Class Review

So far I have found this class to be very helpful and informational, as well as very necessary to future teachers. The assignments and information have taught me how important creativity in the classroom is. Throughout this class we have watched many TED talks read hundreds of blogs, and spent countless hours searching the internet with very little instruction, and we are thriving in our educations. I have learned how to bake. Something I’ve always wanted to learn about but have never taken the time until this class.

I see blogs as a good source of information, as college students much of our work and ideas come based on others work and their ideas. Its a constant flow of information making its way around our networks of learning. My favorite thing is this course so far has been the requirements for the class. We are held accountable for all of our work and will be graded on the quality and consistency of our work.  Doing this has given me valuable experience when it come to what it will be like to be a teacher. No one is there to watch over you every class, no one else is going to grade your papers, and no one is going to be able to control the environment of your class room but you. We need to learn how to start managing our time and responsibilities now before we get our jobs so we are prepared to be as effective teachers as possible.

The coolest part of this class I think has to the ILP’s. Everyone in our class is going out and exploring things that are important to them or to learn something that they want to use in their lives. While watching my class mates develop its becoming clear how far we have all advanced in our projects. Its proof that this style of teaching is effective and can help us become more interested in our own learning environments.

The part I have found most challenging in this class is how much constancy and work it takes to effectively blog, tweet, and work on this class through out the week instead of procrastinating till the end of the week. It is something i need to work on, but I have yet to effectively made times for myself to do it. I need to learn from this mistake and practice more on time management to more effectively run my blog, and twitter accounts.

Overall I have learned a lot in this class especially about technology and how we can transition so many different types of learning into our education. Whether its creativity, online research, or technology this class is preparing us to use all in the class room.

ds106

This program looks amazing and I cant wait to begin my own soon. I think it will be fun and exciting to create my digital Identity. The best part about this program I believe is the ability to look back and watch yourself and read your writings to watch your identity grow. There are so many interesting and fun ds106’s out there. One I am definitely going to do in mine is a collage of the spots you feel relaxed or at peace. Its a fun thought, its doesn’t take long, and it helps provide an image of the type of person I might be.

I think these can help students excel at being creative in class. There are so many options and different paths students can take to complete these and as a teacher observing it can truly allow you to learn about your students interest and who they actually are outside of the classroom. I feel like all teachers should understand their students and their lives. Teachers are very important in their students lives and will have long lasting effects on all their students. Its our job to make sure we are a positive encouraging impression on our students.

I feel like these could also be helpful if you took the outline of it and applied it to more specific organized subject to allow students to create presentation projects in class. Utilizing the ds106 in the classroom can open open so many options to let your students take control on their own but still in a structure that will keep them focused on their work. You can even use this as a form to teach in the classroom. Setting up little projects like this as a way to focus your class and prepare them for the information your about to cover.

Giving your student the ability to be creative and experience working on their own will also help them develop into stronger learners. None of use can say even half the things we have learned have been in school. We learn most based off our curiosity and willingness to seek answers to it. The things that interest them will grasp their full attention and if we give them a structural environment in where they can do their own work they can possibly find it easier to connect to they projects they are working on.

Overall I think this is an amazing tool that all of use should strongly consider using in one way or another in our class rooms. it has the ability to help us teach and use creativity at the same time. We should all be jumping on this ship.

 

ILP Breakfast Cupcakes

Muffins have always been one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. Most of the time ill just go to Safeway or Walmart to get my fill but this week I decided to make them on my own for the first time to get my fill, and complete another new goody for my ILP.

I like to think of muffins as a breakfast cupcake which is why I also decided to keep it simple and go with blueberry muffins since they are sweet but also a good breakfast. Things you’ll need are a muffin pan, butter, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour, blueberries, and milk.

Photo C.C. by paludeen

First you want to mix in all your ingredients according to the recipe which I found on Genius Kitchen’s website. Overall the experience was fun and easy. I don’t know if ill make them every time I want a muffin, but its a recipe I will definitely be using in the future.

We haven’t been posting on our ILP’s in a while so Id also like to share some other goods I’ve work on. I decided to try something I thought was really difficult. My friends birthday was a few weeks ago and i offered to do the cafe for his party. I found out he really liked ice cream cake and decided to take on the challenge thinking at the least it would take me a little while to do.The most difficult part was waiting because I decided to make my own ice cream and I wasn’t sure how to shape the cake.  I took me a while to shape it but I finally got it after a a few tries.

Photo C.C. by Sweetpolita

So far I am really enjoying the ILP I picked in baking. It has allowed me to explore and also begin to understand baked goods more. One thing that has become very apparent is the cost to make your own goods. Ingredients to make most baked goods in the end will cost you more than just going to the store and purchasing the goods already made. If you plan on being an avid baker more often then not you will have many of the ingredients already but if your an occasional baker it will more than likely cost you more to bake.

I have become more practiced and have improved my actions while baking as well. I measure with more accuracy, I crack eggs faster, and I’ve even made it a habit to pre-heat the oven! Aside from the baking I’ve also started to realize how fast you can teach yourself something when you’re motivated.

Experiential Learning

 

According to Grow the Enginering.co, “Experience-based learning is so effective because it helps establish lasting behavior change. How? Rather than simply understanding a new subject or gaining a skill, we develop new habits and behaviors.” Experiential learning is very helpful for students to grasp and understand a concept or theory better. Most of these exercises are hands on activities that connect with what students have been learning in class.

When these type of activities are going on in the class rooms its very important for teachers to very involved in not only the activity but also the instructions that go into the activity. Many times when teachers are doing hands on activities they will separate the class into partners and groups. This is effective because it gives students time to be creative and work on their own while also having a teachers guidance. Check out this cortical for a more in depth definition Best Practices in Experiential Learning.

Many different types of things can be considered experiential learning. When I was in elementary school we went on many field trips. We went to the Air Force base and learned how to make rockets after studying space in class. We went to the Journey museum after learning about native american culture, and we even went on hikes after studying nature and plants.

Things like science projects, take home class dioramas, and even classes like home economics and tech ed are considered experiential learning. These students are taking things they are learning about in class and doing hands on work that are connected with them. When students learn through experience like this they are making personal connections to what they are learning about and it is more likely to be something they remember.

This is a very easy and good concept to use in class. With technology headed the way it has been for the last 30 years there should be no reasons not to use these types of teachings in the classroom. Online sites can take us through museum trips, hands on interactions for the class on almost any subject, and we can even create games and activities for our students online.

Experiential learning is very important in the education of children. The more experience they can gain in the academic world the more prepared and the more experience they will have in they’re real lives when they are done with school. It helps students gain a better understanding of what they are learning as well as giving them another different way of learning things. Aristotle once said, “for the things we have to learn before we can do them we learn while doing them.”

Overall if we take this learning into the class room we will hep our students better understand what they are learning. Though not everyone will gain the same amount of knowledge from these hands on activities, everyone should gain experience and something from the activities.

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