Imaginative Bridges with Architecture Commentary and Grading Papers

This week as I struggled with making meaningful commentary on photos posted by classmates it made me think of how sometimes when I review student's work I often put the same comments on most of the papers. It made me think of an instructor that I have that will write a commentary on my paper as long as the paper itself. Then I remembered how a teacher told me not to say "good job" to students because they are empty words with not much meaning and to tell the student what was good about the job. The combination of these events has made me think about how instructors should put more thought and creativity into the "grading process" and high light the positive aspects of a student's work. This could greatly increase a student's pride and motivate them to excel. If a student believes that you think their work is important and that you are going to spend time critiquing their work then they might take more time to complete the assignment.

Classroom Design

What if every teacher could design there classrooms? I would throw away all of the desks. I hate desks. I would paint the wall with some soothing color...maybe pale blue or green...or lavender...maybe all three. I would bring in big plants. I would have white boards but only the ones on easels. I would have a cupboard for each student to keep their coat and personal belongings but not all next to each other. I would have a refrigerator with water and snacks. Comfortable puffy furniture would be nice. A few tables with computers with soft office chairs. What if the students were comfortable and drawn to the space? What is the purpose of such cold classrooms? It seems like a punishment.

Imaginative Bridges with Architecture

Today I went to the library to take pictures of the architecture and the well planned design. When I did this I thought how wonderful it would be to have a similar design in our schools. The schools I have seen are all very cold. There are uncomfortable desks in a cramped and dull surroundings. The library is so warm and inviting. The chairs are so comfortable. When I enterred the building I wanted to stay a while. It made me think of students spending hours in hard seats day after day. Classrooms have 20-30 students crammed into a relatively small space. I have been in classrooms that are so full of stuff, the teacher has saved over the years, that it is difficult to get around the room. I would love to design a school.

Imaginative Bridges with Media

The project this week was to make a video using something to relay an experience or a relationship. I chose to do a video about the relationship between my daughter and my son. There relationship of course has seen good and bad times with most of the good times when they were younger. They have a strong bond but it gets lost sometimes in the fighting. The message for them is to value their relationship.
The message I found for teaching is that there is so much information to teach students that we have to find a theme or at least a focus when we teach or all will be lost in the details. I spent so much time going through thousands of pictures and feeling like it was millions. I know teachers get overwelmed with how much information we have to teach and we can lose sight of what is important. If we try to teach everything we will fail to teach anything. We have to sift through the information and pick what is really the important message we want students to walk away with and take with them throughout their lives.

What is Really Important?

On February 11th I was working out at the YMCA as part of my plan to lose weight. I was feeling good about it. I have been working with a trainer to get in more weight lifting. I picked up a 50lb bar to do curls. I got an instant headache. I had to sit down. It was on the entire left side of my head. I was immediately blinded by the light. After a few minutes I went and got my coat to cover my eyes. I found my husband and we left the Y. He insisted that we go to the hospital. In the emergency room in the hospital they ran a CT scan and came back and told me I had a brain anuerysm. Then they performed a percedure where they put a needle in my spine to see if the anuerysm was bleeding. This came back negative and they admitted me into the hospital. I was put in the Neurological Critical Care Unit. I was seen by various doctors and a CTA was ordered. I am allergic to iodine so they gave me meds all day so that I could tolerate the test. Nine O'Clock on February 12th they performed a CTA. On Friday the 13th I was exhausted and sore from all of the tests and the stress. I was told that the CTA was to determine what type of brain surgery would be performed and that a team of neuro-surgeons would arrive from Grand Rapids to perform surgery on Friday.
At 10am on Friday the 13th, a member from the team came into my room and informed me that I don't have a brain aneurysm. I waited all day for someone to discharge me from the hospital but I never saw a doctor again. The nurse finally got permission to release me at 7pm.
How is this relavant to this class? It is very easy to see all of the minor things in life and miss the focus of the picture. If a teacher is so focused on classroom behavior or the demands of the curriculum they run the risk of ignoring the important things in life like your health. Educators need to take care of themselves first so that they can be present in their lives.

Imaginative Bridges with Media

It is exciting thinking about how media can be incorporated into the classroom. When I was reading the articles about interviewing I thought how the students would love to interview students, parents and other adults. This would be a great way to add interesting concepts to the class. Often times the parents have interesting careers or interests but it is hard to get them to come in the classroom this would be a way they could participate. I have taken classes in diversity and including the culture and the family can be very beneficial.
I also thought that there are times when my instruction could be more powerful if it was on video I could go on location and make it a more compelling experience. Video taping field trips could help students learn by showing them the things they could have missed or to refresh their memory.

Media

The story telling articles made me think about the times I have had a class mesmerized while telling a story. I wondered why sometimes there is just the right moment to capitalize on the attention. One morning at the very beginning of the day I started talking to a student about my morning and how my dog had run away. Within minutes the whole class was quiet and around me listening to the story. I was concentrating on my conversation with just this one student and I was startled when I realized the whole class was listening. I think it was a compelling experience because I care deeply about my dog and many of the students have or want a pet. They were all in suspense waiting to hear if my dog was found. They were captivated by the police finding my dog safe but on the highway. The whole story was where was my dog and was she alright. It was very focused.