I LOVE MY ED PSYCH GROUP!

Collaborativeness: What makes for a highly effective team or group? How is collaboration different than group work or cooperative learning?

I am not sure what it is but my educational psych group is the definition of collaborative work.  Each one of us bring a unique and different perspective to our group.  But most importantly we all listen to each other and treat each other with respect.  An effective group listens to one another and incorporates everyones ideas into the outcome of a project.  Also every group member contributes evenly to the work.  Collaboration is different than cooperation because no one feels as if they need to compromise because our ideas work off of one another.  We WANT to use each others ideas and we all RESPECT each other.

Lecture Reflection #2

On October 7^th 2010 Drew Curtis gave a lecture titled, “It’s Not News, It’s Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News.”  The Lecture took place in Valders Hall of Science, Room 206.  While Drew Curtis was here to give the lecture he was also here celebrating his 15^th year reunion since graduating from Luther College.  Having Drew Curtis speak is the beginning of the celebration for Luther College’s sesquicentennial celebration, and there attempts to bring back Luther College alumni to speak on lectures regarding the idea of “a journey.”  Drew Curtis’s lecture discussed his journey with news, and how he has seen news turn into “Fark.”   Drew Curtis is seen as having credibility in the media field not because he is a reporter but as a media publicist he has created the well known website, www.fark.com, and is the author of It’s Not News, It’s Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News, published in 2007.  Not only did his book and website give him credibility, but he is also a respected graduate of Luther College.
I am now 20 years old, I did not have a cell phone until I was about to go into high school (and that was early compared to most of my friends).  The internet was also not as easily accessible as it is today.  When I was in eighth grade I was a bus buddy to a the kindergartners on the bus.  I can still remember one girl who already had her own computer and cell phone.  Today's generation is being exposed to media at much quicker pace than my generation was, and that was only about 15 years ago.  More importantly we need to understand what outside knowledge students are bringing into the classroom. Where is their news source coming from? Is it even a reputable source?  These are all essential questions, because children are in the stage of their life where they are defining who they are and setting habits that will follow them throughout their life.  It is important that we make changes in our teaching style to accommodate students way of learning about what is going on in the world.  Teach how to find reputable sources and look for important information that will serve them a purpose in the future.

Lecture Reflection #1

Michael Sandel spoke earlier this year at Luther College.  His lecture was titled "The Lost Art of Democratic Argument: Can We Reason together about Values Without Rancor and Incivility?"  Sandel is a professor at Harvard, but is known world wide for his lectures and his engaging dialogue with the audience as he attempts to rationalize "What's the Right Thing To Do?"  While his lecture was very interesting, and informative; what I took from his lecture most of all was his ability to engage the audience. I have attended many lectures this semester, and to be honest many times I find it hard to stay focused, due to the fact that speakers sometimes disengage from the audience while they are speaking.  However Sandel's lecture required the audience to formulate their own opinion and ideas.  Throughout the lecture he proposed a variety of "what would you do" questions that required the audience to really reflect on their own decision making process.  An example of this is when he asked the audience if they would push a man in front of a train to save a larger group of people, and whatever you chose to do how would you rationalize your decision.  While this is a pretty extreme scenario his questions required deeper level thinking.  

A lot of times in the educational classroom students are disengaged from the content that they are being taught.  They are required to listen and take in as much information as they possibly can.  This causes the art of analyzing and thinking of individual ideas and beliefs to be lost.  While I am not saying that classrooms should every day teach the way that Sandel spoke, I do believe that from his lecture I can learn and better understand the importance of engaging my future students with the material that I am teaching them.  We need to teach students to form their own thoughts and conclusions, and this will only come from discussion and interaction with others, and not just sitting and listening in a desk day after day.

I encourage everyone to check out his web page:

http://justiceharvard.org/

Click on the link to increase your own understanding.  BE INTRINSICALLY MOTIVATED!

Humility... That still exists?

Humility: When was the last time you were wrong?  How does a teacher strike the balances between confidence and genuine humility.


The last time I was wrong... More times than I would like to admit.  I think the most recent time I was wrong was when I was planning on going somewhere with a group of friends and I said I was positive it was at a certain time, and of course it was not.  It was hard to admit I was wrong I first checked the time I had written down and then the website, I had wrote down the wrong time.  I think humility is a undeveloped skill in todays competitive society.  In a classroom students look up to what their teachers do, they may even mimic the teachers behavior.  Therefore it is important for teachers to teach skills like humility through their actions.  A teacher should not be afraid to admit when they are wrong.  I remember being in a classroom in my earlier school years.  The teacher had made an error when calculating a math problem on the board, one of the students pointed out the mistake.  They teacher became flustered and when the student tried to prove their point they were given a detention.  If teachers are not willing to except their own mistakes how can we expect students to admit their own?  When students make a mistake in the classroom as well as teachers we need to make it a learning opportunity rather than something to be ashamed about.  Also that the world will continue to spin even when you do make mistakes.  Also I believe that it is also important to acknowledge accomplishments, but at the same time not going overboard because when we celebrate to many accomplishments it lowers the importance of the acknowledgement of the accomplishment.  We need to find a balance in the classroom, for the teacher and the student.  Honesty is crucial to humility, students should learn to reflect on their actions just as teachers reflect on their teaching.

Got Passion?

Passion: Can you recall a time that you became more interested in a subject because of the teacher's enthusiasm?  Or, have you had an experience where you loved a subject but the teacher's lack of enthusiasm impacted negatively your interest and learning?

I have always loved art, whether it be on my own or in a classroom.  However over the years the times when I became more invested in spending time on my artwork was when I had a teacher that really taught with passion.  When I was in high school I had an art teacher that was very passionate about what she was teaching us.  She would show us her artwork, and you could tell how passionate she was about the subject just by listening to her talk about it. She would also challenge and encourage our levels of creativity.  After taking her class I was able to develop a greater love of art.

However when I was in middle school I had an art teacher who you could tell was not passionate about her teaching or was so exhausted with dealing with problems that occurred in class that she had lost a lot of her motivation in the classroom.  This impacted the level of creativity in the classroom and the overall class experience.
Students ability to tell if a teacher is passionate about a subject is greatly underestimated.  It is important that teachers always bring passion to what they are teaching!

Authenticity!

Authenticity:  How do you know where your limits are for expressing authenticity?  How can students tell if a teacher is not authentic?  What are the ramifications for learning if a teacher is seen as a "fake" or not authentic with students?

I think it is great having new ideas, thinking of new ways to learn and explore a topic, but when does expressing authenticity go to far.  Authenticity is great in a classroom as long as it is serving a purpose, is it helping students learn new ways and fostering more great ideas or is it distracting from the main point of the lesson.  If students begin to see there teacher as not authentic and genuine they will probably not pay much attention to what the teacher has to say.  Kids are usually very attentive to the character of a person and will likely be able to tell when a teacher is not being authentic.  

Compassion

Compassion: When did the compassion of a teacher make a difference in your life or in the life of your classmate?

When I was in high school my Grandmother passed away.  This was a very challenging time in my life and I can remember my theology teacher showing me a lot of compassion by taking the time to help catch me back up.  She was also someone that you could just go talk to.  I remember her not just as a good teacher but as a good person that truly wanted to help her students. This made a difference to me because I was able to have help from someone at school who wanted to help me through a hard time.  She showed that she cared about her students.