Learning Adventure #8 -- Writing a book review for Amazon.com

My Review: The Children's Machine - Seymour Papert

The Children's Machine, December 11, 2007

By
Brandy Foster "Brandy - teacher" (Hermosa Beach, CA) - See all my reviews The Children's Machine addresses the many ways students learn. Papert uncovers the reality that students learn opposite of how our westernized world sees this process. According to Papert, students learn naturally outside the four walls of a classroom in which literacy is seen as only teachable through textbooks. The Children's Machine uncovers the deficiencies by which most schools run that prevents students from learning as they should, in a self-directed manner where there are answers other than yes or no. Shades of grey are more accepted in Papert's constructivist view of education he outlines in the book rather than the "official theory" of learning which only sees black and white. Papert has self-created the LOGO program, MicroWorlds. With this program, Papert further illustrates how students can learn without restrictions. Students are encouraged to experiment and use the computer as a tool to shape their own thinking. Mistakes are encouraged, as these mistakes will be formed into discoveries. Another recommended read: Mindstorms.

The link: http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Machine-Rethinking-School-Computer/dp/0465010636/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197432473&sr=8-1

More interested in reading the book now???

Picture of Video Game... as promised!

Learning Adventure #7: MicroWorlds Video Game creation

After having watched Gary's excellent "how to" videos, I was really excited about creating my own video game. Given the limited time, I created something similar to the example and really found the tutorials to be beneficial. My final game is a pacman style version complete with points to earn. I hope to move further and add a second level to my game when time is more plentiful. What I love most about LOGO is that it tells you when something is wrong. "I don't know how to fill in the blank" ---the language is simplistic in nature, but the essence of it is real programming! I imagine that kids would enjoy the outcome of their projects and worry little about making mistakes.

It took me some time to gain motivation to work on this project, but as I watched others creating games, I became more motivated to create my own. I enjoyed the process and I am excited to move further in the more "complicated" programming. Thank you to my cadremates who produced creative version of the video game. It takes me back to the beloved PONG days!

p.s. initially when I downloaded MicroWorlds EX, I messed around with creating a PONG game. It was quite enjoyable. If only I could figure out Donkey Kong and Lemmings now!!!

See attached pictures above.

In a rut.

This week is parent conferences. The only week the district cuts our days to minimum so we can meet with 31+ parents individually. It's a tough week... but nice to clear the air with expectations, learn about kids, create goals, etc. It also motivates me more as my main focus is my students.

The Distinguished school application process was DAUNTING. It pretty much sucked being at school until 6pm on a Saturday. No extra pay, just a pat on the back and a bouquet of flowers. Happy to contribute my efforts, but it's a lot of work for someone who is already very busy. In addition, the worst part I feel is being away from my students. I feel like I betray them every time I am away at a district meeting. I have missed zero days for personal reasons, but have missed about 12 for school reasons/meetings/etc. It's going to just escalate in January when I have more district meetings and then the FETC conference in Florida. I'm excited, but again, I love to teach and I feel as though there's not a whole lot of that happening lately.

On to grad school. I have to say, as Florida time gets closer, I am more and more bothered by our cadre padre, Bill, not being there when we arrive. I feel as though he deserved it and we deserved it. I was telling a few students the other day that because of this, I just feel like the expectations of OMET have been a let down. I am not as fired up about it as I thought I was going to be when it all started. It's still an experience to remember and I am being exposed to many things that normally would not be at my reach (without the guidance) but I just wish it had ended a different way.

Todd made a comment about me not posting much... and for that matter, no one is. I wonder if it's because it's the end of the term and Christmas time... but it's just really slow. I click refresh and 20 emails don't pop up. As a matter of fact, I've received none tonight. Brent also agreed and sent an email out. Maybe it's the lack of our total participation that is causing this depression for me. I don't know.

Looking forward to Maryland for Christmas and good family time. Any gingerbread house ideas? We have quite the competition at my fiance's house.

Oh, yeah... got my wedding ring in the mail today!!!

Feedback from our Second Life Theorist Project

Bill sent an email to us after the SL project unveiling. Here is some feedback:

Bill,
The presentation last night was fantastic. The student/designer/builders should feel very good about their work. It was great to be able to chat with them as I experienced the learning theorist spaces. I think that doing the project in SL probably engaged them with the learning theories more deeply than some alternatives (like writing a paper).
Are there any plans to install the work in a public area? The project is truly an exemplar of effective teaching/learning in SL. I would like to be able to visit again -- and bring some friends!
Thanks for sharing!
Rex Thursday Xu (SL)

Bill - I missed this... But I hope it went well. I have my Ed.D. in Ed Tech from Pepperdine, finished in 2003. Missed SL, but we did a lot of other great online stuff. I'll swing by sometime to look at the exhibits (I'm assuming they'll be up for a while). I have access to the Island. Way to get Pepperdine's name out there! Laurie Ralston

I would like to add my congratulations as well. What an engaging exhibit! I really appreciated the opportunity to visit the island, look at the theorist projects, and then fly around the island and view the overall set up of the sim. Thanks for the inspiration, Debora (SL Devorah Corvale)

Oh, YES!
You can add my voice in unison to what Rex/Thursday just said…a marvelous build, an awesome example of an effective (and fun!) learning space. This SHOULD be opened up again and in perpetuity for educators and other students to be able to appreciate!!
Have a great day!
RP

I'd like to add my voice here also - I am very interested in visiting, but was unable to. Are there any alternative possibilities? Thanks!
Beth Wellman
(Ivy Innis)

He said we've created quite the buzz in the SL education community. :) We are pleased!!

The Comedian

I wish I had the opportunity to schedule the viewing of The Comedian with my cadre-mates, but unfortunately I will be away from Internet access until about Sunday evening beginning tomorrow.

This is going to be a strange experience. Throughout this program thus far, my attachment to my computer is unreal! The idea of not checking email or logging on to CNN is something that I can't wrap my brain around. Speaking of technology, I was writing on the Distinguished School committee today and I was designated by other members as being the most computer savvy. If you would have asked me 4 months ago... I would have had skills, but not to the polished caliber I feel I am at now. I have A LOT to learn, but I am proud of my achievements. Even the small steps have proven powerful.

Yesterday's unveiling of the Second Life theorist project went marvelously. I really saw a lot of value in a student-run project that did not result in a paper that was written. I had some great conversations with visitors and educators who I normally would not have the opportunity to interface with. My only downfall in learning: I don't feel like I spent enough time holding myself accountable to learning and making connections with other theorists. Having our own rooms allowed for creativity, but it stripped us from the collaboration aspect in many ways. I simply placed a teleport ball in my room, but really had to dig for connects to that theorist as the reason I placed the teleport ball in the first place. I included information on my notecard about Csikszentmihalyi and information about connecting theorists, but never spent a good portion of time consulting about learning theory with those other theorist experts (can I call them that given our knowledge of Surpassing Ourselves?). Demonstration of learning can be brought about in so many ways... I need to be doing more of that and less of the paper/pencil assessments in my own classroom. The only concern is... would others view me "too easy a teacher?"

Back to The Comedian. I will speak further about this once all of the cadre has viewed the movie, but would like to add some information I found regarding communities of practice. First, the most fascinating this I observed throughout the documentary was amount of uncertainty that professionals possess in their "skill." Going back to the expert definition, I don't believe I would qualify any of those men as experts in the field, but ever changing expert-novices (re-word?). Although they are comedians, they are never the same comedian. (Hmmm... but then again, I am a teacher... so does that make me a changing novice too? I believe so... always adding more and revising the tools in my toolbelt). Much of the lifestyle they live is isolating and difficult. The irony that interlies is that we envision those who make us laugh to be free-spirited, well-rested, and fun-loving characters. Orny Adams certainly did not seem too terribly fun-loving or free-spirited. As a matter of fact, I researched his website, http://www.ornyadams.com/ and it said he did finally make it to Los Angeles as he "dreamed aloud" about in the film. In fact, he is a frequent of the Comedy and Magic Club right here in Hermosa Beach, just 9 blocks from my house. I run by it every week! I went there recently to see Jay Leno.

I digress, as a community of comedians, there is a single bond they carry and the same struggles that drive one, drive all of them (despite Cosby who is a living comedian God). The frustrations, struggles, praises, excitements, and turmoil they go through occurs in such a small bracket of time and their work is not nearly as praised for its efforts as the likes of non-talented pop star teenagers. The resounding word however, was... within your community support system, keep what you love alive, as no one can do it for you. It's a one man show... with a body of supporters.

... although, I don't feel too terribly sad for Jerry Seinfeld who flew around in his private jet. Tough gig, really.

ExxonMobil award night - Torrance, CA

I attended an award night to accept the monies for my SmartBoard & Projector that was held by ExxonMobil. I always see many teachers I know in the district... especially those who work hard to write those grants!

It was great... such a rewarding experience to be a part of developing children's minds about the world around them through the Internet. See more on the WP blog site.

At the award ceremony, I saw Kristen Zukley from cadre 9. It was good to catch up with her... every once in awhile we run into one another (literally, I was out for a run one afternoon and passed her!).

Teaching, Grad School, Thanksgiving update

I am feeling very excited about the culmination of our 1st real semester in grad school! I don't feel like the summer semester counted too much as it was really short. I am enjoying learning so much... and never being bored. Haha.

Teaching has been fine... except that I am never actually teaching. My principal has placed me (and the other 2 competent teachers at our school) on multiple committees which means we are never in our classrooms! We are either at the district for trainings or we are writing for our California Distinguished School award. We finished the rough draft and are now going to peel it apart, connect ideas, etc. We are also recruiting one of my students' parents who teaches at our feeder middle school to edit for us.

Funny classroom story for the week: One student was absent and I had another student give her the words for her spelling test. My kids are awesome at spelling... so it's almost a joke. About 25 of the 31 have an A+ in spelling. Anyway, I had a boy give her the test... and he took a peek at the upcoming test's bonus words. These words are selected by me... just randomly from whatever we learned throughout the week. Anyway, he told the rest of the class in private... thinking I'm never going to find out. Turns out I have ONE honest kid who emailed me with this information. I never busted anyone... just simply changed my bonus words to INTEGRITY, HONESTY, UNACCEPTABLE, CHEATING. Too bad I had a sub yesterday. I would have loved to have seen their faces. :)

For Thanksgiving, I am driving up to N. Cal with my parents and Elliot. During this nice 12 hour trip, I plan to bring my laptop and do some serious revisions to my lit. review.

I am close to being done with the conversions of videos for Gary's class and I worked very hard on the SL project for Bill's class... that I am looking forward to presenting on Monday. I need to work for Margaret's class and design my ARP plan and clean up my lit. review this weekend/through Thanksgiving.

I'm also looking forward to watching The Comedian! :)

Second Life Project, Learning Adventure #6, ARP project... updates

The SL project is going well... although slow. I have never in my life spent so much time building things in virtual environments. I swear it took me a few hours to get walls to line up. Regardless, what my room has come to is something I am proud of. Todd and I teamed up with Papert and Csikszentmihalyi (although Todd is the master and has essentially taken the Papert room on his own) and has helped me with the scripting for my room... and the game idea.

I am proud of how hard some people are working at this project. The structures are impressive... but even more impressive is the amount of single-handed work that some are placing on the project. I tried my hardest to create everything in my room. I love to see what others have done as well.

Learning Adventure #6 sounds cool... but it's hard to get a lot of this done in a distributed learning environment like this one. Again, being in a VirtCamp setting is such an easier way to handle these types of team projects. We are meant to find presidential campaign clips download them, find a conversion/compression/storage ability for next year's group to tackle. I can't wait to read their blogs about this and see what they come up with. The perks of the OMET program and how learning doesn't stop upon the diploma. I can already see myself becoming addicted to their thoughts, reading their reflections, etc.

The ARP is slow right now. I was pretty discouraged at Margaret's comments on my Lit. Review. I know there was plenty to be corrected, but I guess I saw this project as more of a constructivist writing/research/action project that I wasn't going to be judged so heavily on the writing part. Considering I know my strengths and weakenesses as a writer, I didn't enjoy the feedback much... but I never really do. That's part of my reflection here... learning to handle the heat, (I guess). I also see writing and research as a subjectivist activity where the writer is not always seen as great in some eyes, and wonderful in others. Could be why some people like certain authors and others can't stand them.

It gives me new light in offering criticism to my students on their writing.

Trecking along... feeling a bit overwhelmed and know I still have many months to go! Looking forward to getting pumped up again in January at the FETC conference.

Writing for School Awards...

For the past few weeks, myself and a few other teachers have been writing to receive a California Distinguished School award. Now, it's a long shot for our school who is in a high socio-economic area and has really no special needs or programs.

Regardless, we are writing on this committee. Sub after sub going through my classroom... and I happened to miss the last committee meeting for another math conference at our district. When I returned today, the document we were writing on was no longer on one computer and a flash drive, but on 3 different computers! It was even more frustrating to find out that all computers had versions saved on them, but were all in pieces. The old fashioned way of sharing the work turned into a nightmare that took about 1.5 hours to sort out before we could re-convene and start the writing process.

I suggested, and will continue to suggest Google Docs as a method and insist on using it for upcoming committee writings. Until then... sticking with the nonsensical many computers.

Second Life, Theorist display construction

I worked really hard this weekend to committing myself to this project. It took me hours to just get ahold of creating a room... just a room! It does go to show that others have a knack for things like SL and others have to struggle, like in anything.

I did, at one point get frustrated to the point of signing off... right smack in the middle of building. Brent was being ever so patient to help me use the focus key (which now I've come to love) and link my parts. For some reason, I have had the most problems with linking my parts together. One of those buggers always gets away unlinked. Well, I then consulted the SL manual, never thought I would... and low and behold, there was a way to drag an edit box around all of your OWNED pieces to link them. I knew this before as Brent has mentioned it, however, I could not figure out how to not link other people's objects together with mine. There was always a bush or tree in the way. Finally... using the SL manual, I figured out that there is a box under the tools menu that allows you to only link YOUR items. Phew.

I've also created a theorist poster in the main gallery to go with Csikszentmihalyi's room in which I am constructing. Todd and I were both doing Papert and have agreed to do two collectively as this would help out the team. And let's be honest... Todd would do Papert more justice than I... sad to say. I believe Rita sent over the information to create posters in SL. I am now the proud owner of $587 Lindens... great. ($2.50 real bucks. I'm a big spender)

With the help of Samiya and the scripting information sent over by Todd and Karen, I was able to create script that linked the visitor from the gallery to my room, and back. Successfull, although not without mistakes. Somehow I got the coordinates wrong and when Todd tried to leave my room, he got stuck in a wall and was kicking like a baby. :) All fixed now... changed up the coordinates just a bit.

As I was trying to add furniture to my room, I accidentally unlinked something, because when I tried to delete a chair, I deleted my whole room. No big deal because it was in my inventory, but the I had to go back and re-do my script for my teleporting.

I've also added some rugs to the main gallery to break it up a bit and add a little pizazz.

So far... that's the progress. I am excited to move forward with the actual interactive learning part now. :) Hm.... "flow"....

Don't have a title.

I've hit a wall with this number Microworlds 3n problem. I often work hard at something in the beginning and as it wanes on, I lose interest.

I also have an issue with the lack of effort on the parts of some cadre members. A little over half of our cadre work their butts off (well, in certain mediums, like SL, Todd and Brent thrive best)... while the other half are often a day late and a dollar short. While I know teamwork is hardly ever the entire team... that only would occur in a perfect world when everyone's priorities were synchronized... it still should be expected in an intense distance learning program such as this. I'm paying way too much to be a passive learner...

Regardless, I have a hard time caring at all when some members respond a week later to something I've already considered old news. Anyone else agree?

Alright, off to try and figure out/reflect on the 3n problem. Wish me luck.

...

I'm really tired... just really, really tired.

Wedding planning + Microworlds Quilt = Super Saturday

What a day. First, my fiance, Elliot... time to start referring to him by name... and I went to have a tasting with our caterer today. They had a ton of food in this room. We had lunch, and waited... and waited... and waited... for everyone to finish asking the million questions they had (wondering who wants to marry these chicks...) and we had a chance to speak to the lady in charge. We have our food all booked up and it took about 10 minutes. Mexican... in true Brandy style. Then, on over to the bakery to select our cake: chocolate, a little vanilla layer and chocolate mousse. It's very nice looking and tastes darn good. You should ask Elliot, he ate plenty. ;)

Then, hours to work on my microworlds quilt. I had some difficulties, so I consulted with Todd who gave me some great tips. Although his tips worked, some of my classmates' codes were either lost somewhere and I couldn't find them, or they were too difficult to format and fix to work with my quilt. All in all, it took a couple hours and some tweaking... and it is now posted, turtle free, to my website.

http://students.pepperdine.edu/blfoster/OMEThome/fall07/index.html

Check it out!

Next, I started helping out with the Papert room on SL for our theorist project. Things are looking great. There is a large diagram to assist in the building and of course Todd and Brent working away like little elves.... oh... I guess Brent is an Elf. Hmmm...

Exciting Tech. News YOU can't use. :-P

Hello friends,

I found out this morning that the two grants I wrote for were both selected and granted! This means...

I get a smartboard for my classroom and at least 1-2 projectors for the upper grade classes at my elementary school to share. YAY!

To jog some memories, for our gliffy technology project, I chose the smartboard. In addition, I wrote another grant for the projectors after reading the stories in Edutopia that pumped me up to get on the ball.

:)
Oh Happy DAY!

My Brain on OMET

Anyone remember that commercial about the brain on drugs... and then the guy fries an egg in a pan to illustrate that drugs fry your brain... well I think OMET does too.

My reflections:

638b: I am working, working, working away. I spent a good number of hours working on a lit. review that I have a feeling will be revised more than one time in the coming weeks. That makes me nervous. I have never been great at revising my work because I always feel like I did a great job. It's a tough process. I am also struggling through reading some of the books. I am all booked out for right now. I read a lot in the beginning and needed a little lull here. In addition, if I try to even think about sitting down to read (considering standing up), I will be asleep in a hot second.

664: I have enjoyed some of the adventures, but above all, I have enjoyed MicroWorlds the very best so far. I knew I would... considering that I had been messing around with it for awhile before we started up with it.

633: The Second Life project makes me anxious. I don't really know if we are going to be able to pull this off and make it as grand as we are hoping. I think we all want to do an amazing job, but are seeing the difficulty in distance learning as of now. Doing this project at VirtCamp seems like an easier task because we would all be in the same room. We are starting to see the major players in the program... especially on projects like this. Looking forward to beginning the building challenge. :) Turtles here I come!

Children are AMAZING

There are obvious reasons why one would become a "teacher." First, I believe we are all teachers in our own worlds. But for me, I actually chose it because I love learning and I love watching others enjoy learning. It had nothing to do with the kids being "cute"...

I digress... my best friend has a daughter, Gabrielle. Maybe the cutest thing in the world... but also a living terror. How is that possible!? Well, the other day, I was talking to her mom, Alison, and Alison gave the phone to Gabrielle. At barely 3 years of age, Gabrielle proceeded to have a full, intellectual conversation with me. Wait? When did that happen? Just a couple months ago, she couldn't even speak in complete sentences. Now, she makes connections (she realized it was my birthday and her friend Makayla's birthday on the same day) and told me all about why the pirates were amazing on the Disneyland ride.

Speechless. I love learning.

(some of my fav. photos of her Disneyland adventure attached)

Technology Idiot

Hello everyone, I am a technology idiot.

Here is my story: My school was kind enough to purchase upper grade teachers laptops... one for each of us. Yes, they changed the operating system and the hardware, making it even impossible to change the time on our own computers, but at least we have laptops, right?

I Enjoy the leisure of now taking my grades home and not having to stay at school until 8:00 to finish my progress reports or print out 35+ pages of grades just to do report cards. So, yes, there are some great benefits. Well... except that not being able to use anything other than the grade program.

About 2 days ago, my computer stopped accessing the wireless (I bought a router, secured it... and bam... just like that.) in my classroom. I thought I broke the computer. So, my principal comes into my classroom to give me administrator privileges so I can change the time and download things, and I still couldn't access the Internet. I checked the firewall, disabled, still nothing.

I spend 2 hours trying everything I could think would possibly work, and my fiance comes to the rescue. In 2 minutes time (yeah, did I mention the TWO hours of agonizing...) he figures out the on my computer, in the middle where the computer connects from the screen to the keyboard, there is a touch sensitive keypad that can turn on/off the sound, the Internet abilities, and change the lighting. You ARE KIDDING ME. I've never seen that before.

I feel like a tech. idiot.

On another note, for your learning pleasure, there is the ability to change the built in mouse to a lefty function. :)

The Big Picture: A Short Video

For those of you who have read The Big Picture, here is a video about The Met.

It's really good and gives you a visual. There are students, Dennis Littky, the school, and some of those internships that you read about.

Good stuff. Makes me love the philosophy even more.

http://www.edutopia.org/met-passion-learning

Enjoy! I was impressed.

Mathophobia: The Fear of Learning

As I read through Mindstorms by Semour Papert, I am reminded of something that occurs so often in our lives: creating a taboo for learning:

Papert addresses things we do as adults that alter, and in a sense, cause us to curse learning:

"I can't learn French, I don't have an ear for languages"...
"I could never be a businessman, I don't have a head for figures"...
"I can't get the hang of parallel skiing, I never was coordinated"...

Thinking and saying these types of phrases to ourselves and admitting them to others is simply a way of cursing ourselves from the ability to learn.

As I reflect on myself and my professional development, I see how important it is to avoid this mathophobic way of being and to open my mind up to the learning that could be.

One Golden Coin in a Pile of Coal

Not a terribly good analogy... but hear me out.

I have some cruel parents... but I have been blessed to have one set of amazing parents that truly are supportive of myself and their daughter. Haven't parents learned that I have their child's entire school year in my hands? Being respectful should be an obvious reply of gratitude.

The awesome "golden coin" sent me an email of links for projectors (I wrote a grant for one, but it was thoughtful of him to look out for me) and a link for a video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950&total=100&s

The video is fairly long, but inspiring. It speaks of virtual simulations (games, like Sims...etc) that get kids learning from where they are most interested and inspired. I feel like our world is headed in the direction of technology for students. Not for technology's sake, but for the mere fact that our kids are THERE. Every generation has their "thing" and I believe that if we want to grow with our students, and in their direction, we need to follow them where they are. Where they understand. Where they gravitate.

Anyway, this somewhat lengthy video is inspirational. I encourage you to play it in the background as you work if your time is short. He does have some PowerPoint slides that are worth mentioning if you do have 1.5 hours of dowloads to wait for or airplane time to pass. :)

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, dying of Pacreatic Cancer
Speech date: Sept. 18, 2007

I am a professional. Treat me that way.

Have you ever lost your appetite because something bugs you SO much?

I have now received my 2nd request to have a kid transitioned out of my class. The first one was for the curriculum being too difficult and the parent thinking their daughter needed to be retained (that one is now contained... but a new fire is on the rise)... the second one is that a parent now wants their child moved to another 4th grade classroom because I have already labeled them as a "bad kid."

First, the kid doesn't bring his work to school, doesn't do any homework, and was caught kicking another student ( I saw with my own eyes) and I simply gave him a detention. No big deal. Mistake... but I just talked to the kids involved, issued detentions and the clean slate is in effect.

I just got a nasty email from the dad... wants to get the principal involved... fine, whatever. The truth is, the principal is very supportive and I have not done anything wrong. I'm just so frustrated. Since when were teachers NOT professionals? Why don't people treat us like professionals? They woud never treat a doctor this way... why us?

...so angry.

Back to School Night

Alright, so B2S night was on Thursday. For those of you who are unaware of this lovely occasion, it is when an entire classroom is filled with my worst enemies, parents.

I am kidding... but at the same time, there were very few smiles within the crowd. Parents came in, sat down, listened to my shpeal (how on earth do you spell THAT word!), and then threw tomatoes at me. Okay, they weren't tomatoes, but complaints, yes.

I am not sure what they expect, but I am a teacher. I teach kids knowledge... and help them find their processes of learning. Instantly, upon my completion, a parent shoots her hand up and asks, "why does my daughter have 4 hours of homework every night?" ...then the crowd pulls in...

Simply put, I am not the homework police. I give ample amount of time in class to complete work. I will not falter in my responses to these parents. How do you say, Your kid is just too darn slow! That was the same sound I heard from about 5 parents. Again... slow kids.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have some REALLY bright kids. I have the smartest 4th grade class at my school! I absolutely love their inquisitive minds. But... here in lies the problem. If I teach to the higher-level students (a must), then the lower students/slower students fall behind and then the calls and emails pour in. If I teach at a lower level, the bar is set too low for the kids and no one develops. In addition, my GATE kids would probably walk out.

I've been fighting fires and writing emails ever since Thursday night. I might need to go back to fifth grade where parent involvement sucks but at least they let me teach without questioning me. I will not teach with low expectations. I will not.

Sick as a DOG. And P.E. hell at my Elementary School...

So, I've officially contracted the flu from my lovely (snotty) fourth graders.

I hate hate hate being sick. What sucks even more is that it's Monday! I can't afford to take sicks days because I only get 10 a year and I'm going to be using at least 7 of them just on OMET alone. I think 8 though.

So, frustration today at school. In the beginning of the 638a (ARP) class, I talked about my struggles with my school's P.E. system. We have this P.E. curriculum that's actually pretty good if anyone would just dust the damn book off and look at it. My frustration is pretty instense with this.

Today, we had P.E. with our kids and I was on duty. I had last week off, so the other two teachers just stood out there, watching the kids bored out of their minds, playing games that involved little exercise, losing interest in being active. Now, I know it's only 4th grade and most kids are still relatively active, but I'm telling you... the energy drop off begins in just a year from now... and I'm a huge advocate for physical activity.

Anyway, so our field is soaking wet. Why, you ask? Oh, because there is a sewage pipe that runs underground where our field is and it is leaking. SICK. BLAHHHH. (Don't worry, we didn't have the kids in the mess. That's terribly wrong) Oh... and I'm not positive that the pipe story is true. I heard it from the other 4th grade teacher on duty with me, and she is not traditionally an honest person.

Anyway, it's pretty flooded right now. We avoided the flooded areas and walked around to where the field was not flooded to play on dry land. I decided to teach the kids a new game of kickball today, where every single person has to participate. It's played like this: The kicker kicks, and the rest of the entire team must run the bases with them, and come back to home plate to score a point. The outfielders can either catch the ball to get an out, or they have to grab the ball, wherever it lands and everyone on their team must stand behind them and go Over, Under, Over, Under... with the ball until the last person from the team touches it. Whoever does this first, (either runs the bases or finishes the ball pattern pass) scores a point or an out.

Things like this are simple to teach... but these teachers won't even bother looking at the book. They don't even have the kids set cones or bases out. The kids don't mind helping... but they are so lazy that nothing happens.

I told the teacher, Carrie, on duty with me that I am going to start teaching the kids games every time I am on duty. She said, "Good. We wanted you in 4th grade this year for that. Nanette and I don't like P.E. so we don't do it (the P.E. curriculum we adopted)."

It's reasons like this that I try that much harder. Plus, the kids deserve my energy. I am getting paid for it, after all. My kids express so much more interest, more used energy, and more excitement than a traditional game of kickball where only half the team ever ends up participating and the other half sits on the bench until the whistle is blown.

Hard Work = More Responsibilities

To add to the chaos... I am still in BTSA (2nd year teaching), getting married in July 08, going through this crazy OMET program, oh, and teaching a new grade level this year...

My principal brought a couple more things to my attention:

I am now grade level rep and have only been teaching 4th grade for 3 weeks...
I am on the math planning/integration committee from 4th grade to be trained at the district...
I am on the Distinguished School Committee...

I am terribly excited about all of my roles, although in my voice, all that can be heard is tiredness. This might be the best year of my life to date... yet SO, SO busy.

Learning OH SO MUCH!

I just finished reading Todd's last blog posting about exercise of the brain as it related to the OMET program.

What a (tiresome) and great time I am having... but not necessarily out of my busy schedule, but out of the amount I am learning within a day's time. I've been expressing to my co-workers that this program has not necessarily been what is teaching me, but a catalyst to learn from others. I would have never read those books in their entirety...and some I still haven't... but many I have... if I would not have the fantastic minds to compare with as I finish.

Great experience. To echo Todd, great mental workout.

Students teaching Students

In having dinner tonight with a friend of my fiance, we began talking about her education. She is a senior level student in her undergraduate program at UCSB. While definitely a hippie with the utmost respect in using the term, she's a world traveler and has been many places in her 20 years on this earth.

This was my first time meeting her and I have been anxious because I love her mom who I recently visited in Colorado (see earlier blogs). She has a passion for making change in the world but shuns the idea of teaching because she does not want to conform to the Western World's view of education. She doesn't want to become a professor and simply have knowledge that proves to be less useful than going into the world and changing it. She has aspirations to work with those who are less fortunate in countries she has already traveled to and intends to go back and help... she simply has dreams that many people keep in the closet.

Since we've been learning about progressive education movements throughout OMET thus far, it was interesting that she brought up an upcoming opportunity at UCSB. Apparently, there is this program that allows students to teach classes about essentially anything they want. Now, they have to be sponsored by (I think) another professor in the school or at least within her department of study and it has to be legitimate. When I asked what class she planned to teach (they get credits for teaching too), she said very quickly "How to Change the World" as if she'd been planning this her entire life.

I asked about her curriculum and she told me that she was hoping to have speakers come in from different organizations and different scholars come in to express needs within our world for the first portion of the class, and for the second half, to create a "project" collectively as a class to change the world... could be an excursion, something. She also expressed this idea of having her students interview their professors (who are researchers) about their research and ask them how they could use the information they teach in their class to better the world or make a difference in some way. In this "homework" assignment, students would learn from their professors and open their eyes to new ways to rejuvinate their own brains to hopefully making a difference. I found this to be awesome. I took multiple classes in my undergraduate years that added no value to my brain or to the world. I would've rather spent time at least seeing the world through other's eyes and opening my eyes to the world of need around me. Although such a typical hippie thing to want... I still loved the idea.

Finally, she talked about a professor she had who spent half of the year in India and the other half teaching at UCSB and said that the reason he continues to come back and teach (besides the $) is because he feels that if he can even steer 1 or 2 students to proactivity, he feels it is worth the while. She brought up a good point and talked to her professor about raising his bar. What about wanting 50 students to become proactive?

Even more profound from a 20-year old... she mentions that since she used that "homework" assignment with herself to talk to her own professors about ways she can use the information they teach to better the world, she was able to speak openly with her obviously intelligent professor who may have been living in research (but no application) land and needed to have the fresh mind of a young adult to free him from his stagnance.

Finally, thanks Todd. I posted the music onto my website and it can be found here: http://students.pepperdine.edu/blfoster/OMEThome/fall07/index.html

Learning Adventure #1 - Musical Ensemble

I just finished my musical ensemble using a program called Finale Notepad. I was really impressed with the options that were free to use!

I have never been musically inclined or played a single note on a musical instrument (unlike most everyone I've see from our cadre) but I was determined to use my ears to create something pleasing. Although my piece is simple, it was not meant to be something dramatic, but for me to learn how to use something new to enrich my learning.

In listening to my fellow cadre mate pieces (Jackie's was just amazing), I grew a little jealous of their abilities. I needed to stop thinking this way and enjoy the process. Jessica helped me to just "picture some experience" and then it would come naturally.

Again, although simple, it certainly represents serenity to me...

In one of Stager's forum discussions, I read that Todd said he did not learn anything more about music, but about the process of working through something. I echo this statement.

If anyone is reading this that knows how I might post my music (it seems like blogger is only allowing me to post pictures or videos, not link documents...), please let me know. Thanks! :)

Radio: An Illustrated Guide

I just finished reading Radio: An Illustrated Guide. It was the highly recommended book from Stager's book list. Anyhow, when I saw how short it was, I was up for buying it...

Indeed, it only took about 30 minutes to read through. Being a former journalism student/guru, I loved it. Not only do I find radio to be the most fun medium, but I understood a lot of the lingo they spoke of in the booklet. I even took it upon myself to email an old radio journalism professor from my undergrad to express the greatness of the book and to pass it on to future students.

Read it! It's funny. Now I'm anxious to listen to the show. Even more exciting... my future (as of right now) is looking at the high possibility of moving to the Chicago area in the next few years. That's where the show takes place. Maybe I will be an intern for fun!

P.S. I was an intern at KKJZ fm, 88.1 (it's jazz, I did the news) until their budget was cut and pushed the program director and all of his interns out the door. I loved working in radio and cutting sound. I also interned at a big shot station, Star 98.7 while in college too. However, I did very little hands-on there. I attribute most of my learning to the KKJZ experience. I only have one of my stories taped (my first and unfortunately, not my best) but it's on cassette. In addition to the many humiliating VHS tapes from broadcasting camps and the like.

The Hundred Languages of Children - The Constructivist Approach

In reading the article, here, I have come to connect the schools of Reggio Emilia in Italy to be among a group of constructivist schools. The constructivism theory, like Reggio Emilia's school follows, does not require all students to learn the same thing, but the teacher act more as partners of learning rather than an authoritative figure.

The students in Reggio Emilia are given the tools to use as they process and create their own learning --without deadlines, outcomes, objectives or major roadblock boundaries.

(really... I am doing reading right now, but I will have fun today. I also start back to work tomorrow and I'm trying to get a little heads up on reading---although I feel like I still have PLENTY to read)

My job - The Objectivist Approach

What better to do on my labor day then to read about objectivist and constuctivist theories of learning? :)

In response to some of the reading... my job certainly exemplifies an objectivist approach. Objectivism seeing learning as being done one way and having outcomes to prove that learning has occurred. This journal article would be difficult to read if I didn't have the connection abilities in my own life --sure glad I can relate it to something!

In the teacher world, we are taught to create lesson plans in our teacher ed. programs and once we begin teaching, they all go out the window. Anyhow, on those lesson plans, there are places to put "outcomes" and there are places to write the activities the students will do to achieve these outcomes. Some lesson plans even have a space for whether or not those outcomes have been achieved.

I believe my mind to be more along the constructivist approach in that I believe there can be more than one interpretation, meaning, way of learning, etc. I don't believe that you must learn "a" by doing one specific action or reading one specific book. I also believe that objectivism limits the learner in communicating with others to find meaning. Who is to say the professor/teacher knows everything? No one person is an expert.

I do think that constructivism is a little too liberal for me however... I might be about 75 constructivist on the continuum.

Accepted - Reflection on the movie

I too, rented Accepted and wanted to place my reflections:

The movie was very much like the readings we have been doing about learning theories and how students learn regardless (or possibly, arguably, better) of what we force them to learn and in certain orders.

The premise of the movie (see Jessica's post for more details) explains much of the stigma of getting into colleges that we as a culture have deemed to be acceptable. Unfortunately, this alienates the smaller crowd who feels like they belong no where. South Harmon attempted to change this and opened a school where students can learn naturally, as so many philosophers have been harping for decades --if not centuries thanks to Dewey.

I found the movie to be entertaining but also enlightening (as much as seeing/hearing the word "shithead" can allow). Thanks to Bill for suggesting it! Now, question: Is it possible to quote the movie for reflection during other projects and our ARP? Haha. :)

Second Life: Conquering Fears?

I know this is probably a long shot... and when I was thinking about it last night before bed, I might have been just delirious so bear with me. Here was my epiphany:

Second Life could possibly be just what is needed to get people to conquer their fears. (or at least mess with them) Case and point. I have a surfboard and wetsuit that my avatar has used to surf. Now, in my first life, I would never surf (afraid). I am perfectly comfortable and I actually seek out things that I fear in my (first) life on second life.

In thinking about how children and others are drawn to second life (other than that it's entertaining, colorful, similar to a video game...), it's no surprise to me that people want to make their second life avatar into something that their first life character is not at all alike. Maybe I'll bust out some psychology and say that it's possible that because our human nature can often make us unhappy with self-image, that second life is a way to create the image of your dreams and be a person in which you never were on earth. Woah. deep stuff.

Interesting quote - The Hundred Languages of Children

For any elementary ed. teachers that have read or are reading the book, The Hundred Languages of Children, this quote can be found on page 67:

"What children learn does not follow as an automatic result from what is taught. Rather, it is in large part due to the children's own doing as a consequence of their activities and our resources."

It's interesting that children don't just learn by observation. Like all of us (view ourselves), we are comfortable most when the learning is done by discovery. Lecturing and testing is not long-term learning and results in creating little for our brains to use as connectors.

This book mentions a lot of John Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky to name a few. The Reggio Emilia approach (by the way... does anyone else want to visit with me?!?) is certainly interesting so far. I wonder if Stager has been there? I also wonder if the entire instruction is spoken in Italian?

Interesting book... although the interview with Malaguzzi does seem to drag on. I enjoyed reading about the supermarket "project" and I absolutely love the idea of using projects with young children to build on their understanding and giving them the ability to use all of their "languages" to communicate their thoughts.

Distributed Learning with Spiders

Interesting news article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/30/spider.web.ap/index.html

I am hoping the link doesn't break... but if it does...

The story is about a massive spider web (all of my close friends know how fascinated I am about spiders. They are truly the most amazing engineers on the planet! -- aside from their creepiness). I cut and pasted part of the story here and colored the lettering of the area in which I believe hints at distributed learning/cognition.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WILLS POINT, Texas (AP) -- Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park.

Lake Tawokoni State Park rangers Mike McCord, left, and Freddie Gowin check out a giant spider web at the park.

Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't go anywhere near it.

"At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, superintendent of the park about 45 miles east of Dallas. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs."

Spider experts say the web may have been constructed by social cobweb spiders, which work together, or could be the result of a mass dispersal in which the arachnids spin webs to spread out from one another.

Cool beans!

My Day on Top of the United States - Mt. Whitney hike!

On August 25, 2007 at 1:10 a.m., my fiance, Elliot, myself, and our two friends Krista and David set off to hike to the top of the continental United States (lower 48).

In February Elliot put in for a permit (as required to hike) and we got it! I wasn't excited at first ...altitude, no sleep, peeing in bushes... but as time drew closer, I was getting excited.

To sum up the entire trip:

started at: 1:12 a.m. August 25th
hiked up: over 6,000 ft in elevation
ended at: 14,496.811 ft.
the hike up took: ~ 9 hours
the hike back took: ~ 5 hours (and sucked really bad...)
rested for about: ~ 1 hour total
ended at: 5:10 p.m.
no sleep for: 36 hours straight

After the hike we were all exhausted, like hallucinating exhausted. We drove down the ONE main road in all of Lone Pine to get something to eat (tell me how safe driving without sleeping for 1.5 days is...haha). We had a choice between Carl's Jr, Mc.Donalds, a couple no-name sketchy diners, and this random pizza factory. Pizza it was. Best meal! After a diet of clif bars, trail mix, and an orange for the last 16 hours, we were all hurting for some real food. If we could just keep our eyes open long enough to eat it!

Then, off to the Best Western to crash at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening. Sleep for 12 hours and head back home!

* we met some people on the trail that had been hiking for 16 days straight. Many people hiked from Yosemite to summit Whitney. There were tons of hiking/climbing junkies at the summit.

Great experience... wouldn't do it again. I am really glad we did it once though... now we're thinking about half dome at Yosemite and the Grand Canyon (most people tackle those before Whitney... we did the opposite!).

If you need suggestions or want to tackle Whitney yourself (or if you've done half dome or the grand canyon and want to give us tips, write me a note!!)

Here is a link to the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10303343@N02/sets/72157601683630999//

(if the link is broken, visit the flickr website and type in blfoster for a search name)

:)

B

Final thoughts: Dewey's Experience & Education

I just finished Dewey's book, Experience & Education. I have some thoughts to sum up my understanding (I found about 1/3 of it difficult to follow).

Dewey expresses that all education should be based on the learner's past experiences and should then build on those experiences to create new experiences... creating a never ending cycle. Starting with the current understanding of the learner allows them to build on what they already know to create further learning/experiences.

The educator's job is to facilitate this learning process and become a contributor to the student's learning. My understanding is that since no one student is learning the same thing (because no student will have the exact same knowledge or experiences), it is difficult, as Dewey expresses, for the educator to design curriculum to suit every student's needs.

When I was speaking to that woman I met that went to the University of Chicago's school that John Dewey claimed part of in his studies at, she expressed to me that she was very good at math as a student. Because of this "experience" and skill, she learned a lot of math when she was attending that school (as progressive ideals state: you learn based on what you already know... she knew math... she learned more math). The negative side, as she mentioned, was that she remembered occasionally not understanding the work she was to "add to her experience" and felt like a failure as a result. She also mentioned the absence of grades and felt that she was out of touch with other students from other schools, confused as a child as to why she was given different treatment. She did not feel there was a lot of group activity or working with other students as much as she would have liked.

Although Dewey's theory seems logical... that all education should be based on experiences of individual students, building on their intelligence and challenging them to further intelligences and higher learning in creating new experiences... it does not seem as fluid as expected. Students are not machines and are not always understanding of the next level of learning as well as they understood the previous lesson.

Finally, although I am not educated enough to be an advocate for either traditional (in which I suppose I teach at, although arguable) or progressive schools, I do believe that the responsibilities of educators listed in the book are respectable:

1. Problems grow out of conditions of experiences being held at present and within the range of the capacity of the students.
2. It is such that it arouses in the learner an active quest for information and production of new ideas.

John Dewey - Experience and Education

I'm currently in Colorado staying with friends with my fiance. We are actually out here for a business meeting my fiance is having with the board of directors for a future business venture. So, I have my laptop on the counter in their living area and one of the wives of a board member notices that I have the book, Experience & Education by John Dewey and walks up creating conversation. At first, I'm thinking... "sure, he's famous for his writings... and she's probably heard of him, but not read his books..." but then she says that she was a student in one of the studies done at John Dewey's school. I'm thinking... hmm... sure. Then, she goes on to tell me that she went to school in Chicago and at the time, there was a grade school based on Dewey's writings and philosophy and until she was in middle school did she realize that she didn't receive grades, but other students did. She began to tell me more about this school. She attended it because the other schools around were dangerous and her parents went to the University there... providing safer schools for students who attended. She indeed, was a student who experienced this. How cool! I was actually bored of this book initially and then met her and now I'm interested to get back. I'll keep you posted. :)

Eugenics Movement

I'm currently reading The Book of Learning and Forgetting and I just hit page 62... which is by far the most shocking thing I've read thus far:

There was a eugenics movement (eugenics means "the production of fine offspring") in the early 1900's and probably still is... that was largely run by Charles Darwin's half cousin Francis Galton (seen here).

He believed that IQ was based entirely on genetics and that those with high intelligences (generally upper class) should propagate only among their class. He believed that those who had low intelligences should then be segregated from the upper class so that they would not "cross" and propagate with one another... spreading the lower IQ.

This was spurred by the study of why generally intelligent, wealthy families produce less children while those families of little wealth produce more children. It was said that eventually, the poor would reign and the higher intelligence would in a sense, be washed away... and that needed to be changed.

Their answer to this was that those who are poor (monetarily) and make poor (bad) judgements should also be sterilized, in addition to those women who are promiscuous. In addition, it was encouraged that those of lower intelligence should also be sterilized. Broken families should have parent sterilization to prevent further "mistakes" of child care payments, etc.

Anyone else outraged by this? I know the author is against this... seeing as how he doesn't believe in testing or that children of one intelligence or another are of a higher status.

I can't say that I completely buy his viewpoint -- I do believe that learning might require some effort (if it's difficult to understand and we really want to learn it) but I also agree that there needs to be an education reform that does not revolve around tests. I also believe that we learn constantly and with little effort... but again, I believe that some things are more difficult to understand and I work harder to learn them (willingly... he seems to place a negative emphasis on forcing yourself = effort to learn something is not learning at all).

Correct me if I'm wrong, go ahead. :)

The Pursuit of Happyness

I just finished watching a movie: The Pursuit of Happyness. The main actor is Will Smith. Anyhow, I found it to extremely sad, and eye-opening.

The entire movie revolved around a man and his son's journey through poverty and finding happiness (incorrect spelling addressed in the movie) in all things...

My movie review: I was expecting a movie that would be sad for 1/2 and happy for the second half. It didn't quite happen that way. It was sad for the majority. :(

One thing it did do... made me think of how thankful I am for the life that I was blessed with and the opportunities that I have. Although I know that I have a high education background (for goodness sakes, I am attending the most beautiful university with the best distance learning program in the country!) and I know a lot of connections in business, it definitely helped me suck it up and realize that I should take nothing for granted.

To think, I was bickering about another teacher taking my hanging files in my file cabinet earlier today. What an insignificant problem that I deal with... while others are struggling to provide for their children and live another day without an idea of where they will lay their head for the night.

Of course I had to do a little research on a site I used to use often at an internship I had in Santa Monica: http://www.imdb.com/ (you can find trivia on any movie/TV show):

- the homeless in the movie were actual homeless people, paid full day's wages and given meals for starring in the film
- Will Smith's son in the movie is his real son

:)

World Observation: Language Around Children

I was reading in my car the other day as I was sitting in front of this store (yeah, anything to get out of my apartment... those stories aside)...

and...

this woman, about 35-40 years old and her about 1 year old child in the stroller were waiting for someone as the woman was chatting on her phone. She began talking about this woman who had just left her house and called her to get directions to where she was going from there. Following the explanation, this grown woman says (in the presence of her child)... "She's so retarded! So mentally retarded!"

My thoughts: At what point can be start being good examples for young, impressionable children? I guess I'm an advocate for proper language around kids because they are picking up everything from us and we are examples to them.

Alright, I'm done with the vent session. Thanks.

Wiki Wacky

I had my first wiki tragedy. As I was attempting to add the information I saved in my word doc. (I knew I didn't want to lose the information), I went to save it and all hell broke loose. Something happened to all of my writing and it deleted huge portions of the paper that I was not even working on.

I wrote about this in the discussion board on wiki and mentioned that I reverted the wiki back to the last person before me who has saved the information, Brent, and had to go back and re-type my information. I tried to cut and paste into the wiki but there were some font issues and wiki doesn't have traditional font to choose from (from what I know).

Regardless, what I was prepared to add and what I thought would only take me about 10 minutes ended up taking close to an hour because of the wiki going wacky.
(I plan to add this to EDC 641's forum posting too).

Looks like technology isn't flawless, even when I do everything I thought was safer.

My Day of Rest

In an effort to break away from my computer (obviously not for 24 hours since I'm here blogging) and to prepare for the Mt. Whitney hike in 2 weeks, my fiance and I set out to do a little exploration. We wanted to go walk around Pasadena because we have never actually spent time there before. Neither of us are much of shoppers, but we enjoy walking around and people watching.

After we finished that adventure, we went for a hike in the mountains just past Pasadena. I'm not sure the name of it, but I believe we took the 213 Fwy. to the 2. Anyhow, we found a trailhead and ended up hiking about 5 miles. We've been running the sand dunes in Manhattan Beach and running a lot more recently to get ready for the 20+ miles hike coming up.

Today was so nice to get away and enjoy what being outside and being surrounded by what nature has to offer. What a great time. :)

Unrelated, Todd saw Freedom Writers! What a great movie. I encourage everyone to see it. Have a great weekend cadre. Go out and enjoy the sunshine.

Final Reflection on Leadership From the Inside Out

(p.179) I loved the idea of seeing you job as earning a living OR feeding a community. That parable was such a good example of how we should be viewing our efforts.

It reminded me of this commercial I saw on the Internet (CNN videos) about Tylenol. Each of the people that spoke were actual Tylenol employees and they expressed what they do. Rather than making a product for salary that will pay their bills, they expressed that their work "saves people's lives."

Another thought-provoking piece that was underlying within this book was the idea of showing your real self, becoming vulnerable, and being real with people. This greatly changes and strengthens you impact as a leader. You become personable, someone of respect, admirable, and someone people want to befriend. The book mentioned how Al Gore was uptight throughout his campaign and finally let himself breathe and be "real" after he lost the presidency. The author speculates whether or not he would have made a better candidate and would have had a better chance if he would have let himself be known by the people in a real way. Possibly.

The book was insightful and brought about a lot of "me thinking" which was much needed. Close to the end, I was beginning to get ancy and felt like repetition was starting to kick in. However, I hope that I can use some of this advice to strengthen myself as a leader and use this in assistance with my ARP in the upcoming months.

Leadership From the Inside Out - Book reflections #4

Interesting quote from the book:

(p.111) I don't care who you are or how great you are --no one person can totally claim the victory or totally abstain from the defeat.

In our lives, we are not the only ones the contribute to what happens. There is always a surrounding "team" that holds power and possesses insight into our actions. Haven't you ever seen the Oscars? I always find it humorous that the actors get up and thank everyone in the world (and outside of the world--thanking God is overrated. Glad they remember him them... probably not a second thought later on) ... but the truth is, although they are the only one seen on the camera and in the movie, there are hundreds of others that their success must be tied to.

(p.114) Ask people for their feedback on your views and how you are coming across.

Okay, as nice as this sounds, I find it almost impossible to do. People are afraid of hurting your feelings or losing their jobs. The only real way to do this that seems to work is confidential.

(p.122) ----authentic listening... tough concept! Have you ever been able to just listen to someone without getting thoughts in your head about what you plan to say next?

I was talking to Dervin last night on Skype and we kept interrupting each other, trying to get a word in edgewise. Is it because we are so horrible at authentic listening? Is it fair enough to say that we are trying to help contribute, or that we are selfish to want OUR voices to be heard and praised?

(p.124) --apprecite authenticity. Often, I feel like there isn't enough to appreciate. Rarely in the workplace do I hear teachers, administration, or even students contributing to appreciating others... like really, truly admiring someone's efforts. I have set a goal to encourage and acknowledge and express to others my appreciation at school this year. REMIND ME of this if anyone in fact reads my lengthy blogs. ;)

Okay... this whole idea of "Being Mastery" is so weird. I know it's good to be comfortable and control yourself... but yikes! How difficult is it just to "be" without outside distractions.

I have never meditated, although I did try the breathing exercise in this chapter... not that I felt the serenity I was supposed to... but I guess I was focused on it and expecting it too.

Finally... page 143 talks about Reverence for Nature. Here is where I really connected. I love being outside. I love everything about nature and what is has to offer our souls. My fiance says (I joke with him about this... as we are both Christian), when we go to the mountains, he feels like God lives there. I have since started to view mountains in that same, serene light. I love hikes (although, ask me if I'm ready to hike 26 miles at Mt. Whitney in a couple week... uhhhhh) and all things nature. It really frees me when I am outside of my concrete walls.

On that note... I had to add another favorite of mine (that I am fairly new to, growing up in So. Cal... Skiiing---this one is in Steamboat Springs, CO. I am going back in two weeks!)

Leadership From the Inside Out - Book reflections #3

I hope I am not alone in saying this... but as Bill wants us to blog at least 2 x's /week, I find it hard to do since we have SO much else to be doing, replying to, reading...etc. Blogging has no structure or due date, making it even more challenging.

I am choosing to blog about my readings because I am very much a visual learner. Typing my random notes from the reading is helping me add meaning to what I read. So, if it helps you too, awesome! Here are my thoughts this time around:

(p.85) Life is everchanging-- it is our job to master our ability to adapt to change.

If I said I liked change, I'd be lying. Everyone likes to be informed of every little change but hates it regardless because it's an added stress on our already important and busy lives. This book is certainly helping me realize that the key to leadership (and self) success is being able to roll with the punches... something I have always struggled with ---well, I am good at it on vacation or on the weekend... but in the presence of stress... suck at it!

(p.88) Like a wise student, we can gain insight only if we are open to it.

I just think of how often I am stuck in a rut and want nothing more than to sulk in my situation until I finally cut the pride and submit to listening to others for assistance. It really does take me some time of being on my own and struggling to open up to the insight of others. Tonya (GA) from VirtCamp told me multiple times ---this was such an eye opener to me!-- that I need to consult my classmates for help rather than getting frustrated and doing it alone. At times, she even said it sternly as if she were trying to express, "Cut the crap, Brandy!" For some reason, I feel as though I am bothering people or being a helpless person when I submit to the insight of others. I don't want others to view me as weak and I don't want to lose my pride. I am learning it... the hard way, but I making a real effort to pushing the envelope on this one.

*A few times throughout reading this book it has reminded me of a book my fiance was reading throughout his MBA program about Toyota and their key to success. I believe the book is called Lean or something of that nature. Anyhow, it explained how Toyota is a growing success and far surpasses the other car manufacturing companies in their business practice. Toyota has a mission to treat ALL of their employees as if they are shareholders and leaders. Even down to the production line, Toyota is constantly consulting the very people who work the nitty-gritty of their product and every single employee to gain feedback on how their exact area of work can be improved to be more productive. Rather than hiring bigshots who aren't working in that area, all employee opinions on change are valued and changes are made according to the employee feedback. It has been their business plan and it has worked tremendously.

A quote from the book worked with this idea: (p.97) We need to invest millions of dollars in people development and keep with it even if we experience a few bumps in the road...the courage to reengineer the total organization (human and systemic) comes form the belief that people really are the capital that drives performance.

Now, I think, how can I use this at school? I already consult my students for help, their thoughts, their buy-in, their interests, their beliefs, their wants... often. But am I doing enough? Am I really making their experience an optimal experience for their growth?

(p.97) All significant changes begin with self change.

And how hard it is to change yourself rather than changes situations around you or situations that aren't working. This one's a toughy.

(p.102) Imagine your life totally free of fear... How would you live? ...How would you lead?

I see it going two ways:

I would be encouraged to try everything, not concerned about failure (which is a fear of myself and many) and I would have many great successes because I tried. Some failures, but they would be opportunities to learn from.

I can also see having no fear... leading to being careless. Going for it even though it wasn't thought out, fully complete, etc.

Leadership From the Inside Out - Book reflections #2

I have to admit, I wasn't pumped about reading this book. I thought, "oh great... leadership. In what ways is this book going to try and make me change?"

But after seeing Todd's postings, I began to get a better sense how to approach this reading. It's another way to see things that normally I possess. Needless to say, it's getting better.

I found this section of the book, Purpose Mastery, to be enlightening. Here are my thoughts:

The question "WHY?" -- quite possibly the hardest word to answer. We don't always have a clear reason for why we do things, but we should. (p.63)

(p.66) Nothing happens without a purpose. --It's true! The book outlines many examples of purposeful occurrences and it's just interesting thing that nothing occurs for no reason. This also sheds some light on the things we do wrong. Why did we choose to make mistakes?

(p.67) Why does a leader see possibilities while another sees only problems?

I believe a leader is constantly looking forward for the good of everyone. Rather than being caught up with the present, leaders view "it" as one big journey with hills and plains, not concentrating on any one point but viewing it as one entity.

(p.72) The more profound the purpose, the greater the energy. Purpose also frees us. Purpose opens up possibilities.

With a strong purpose, we are more likely to work hard in achieving it. We stand up for the purpose and except nothing less than success.

I loved this quote:
When you love the purpose of what you do, the rest flows!

What I loved most about that quote were the explanations that followed it. A few people were described in the book (the baker, the insurance/preacher) and both needed to find a real purpose for their work/lives. Once they found the real purpose, their abilities and attitudes soared, causing their work to flourish based on the change of their purposeful attitude.

(p.76) When we are certain of our meaning and purpose, it is very difficult to keep us from achieving our objectives.

How true is this! It is in line with the same principal that "If you want something bad enough, nothing will stop you" -- it means that purpose-driven people strive for completion and excellence.

(This entire section reminded me of The Purpose Driven Life too... in some areas)

(p.78 #3) When helping others find purpose, it is important that we not expect that what worked for us will work for them. Just like the differences of every human being, we have different purposes for our efforts. We must not lose sight of helping someone explore their options rather than trying to give them an answer of what to claim as their purpose.

Finally... the best quote of the chapter:

(p.82) The truest test of your character as a leader is the manner in which you deal with failure.

Some leaders seem strong and purposeful until an unexpected loss hits them. The leader you once valued and admired can be seen as just another person, lacking leadership qualities where they need it most.

I know that I struggle with this quote. I seem energized and positive until something starts to go array and I just want it to be handed off to someone else. Not always, but many times has this occurred in my own life. I worked on answering the questions in this section and it helped me to find the purposes for what I do in my life.

Leadership From the Inside Out - Book reflections #1

Currently I am reading a book (listed in the title) for my ARP class. I understand that this book is a foundation for what we are to be-- leaders, in designing, shaping, and developing our ARP's.

Here are my reflections as I go:

(p.23) "All significant growth and development begins with self leadership, mastery of oneself."

It is true to thought in saying that leadership starts from within and all great leaders in our world have first become leaders of oneself first. This reminds me of being on an airplane --hear me out. When the flight attendants are explaining the procedures for placing the oxygen masks on your face, they advise that each person place their own mask on first and then work on helping others. Once you are situated, and developed as a leader, you are then ready to train others. You have the play-by-play rules ready to go... because you've used them on yourself.

(p.36) "What we believe, we become."

I think this is going on my whiteboard this year. Maybe very large for the first week of school. Just in the same way humans have this (sad) way of being able to create our own memories, even of things that never occurred, we can believe in making success happen, and we are more likely to pass the finished line. Especially starting something new, many students of any age are fearful of beginnings. This is quite a motivating little quote.

**reoccurring in this book: "As we believe, so shall we lead."

My thoughts: I simply see this quote as a motivation to motivate. If there is something we are passionate about (or passionate against), we are so much more likely to speak up and let our voice be heard--become a leader.

In talking about Conscious beliefs on p.36, there are some questions to which I choose to answer here:

What do you believe about yourself?

I believe that I work hard and often have difficulties taking compliments. I believe that I am self-motivated but become encouraged by others when they are motivated. I believe that I am not strong in certain areas but excel in others. I believe that I have difficulty being wrong and listening to others for advice.

What do you believe about other people?

I believe other people can be judgemental. I believe that other people can be supportive, even when I don't want the support (but usually do, just have too much pride to admit it). I believe others are much more compassionate than I often think they are when I make mistakes. I believe that I have a lot to learn from others.

What do you believe about life?

I believe life is a constantly changing process of which humans are required to adapt. I believe that life is short, life is what you make it, and life is not the same for everyone. I believe that life on earth ends and eternity begins.

What do you believe about leadership?

I believe that leadership is an unnecessarily scary word. I believe everyone is involved in leadership in at least one area of their lives. I believe leadership is different than management and leadership is a mindset, not necessarily activated with a "title."

(p.38) "...He had this nagging anxiety ---can I continue to top my past achievements?"

Don't we all think this way? I think oftentimes, we choose not to "go for the gold" and really make the very best we can, in fear that we won't be able to come back around with that same feeling of accomplishment.

Thinking even further, if for example, Coca Cola were to have 10 ideas of new products ready to launch in September, would it be a smart business move if they revealed all of their new and innovative ideas all at once? No one idea would get very much attention... instead they space out their successes.

(p.44) "Our external shell can be either rigid and thick, preventing new possibilities to enter or to arise, or it can be permeable, thin and flexible, allowing learning and expression of potentialities."

I know that I am guilty of putting up my guard and having this nice rigid shell that makes me look like I can handle the world and then some. Well, truth is, not a person in the world is that strong. It's funny how that's still how we defend ourselves... when we are all human and built of the same structure and internal feelings.

(p.47) "Managers control by virtue of their doing. Leaders lead by virtue of their being."

What a powerful quote! Managers have to take action while leaders are leaders by just setting an example. Come to think of it, leaders are those people that exude confidence, but are not boastful or pushy. Leaders are often experts but do not advertise their expertise.

(p.50) Under sufficient stress, all old patterns return."

It's so true! Even when we try to change ourselves because there is a quality that is not to our liking, we still see that evil trait come back when the right amount of stress enters our lives. For example, I can often lash out at people when I feel like I am being attacked (insecurity). My fiance was helping me design these wedding hotel suggestion cards and I lashed out at him for checking over what I asked him to check. What I asked was, "check these over and see what you think"... but what I really wanted to hear was "Good job" --- not the corrections that he added. Now, the corrections were certainly worthwhile and not at all said in a rude manner. I just put up a guard when I felt I was being attacked even though I have been trying to make an effort to change that. Of course it is suppressed when stress is lacking... but when stress is present, the same darn reaction rears its ugly head...

more to come...

Blackboard Forum Posting

WOW. Posting on the Blackboard is enlightening and... exhausting. It really is like having 100 conversations all at one time. You forget what other people were commenting to (you read it 3 days ago and they are just replying now) and can be lost easily without being perfect in expressing without ambiguity.

I didn't check BB for 1.5 days and I had about 75+ postings to read. I have a feeling that is how the rest of my year is going to go.

Don't get me wrong. The comments are thought provoking. I simply cannot comment on each one though.

Other than that, life's great. :) Still lovin' it!

First check. Yay!

For the first time, I feel like I have made a chip in the pavement (for lack of a better word).

I finished an assignment. My webgift is complete... including the writing. And I am entirely happy with the progress. :)

Although I enjoy this program so far, it's definitely weird not completing one assignment completely before moving on to the next. We work on everything all at once. While consuming and a bit overwhelming, I like the idea of keeping assignments open for a longer period of time and not limiting our minds to continue building on our concepts, ideas, etc.

Regardless, it did feel good today to complete something. Yay!

A little Overwhelmed...

I've got a lot to do.

I keep thinking to myself, it's Summer. You don't have papers to grade or lessons to plan for another month... but I'm a bit overwhelmed regardless. I am usually great at organizing my priorities but for some reason, I don't know what is more important, let alone what book I should be tackling next.

It's been a little bit of a whirlwind, but I really, really enjoy the readings and reflections so far. I like that the books aren't boring education novels/textbooks and rather books I can get into. I like even more that most of them don't directly target education rather more business practice.

Truth is, education is a business and it's about time everyone starts viewing it that way. Yeah, some may say that it sounds a bit callous and impersonal, but we really are SELLING the idea of content and learning to students.

Being a technology program, it's fitting that we actually take heed and join a generation of Web 2.0 "subscribers" and jump on the bandwagon before it passes us by (and man is it zooming).

Kudos to those who are seeing the need to change the way we view our education "business" and making changes to suit our generation of "customers."

Remember, we grew up in the ages of pong and atari... they have SO much more on us!


(if anyone cares, I still remember bits and pieces of the program code it took to boot up my Commodore 64 to get to the games!) .... comma-eight-comma-nine-return! (and wait forever because it took that long for the precious black and green-lettered screen to get the game going.

This is not my exact computer ... but it does bring back some sweet memories!

Final reflection on The Tipping Point

Well, I'm reached the end of the book (as if I don't have 10 other books I need to start reading like today)... and here are my thoughts...

(p.176) How interesting is it that when Bell telephone company intially made telephone numbers, they wanted to shoot for the highest #... knowing that as the population increased, our need for more number sequence possibilities would also increase. With that thought, they picked 7 and 9... 7 being the amount of #'s in your phone #, and 9 including the area code. I thought that was very bright of them to think ahead and to research brain capacities --the human brain only really having a 9-number sequential memory pattern.

On with the capacity idea... humans have a friend capacity of about 150 ppl. As they defined it, people who you would not mind stopping and having a cocktail with. Any more than that and we act as strangers to one another. So fascinating. What I found to be even more fascinating was that religious tribal groups mentioned in the book already follow this rule by trial and error, only placing their people in groups of less than 150 people as to maintain the bomding among the group. Cool beans.

(p.183) Gore and Associates... what a smart business mind.

(p.188-189) The idea of transactive memory was also intriguing. It's amazing that people can synchronize their brains to those that they feel close in relationship to, enough to increase the collective memory of the couple.

(p.203-204) Needle Vans in Baltimore?!? Brilliant. Even more brilliant are those that sell them for $1 each. I had no idea about this. In sharing this with my fiance, he knew! (I suppose Maryland natives know a thing or two about their state)

(p.242) The whole smoking section: (by the way, it was not that long ago that smoking was allowed in our restaurants in CA... how wonderful that times have changed!)

..."that does not mean that parents who smoke around their children follow. It simply meanrs that smokers' children have inherited genes from their parents that predispose them toward nicotine addiction."

I've heard people say, "it's in their genes" before, but I didn't actually put that idea to use. I do believe that the ACCESS to cigarettes makes it easier for those kids (even not disposed genetically) to become chippers or try it sooner.

(p.246) Nicotine run higher in depressed people because nicotine has the power to boost the brain chemicals that they lack.

That makes total sense. I had no idea that nicotine was able to contribute to the lacking chemicals... explains why the percentage of depressed individuals is upwards in the 80 percentile range of smoking.

Final thoughts: I wonder, and may ponder in a later blog or forum posting, is there a tipping point for teaching technology? Or raising awareness of technology benefits? Or getting our kids interested in OTHER aspects of technology that can be useful (Of course we already know they are interested in technology...) and finally and probably most importantly... Can WE change ourselves to think like our students do? They have a lot to teach us.

Cheers.