Category Archives: Class Discussion Related

Teaching at MUMS

Last Friday, Meg and I had the pleasure of teaching an 8th grade computer class at the MUMS. It was a great experience and I think Meg and I did a great job. The title of our lesson was “Communication and Collaboration: How to Use Facebook and Twitter…Educationally.” We talked about how Facebook and Twitter can be used to collaborate with classmates outside of the classroom. Specifically, we taught them how to create groups, ask questions, and share information on Facebook. We taught them about following informative accounts on Twitter and using a class hashtag.

Our lesson plan was pretty simple. Our hook was a cool online pool, exactly like the one we had in DML, in which we asked about their Facebook and Twitter use. Jan, the teacher or the class, told us that most of the kids used Facebook and Twitter but our poll proved otherwise. Only a few kids used each. Jan told she thought they weren’t being honest in the poll. The majority of our teaching was done with a powerpoint. Once Meg and I introduced a new topic, we would have the kids discuss with a neighbor if they have used any of these before or what they could use them for in the future. This happened two or three times. At the end of the powerpoint we had the kids get in small groups and talk about a recent group project they were assigned and how these new tools could be used to collaborate outside the class room.

That took us about 22 minutes so we had eight minutes left for our activity. The day before teaching Meg bought a beach ball and wrote all of these scenarios on it with a sharpie. We had the kids throw the ball to each other and read the scenario closest to them out loud and then tell the class how they would use Facebook and Twitter to solve their situation. It was actually a lot of fun and it took the perfect amount of time.

I took a few things away from this experience. The first of which is that you should never underestimate the power of a beach ball in classroom. It is both an amazing tool and potentially dangerous tool as well. As soon as we brought out the ball, all of the students faces lit up. It kept their attention for the whole activity as well. Having said that, one kid did hit a light fixture pretty hard and two girls were hit in the face, but nothing was broken and no one left unhappy.

To add to the silly things that I learned: don’t stand in front of the projector. Duh.

I also learned to be on my toes. Being able to adjust a lesson plan or even the frame of the lesson is a key skill for a teacher to have. Its hard to know how well your students will be prepared for the lesson of the day so its good to have back up plans and the ability to adjust. I’ve thought about becoming a teacher, teaching is something I’m good at as long as I know what I’m talking about. I learned that if I was to teach, I would want to teach middle school. The kids are a lot of fun and are at an age where they are beginning to appreciate the education they are getting. Overall it was a great experience and I hope the kids got as much out of it as Meg and I did.

Teaching…Is it for me?

I never thought of myself as a teacher. I still don’t think I am or will ever become a teacher. I’ve taught sailing for the last three summers but I wouldn’t classify myself as a teacher. When we met with the education class last week, we discussed the many steps to giving a successful lesson: establish goals, decide what the students will know, decide how you will teach the topic, let the students apply what they’ve learned, and assess. When we were creating these lesson plans I though to myself ‘Wow this is a lot of work.’ But then I thought about my experience as a sailing instructor. When my kids arrive, I introduce the skills we will be learning that day and give a brief explanation of why they need to learn them. Then I show them how they are going to learn the skills. Then we go on the water and my kids do the drill or activity I had planned. Towards the end of the lesson, I cruise around to each boat and watch the kids demonstrate their new skills.

I realized that I use the same exact process that was being introduced to me in class. Although it was introduced in a confusing and seemingly tedious way, the process is actually very straight forward and completely logical.

After traveling to MUMS this afternoon and meeting with Jan, I am very excited to plan my lesson with Meg and prepare to go and teach 8th graders later this month. I think it will be a very different, but interesting and rewarding experience.

Self Control

After spending about three hours with David Levy in the last 24 hours, I’ve been thinking a lot about my technology use and how it runs my life. Part of that thought process was thinking about how much time I waste on the internet and my phone. While in class today, we discussed some computer programs that help monitor your browsing to help you stay on task and not get distracted. One of these is called SelfControl. Its a Mac only app and its pretty easy to use. Basically, you add websites you don’t want to be able to access (cough cough Facebook) to SelfControl’s “blacklist.” Then, you tell SelfControl how long you want the sites to be blocked for and then start your session.

I recently just finished my two hour SelfControl session and it was amazing. I sat here for two hours and cranked out work left and right (except for a short break in the middle where I went to the cafe downstairs…but it was closed). I think the app is brilliant and can help anyone that has distraction or procrastination issues.

The best part about SelfControl is that no matter how badly you want to access a website during your time period, you can’t. Just to try it, I clicked on the Facebook button on my favorites bar and I was greeted with this:

This is what you will see if you try to visit a "blacklisted" site.

This is what you will see if you try to visit a “blacklisted” site.

Thinking I was tricky, I quit SelfControl. I clicked the X in the top left corner of the Self Control window and watched the icon disappear from my dock. I tried Facebook again, but to no avail. I waiting ten more minutes, nothing. I then reopened the app and was immediately greeted with a clock informing me that I still had an hour and ten minutes left before I could access my “blacklist” websites. He knows me to well…

Check it out:

http://selfcontrolapp.com

A Day Without A Phone

To start I would like to say that I cheated a little bit. My “Day” without a phone was actually only 12 hours. Due to poor planning it was unrealistic to go all of today without any media.

The reason I titled this “A Day Without A Phone” instead of “Media Fast” is because I really didn’t feel like I was fasting when it came to anything besides my phone. No TV, Xbox, Computer, Email, no big deal. No phone…bid deal. When I started my fast this morning, I was immediately surprised at how many impulses I had to check my phone. So much so that I decided to carry a note pad and pen around with me all day to write down notes about my impulses. Below is the basic log. Under the log you can find longer explanations about certain impulses.

11:00 I wanted to check the weather for the day. 11:15 On my way to lunch I wanted to Snapchat a picture to a friend. 11:22 I wanted to check the menu for lunch. 11:27 I wanted to text and friend and see if he wanted to come to lunch with me. 11:28 I wanted to check the weather because it was supposed to rain later that day. 11:28 I wanted to record this list on my phone. 11:35 I wanted to text another friend. 11:45 I did a routine pocket check (Phone, wallet, keys. Obviously didn’t have my phone with me today). 11:50 I wanted to check my bookstore shopping list in case there was anything I needed as I walked by Proctor. 11:55 I wanted to avoid an awkward situation by looking busy on my phone. 12:00 I wanted to waste time playing games. 12:05 Another routine pocket check. 12:10: Wanted to waste time. 12:15: I wanted to silence my phone for class. 1:30 I was bored walking so I wanted to check something, anything. 1:38 Bored waiting for treatment in training room. 1:41 I wanted to text my parents about my injury. 2:01I was bored again. 3:00 I wanted to text my parents about my injury. 3:05 I pressed the home button on my phone. 4:05 Bored in my dorm, I wanted to text my friends and see where they were. 5:55 I wanted to make a Vine post about the waterfall in Axinn. 6:03 I wanted to show a friend a new app I got. 6:53 Bored, wanted to do something. 6:55 I wanted to silence my phone for a lecture. 7:00 I wanted to silence my phone again.

11:27 Don’t worry, I didn’t end up eating alone. A friend found me at Ross.

11:28 I actually laughed at myself when I made this observation. Literally as I was writing down a note I thought to myself “I should put this in the notes on my phone.” Its amazing that my brain is so programmed to do as much as possible on my phone.

11:50 Whenever I leave a place (like my room, a dining hall, a classroom, etc.) I check my front two pockets and my back right pocket for my phone, wallet, and keys. I did that three or four times today, every time I had a mini panic attack when I didn’t have my phone.

11:55 This was another instance where I laughed at myself. As I walked towards someone that I knew enough that I should say hi, but didn’t know well enough that I would say hi, I reached into my pocket for my phone. I was hoping to pull off the “I’m busy doing something important on my phone” look but to my surprise my phone wasn’t in my pocket. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, the other person turned the other way before we could cross paths.

12:15 I was amazed when I had to impulse to silence my phone for class because it had now been 3 hours with no phone. I figured by now I should be used to not having my phone. That was not the case.

3:00 This was kind of weird. Wanting to text my parents the same thing that I wanted to do two hours earlier. It made me wonder if I would have had a similar impulse if I had texted them the first time.

3:05 By now I was back in my room and I was getting some work done. My phone was sitting on my desk just out of my eyesight, but when I turned my head I instinctively pressed the home button, expecting some enlightening amount of activity on the screen to brighten up my day. I was greeted with darkness, my phone was off.

7:00 Another repeat impulse. This one was even weirder because the two happened within 5 minutes of each other. Thinking back, though, this happens to me normally. I usually check my phone two or three times to make sure it is silenced.

I noticed a trend relating to these impulses throughout the day. I get more impulses when I am in transition. For example, when I get up from one place and am headed to the next, or when I finish working on something and am about to start another. In addition, I found that I am way more productive when I am phone-free. Today, instead of wasting time on my phone, I read a book for one of my classes. Looking back at it now, instead of wasting about 3 hours of my day playing mindless games, I got a few chapters ahead in my reading.

In conclusion, this was a good experience to have. It really proves how much I depend on my phone throughout my everyday life. It was also eye opening to see how much of a time suck my phone is. Although I most likely won’t do this again, I definitely might turn off my phone for a few hours each night while working. I think that will drastically increase my productivity.

That thing called a memory…

After returning from my first full college a cappella rehearsal, I was struck with a connection between singing and the Plato reading we’ve discussed in class. According to Plato, there is no need to write anything down, writing things down weakens the mind. I would definitely agree with him, but the fact of the matter is that there is no way I can retain all of the information I here everyday without writing stuff down.

Unfortunately, my a cappella group is on Plato’s side. No notes, no sheet music, nothing. When learning a piece, you listen to everyone else until you get the tune in your head. Eventually you memorize it. And that’s how it is. A major difference from what I am used to.

In high school we had binders full of sheet music for every song we sang. We attempted to memorize all of our pieces but because we were so used to reading music, it was actually much harder to memorize and sometimes we performed with binders. Now, thats not the end of the world, but it doesn’t look to good on stage.

I’ve found that learning without sheet music accelerates the learning process immensely. After only a rehearsal and a half with my new group, I have a few songs memorized and ready to perform on Friday. It makes me think, if I just sit in class and take everything in without writing anything down will I retain it better? I don’t think that’s a theory I’m willing to test.