attention spans. He proposes the idea of a backward approach to learning, performance followed by knowledge as opposed to the traditional knowledge followed by performance. He compares his and others' philosophy to sports calling the curriculum the 'game'. You can't 'know' the game without actually playing and learning from experience. In contrast, conventional curriculum would propose that learning the rules and different plays beforehand are enough to know how to play. Similarly, he describes learning in the conventional curriculum as requiring a "didactic march through content." But then notes that if this is true, "why are movies and stories so memorable?"
I like what Wiggins has to say about curriculum reform. I think what he says certainly holds true in real life. I just think of a friend of mine who graduated with honors with an arts degree. Like many people though who decided to change their career path, he went to learn a trade. He had a lot of knowledge in his head after university but wasn't really sure where to go with it. So, he chose to change his path, and finds it very fulfilling both socially and economically. Kids don't have much of a choice of what or how to learn in the conventional learning environment. Maybe we should be giving them more choices, and chances to learn hands-on and cooperate and create with their peers at an earlier age instead of just letting them memorize dates and the like. Perhaps it would help them figure out their personal strengths, weaknesses and passions earlier on in life. This would help them be better prepared for real life challenges and confrontations, and just better off socially.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
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