A lot of our teachers have mentioned that it is important to stay current with what the students are into and what is cool. I think that staying current is definitely an important thing to do. However, sometimes it can be quite rough, during my PS1 I was in a rural elementary school. Can anyone guess who was really cool at that school? Hannah Montana, so my friend (student teacher as well) who was in the same school, 2 grades up, sat down and decided we needed to know what this intense love was about!! We made it through about 5 minutes of the show before questioning what was going through our kids' heads? I am guessing we watched a bad episode, I have seen a snippet before that was not that bad, but for the mass love of the show, we were confused.
I understand that I probably went through those phases that teachers also didn't understand, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? (just discussed it today actually), Rugrats, Alex Mack (she was touched with toxic waste and then could just disappear because of it)Home Improvement, Step by Step, and I could probably go on for quite a while (I am currently feeling really old so I will move on). I wonder what my teachers thought of these shows when I would talk about how great they were.
I wonder if our generation was as influenced by the television as the current generation is? I had a student in grade 1 who did not own a ball. Can anyone honestly say that any of their friends didn't own a ball? Any form of ball! I think that this generation is so far removed from physical life that it is hard to relate my life to theirs. I know we can always make a connection, but sometimes it is irritating to me that they have moved so far away from the physical activities and to a sit on the couch and watch a box or look at the computer.
I may be more irritated by this currently because I am taking Physical Education for Non-majors and am seeing disgusting statistics about obesity! It is disgusting to learn how many children are obese and that the new generation may be the first generation in a long time, that won't have a longer life expectancy than their parents, it's crazy.
Now to come back to the real issue at hand, we need to realize that students are obviously influenced by their peers and popular culture, so we need to use that to our advantage. We need to show good examples of popular culture or connect it to what we are teaching. Ie. Miley Cyrus teaching dance moves, that can be connected to physical education or just some point in class when you need a bit of movement, perhaps a class project?
I think as a teacher, I will need to buckle down and experience some of these activities that the student enjoys, so I can relate a bit better to my student. I think I have got quite a good thing going with this Twilight series, I enjoy it and so does most of the world! Maybe my students will call me hip :)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Technology
If you have seen the movie, Napoleon Dynamite you may remember a cute little song that I will entitle "I love technology". It is from the wedding scene at the end of the movie when LaFonda and Kip merge their lives together.
Today during class, when we were all watching Tony as a 28 year old and a couple times when he was younger we found that the visual stayed the same and almost kept shaking back and forth as though someone was turning it on a turn table, just a bit of new stuff, back to old, forward, back and so on. This irritated me, as I am sure some of you felt the same. Why is the audio continuing but not the picture?
I cannot agree with Kip and his passion for technology and "chatting online with babes all day". I don't appreciate technology like he does, it irritates me. How many presentations do we give where it is awkward while you wait for something to come up, or technology is "not responding". You fumble around, trying not to panic, but in your head it is either what is going on?? or perhaps some words that I will choose not to put in my blog. :)
Technology is supposed to be this big awesome tool. But I feel like there are so many moments when it just goes wrong, and even worse, horribly wrong!!! The computer eating your paper is legit! I have never lost a whole paper, but a good chunk of work, yes. Or that awesome video clip that just explains your topic so well, it won't connect like you had practiced 4 times before the presentation.
I think our society is far too reliant on technology and we need to start being able to go back to some of the basics. How many children struggle with basic math skills compared to our parents? Calculators are a form of technology and in my opinion are used far too heavily, early on. We need to make sure math is mastered before allowing for the use of calculators which in my opinion lull the brain to sleep. What about our spelling? I wonder how we would do on a spelling test compared with about 30 years ago. Those words that your computer automatically fixes, you never realize you have been spelling it wrong all these years.
I guess it boils down to me not trusting technology! Yes it is good for some things, but I think we should become less reliant.... what do you guys think???
Today during class, when we were all watching Tony as a 28 year old and a couple times when he was younger we found that the visual stayed the same and almost kept shaking back and forth as though someone was turning it on a turn table, just a bit of new stuff, back to old, forward, back and so on. This irritated me, as I am sure some of you felt the same. Why is the audio continuing but not the picture?
I cannot agree with Kip and his passion for technology and "chatting online with babes all day". I don't appreciate technology like he does, it irritates me. How many presentations do we give where it is awkward while you wait for something to come up, or technology is "not responding". You fumble around, trying not to panic, but in your head it is either what is going on?? or perhaps some words that I will choose not to put in my blog. :)
Technology is supposed to be this big awesome tool. But I feel like there are so many moments when it just goes wrong, and even worse, horribly wrong!!! The computer eating your paper is legit! I have never lost a whole paper, but a good chunk of work, yes. Or that awesome video clip that just explains your topic so well, it won't connect like you had practiced 4 times before the presentation.
I think our society is far too reliant on technology and we need to start being able to go back to some of the basics. How many children struggle with basic math skills compared to our parents? Calculators are a form of technology and in my opinion are used far too heavily, early on. We need to make sure math is mastered before allowing for the use of calculators which in my opinion lull the brain to sleep. What about our spelling? I wonder how we would do on a spelling test compared with about 30 years ago. Those words that your computer automatically fixes, you never realize you have been spelling it wrong all these years.
I guess it boils down to me not trusting technology! Yes it is good for some things, but I think we should become less reliant.... what do you guys think???
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Norms... it can be a scary thing!
Norms are a part of everyday life... almost comforting... mostly comforting we might even be able to say. But I want you, the reader to quickly look at this youtube clip that was done back in the day by the Candid Camera crew. http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTOwE3hnEWk&feature=related
Have you ever thought of facing a wall versus the open door? It doesn't make sense does it? And the factor that these unknowing participants just tried to sneakily do what the others were was kind of crazy. I would probably have done a lot of awkward laughter because of the confusion about what was going on but who knows. I could see if it was the persons' first time riding an elevator then they would just do what everyone else was doing because they don't know the proper protocol but this wasn't something new. I remember my first day going to the bus stop, everyone else put their bag down in a line, so mine added to the line. They were standing randomly around, mostly on the lawn which was kind of rude, but that is what they were doing, so that was what I was doing, I didn't know what to do.
Is that not quite scary that we would abandon what we assumed to be correct because people around us are doing it differently? This is scary!!! It doesn't have to be scary to be quite honest, fashion trends and all of those things are based on norms as well, in my opinion, most people see stuff around them and therefore they do the same things. This can be scary if a good portion of society starts losing the virtues and morals that are important (I believe to be important, we may not agree on all of them, David ;) ). For example, if a kid is being bullied and no one around him/her is doing anything, could this be just trying to fit into the norm?
Candid Camera, although it was just for laughs, raises a really great point or issue with this segment.
:)
Have you ever thought of facing a wall versus the open door? It doesn't make sense does it? And the factor that these unknowing participants just tried to sneakily do what the others were was kind of crazy. I would probably have done a lot of awkward laughter because of the confusion about what was going on but who knows. I could see if it was the persons' first time riding an elevator then they would just do what everyone else was doing because they don't know the proper protocol but this wasn't something new. I remember my first day going to the bus stop, everyone else put their bag down in a line, so mine added to the line. They were standing randomly around, mostly on the lawn which was kind of rude, but that is what they were doing, so that was what I was doing, I didn't know what to do.
Is that not quite scary that we would abandon what we assumed to be correct because people around us are doing it differently? This is scary!!! It doesn't have to be scary to be quite honest, fashion trends and all of those things are based on norms as well, in my opinion, most people see stuff around them and therefore they do the same things. This can be scary if a good portion of society starts losing the virtues and morals that are important (I believe to be important, we may not agree on all of them, David ;) ). For example, if a kid is being bullied and no one around him/her is doing anything, could this be just trying to fit into the norm?
Candid Camera, although it was just for laughs, raises a really great point or issue with this segment.
:)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Canadian Way
Today in class Prof Runte proposed the idea that compromising and seeing 2 sides of every story is the "Canadian Way". Is it really? I would have made the assumption that that is how things work, why wouldn't people try to work together to come to an agreement about the best way to do something or understand someone else's view point? I don't know if that is me being patriotic but I really do believe that if this is the "Canadian Way" that it is the best way!
I did my first degree in the USA and never realized that this is not what their way of doing things. Granted I was not even an hour away from the Canadian border which I have been told this does affect how similar our two countries are but even my teammates from Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland... I didn't realize any differences in their stand points, and could it not be said that maybe this is a personality issue not a way of our country?
Once again to refer back to Stargate Atlantis (I think this is one of the only shows that lets the viewer know each characters country background) McKay is the Canadian. He is the brilliant, genius, never wrong scientist. He does not look for the compromise, he is always telling other people they are wrong and he is right. Perhaps does this influence how people see Canada? Is this really "Canada's way?"
I guess my big issue is that I was raised to see both sides of the story and compromise and I know some people weren't... or so it appears. So can we really say this is the "Canadian way"? Do we want that to be how we are portrayed??? Maybe that is why everyone (exaggerating) thinks they can walk all over Canada! Maybe Canada needs to take more of a Fight it out stance... obviously that isn't best since we would most likely lose but I think you can understand what I am saying.
Canada the Compromisers - should that be our new catch phrase?
I did my first degree in the USA and never realized that this is not what their way of doing things. Granted I was not even an hour away from the Canadian border which I have been told this does affect how similar our two countries are but even my teammates from Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland... I didn't realize any differences in their stand points, and could it not be said that maybe this is a personality issue not a way of our country?
Once again to refer back to Stargate Atlantis (I think this is one of the only shows that lets the viewer know each characters country background) McKay is the Canadian. He is the brilliant, genius, never wrong scientist. He does not look for the compromise, he is always telling other people they are wrong and he is right. Perhaps does this influence how people see Canada? Is this really "Canada's way?"
I guess my big issue is that I was raised to see both sides of the story and compromise and I know some people weren't... or so it appears. So can we really say this is the "Canadian way"? Do we want that to be how we are portrayed??? Maybe that is why everyone (exaggerating) thinks they can walk all over Canada! Maybe Canada needs to take more of a Fight it out stance... obviously that isn't best since we would most likely lose but I think you can understand what I am saying.
Canada the Compromisers - should that be our new catch phrase?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)