6 Months Away From Seeing '13 Grad Hoodies

I have a great feeling about this next year!! I'm loving 2013 so far! However, I would like to take a moment to remember 2012.

This past year I was able to revisit a camp that I love very much, experience a new camp that I enjoy very much, I was given the experience of doing two sermons at my church, I celebrated a second anniversary with my girlfriend, I received a scholarship that allowed me to stay in school, finished my last ridiculously overloaded semester in my undergrad, and just had a great time with my family in the past couple weeks (just to name a few highlights).

This year I hope to just have more fun, play more sports, and to be more dedicated to what I do and who I am. I have a great feeling about this year and I hope that you all do too!

Happy holidays everyone and Happy New Year!!!!

Reflection of week: Family time is great- spending time cherishing memories with family is the most refreshing and enjoyable thing to do! Happy New Year- cherish the old and be happy in your futures!

EndoftheOverloads!

Well, as funny as the apocalypse jokes have been all week, I would have to say that my favourite part of the week is that everyone is now finally done the semester. I have just gotten back to my home town and am very ready to simply relax and look forward to my second semester that consists of a much lighter schedule. With this semester now in the books, I would just like to say that I really enjoyed all of my classes this past semester. Some more than others of course, but I would say that this has been my most professionally enjoyable semester in that many of my classes actually made me interested in continuing to develop upon the knowledge base that I had started. It's a good feeling to be done, yet it kind of feels like I haven't finished. Maybe it's because I only have another 3 semesters until graduation, but I would like to think that I'm starting to truly understand what it means to be a lifelong learner- to keep learning even when it isn't for marks.

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Joyous Kwanza etc. and share with you a simple reflection that I had thought of after my seventh, and final, overloaded university semester:

Learning happens over your entire life and takes place in many different ways. The mistake that I have made is that I have valued my formal education a great deal higher than my informal education and disrupted that balance that should exist in my life. Keep on racing towards the goal, but set a pace. For what good is the goal if you are alone in your victory?

Reflection for the week: Take time, smell the roses. Disappointments, triumphs, and even knowledge will come and go, but the love that you spread lasts forever, in the lives of the people that you touch.

Semester in Review

Just under three and a half years ago I began my university career. In the program in which I am currently enrolled, I have come into contact with some very incredible people who will be graduating in less than 4 months. As I attended a friend's recital this past week I found myself going on a long walk down memory lane where I realized how short a four year degree really is, and how much one can learn in such a little time. I then started to wonder when all of this learning happens and came up with the answer, that seems obvious, that it happens in every moment that we choose to be fully engaged in our education. This includes, but is not limited to, all of the morning classes that we chose not to skip, every lecture that we decided to listen to as opposed to go on Facebook or fall asleep during, every study session that we attended, addressing all of those mistakes that were made and taking responsibility of them in order to ensure that they wouldn't happen again, and largely in the way that we connect with other people. If we are engaged we learn.

I would like to take this time to share with you all a Prezi that I made to show what I have learned in my ICT class this past semester. 

Lesson of this course: I have learned that in all things that we do, we need to feel connected and supported in our explorations. This is so we are encouraged to continue our educational journeys past the end of the courses we take and into an ever changing, unpredictable, and bright future.

Dress to the 9's with Voicethread

Alright, another week closer to the end of semester and Christmas holidays! I don't know about anyone else, but I am so stoked to trade the time with my projects for enjoy time with my family in a couple of weeks.

This past week I was able to play around with a new app called Voicethread. This application is an internet conversation tool that can be used for classroom conversations, collaborations, and various other classroom assignments. I tried to put together a short clip where I would post a physics demonstration and try to have students figure out "What is Going On?" A video like this would be posted about once every week to once every two weeks. Students would have to respond to the video with an audio, written, or video comment to answer the question, "What is Going On?" Most, if not all of the demos that are featured in the videos would have been shown in class as well. A seemingly decent activity with accountability in its assessment.

Being a beginner to this application I found it rather finicky and seemingly full of limitations. All audio comments have to be uploaded or taken in one prolonged take. It was nice to be able to doodle on the video, however, I still had difficulty performing a perfect take (which I never did quite do) without the ability to pause mid take or to use bits and pieces of different takes. I can see how this would be a useful application, however, I feel as though the lack of editing capabilities, low user-friendliness, and the inability to  save the video file to your computer makes this application something that I will not continue to use. I do see that it has value, however, I am unsure if the time that it will take to learn how to use it (and teach students how to use the program) will really be worth the ability to use this program.

Here is the link to the video that I made with the attempted explanation of what was going on: https://voicethread.com/share/3832488/

Something that I did learn through reflecting is that I find it difficult to properly explain things in one medium. This is something that I certainly need to work on if I plan to be effective as an educator.

Lesson for the Week: It is essential for development to confront our weaknesses. For me, this means to practice explaining situations clearly and in as few words as possible.

Yoda on Pass-Fail

This past semester I had my first experience with pass-fail courses. In order to show my bias, I will say that I love the pass-fail system as a student. I feel as though I can really explore the world that the course is introducing me to. I feel free to take chances and make mistakes because I know that I will pass if I do my best. Which is an essential part of a safe learning environment, no? I just think that there is so much more room for learning in a pass-fail course than there is in the traditionally graded classroom! Even if you make the argument that students will only do the bare minimum, I know that there are many students already doing that in traditionally graded classes.

In my undergraduate I have come to realize that all of my courses are really just introductory courses to a larger world of that subject area. Our public schools offer introductory courses to these introductory courses. Meaning, to me, that if all learning ends in the classroom, not one student will discover the world that this subject matter belongs to until later in their life when they choose to take it in again in university (and it isn't eve guaranteed at that point). Which is unfortunate. I see pass-fail courses as a chance to manipulate activities, assignments, and projects to suit your own needs in order to differentiate the learning of every individual even more than usual- relating the content to the student as an individual on an even deeper level. If a student is able to connect to the subject matter I believe that they will continue their learning outside of class and they will come to know the subject matter in a truer form than most students who receive 90% will by filling out their worksheets, memorizing facts, and doing a couple presentations based on a few Wikipedia articles.

Grades are supposed to be an accurate reflection of the student- the work that they do and the outcomes that they meet in a class. However, a 90% in Language Arts does not describe that this student has an incredible ability to write in the third-person. It simply says that the student received 90% of the marks available. An 83% in Math does not say that a student is able to derive unique equations in order to solve problems. It simply says that the student received 83% of the marks. There is no substitution for words when it comes to describing a student's abilities (in my mind), which is why I don't understand why we find the need to assign people various percentage grades to describe their abilities. 

I believe that every classroom is a micro-chasm of society and that if we can create a perfect classroom that we can make a perfect world. However, with numerical grades we promote this idea (whether we would like to or not) that one person is better than another because they have a higher average. Yes, it feels good to know that you did better than someone else. However, if it's always going to be a competition we will then always have the competitive nature of the outside world too- as opposed to possible idea of a collaborative world in which we utilize the skills of each individual in order to benefit the whole global community.

I do not mind a percentage made up of numerous pass-fail assessments, but large scale percentage assessments seem wishy-washy to me at times. In many ways I believe that there are two options in meeting an objective and/or receiving a grade- meeting or not meeting (approaching). If one is not meeting the objective they are still approaching but, ultimately, they have not yet met the outcome. For example, when Luke Skywalker attempted to move the X-Wing from the swamp he was unable to do so. He almost did, but Yoda did not give him a 68% and send him on his way to Jedi graduation. Instead he had Luke stay and continue his training on Degoba. Yoda knew that we was not yet a Jedi because of his disbelief in himself. 

Before Luke had tried moving the X-Wing, Yoda says, "Do or do not, there is no try." This is the attitude that we should have towards our students. With people to support, encourage, teach, and to believe in them they can become the Jedi Master that they were destined to become. We need to push our students to meet their goal and not just 75% of their goal- simply because they can do it and they can do it better!

Reflection for the week: We must encourage our students to learn beyond grades and into the world of developing skills, character traits, and exploration so they can save their X-Wings and destroy their own opposing Death Stars. Do or do not, there is no try- pass or fail, there is no 55%.

Growing Up is Hard to Do

As of late I have really been thinking about what it means to be 21. Being 21 means that I am an adult; an individual who should be contributing to the advancement of society and the general global good. It also means that I have lived through approximately a quarter of my life, which is really scary for me to think about. I also realize that many professional athletes have already been playing in their respective professional leagues for 3 years and are no longer considered rookies. This leads me to ask myself, "What have I done so far?" 

Now, I can look back and think of a number of different things that I have done but I also realize that there is still a lot more that I can do. Right now I am attending a university to become a teacher. More and more I am coming to realize that the job that a teacher does directly affects the productivity, enjoyment of life, society as a whole, and many other things of the next generation. The only people that have a larger impact on the lives of the people of the next generation (in my opinion) are their family members. The great responsibility that you accept when you step into a classroom as the educator of the next generation is probably much larger than any of us can really anticipate. Yet, that is exactly what I will be doing in approximately 18 months. How can we even think that 5 years of schooling would be close to enough time to learn how to perform this task properly?

Once again, I look at my age and all of the experiences that I have had. Maybe I haven't had 100+ points in a single NHL season but I have picked up a few skills here and there. I then look ahead to the future when I am 42 and I try to imagine all that I have learned by looking back on my next 21 years- how much more would I know? How many more challenging and exhausting growth experiences will I have? I'm assuming more than I can think of. So why not learn from people who have lived through those additional 21 years already? 

Technology- as great as it is to find resources and organize information I'm really thinking that I haven't fully taken advantage of its ability to form networks with experienced individuals whom I trust and who are in the field. To tap into that base of experience and knowledge would be extremely beneficial for my development as a teacher and as an individual who is simply trying to figure out what it means to be 21.

Lesson of the week: take advantage of the experiences that other people have and listen to what they have learned. At 21 you can have a lot of constructive and knowledgeable experiences but at 42 you will have had many more. 

Agricultural Learning

This past week I watched multiple Ted talks about education, most of which were given by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Robinson is a firm believer that critical thinking is key to preparing students for the future that we do not know. The aspect of critical thinking that Robinson talks most about is that of divergent thinking and its factor, creativity- defined by Robinson to be the process of having original ideas that have value. Robinson sees creativity as a natural ability that we all possess. The problem is that our education system tends to squander creativity while promoting monotony and convergent thinking. Like most other speakers on education, Ken Robinson says that we need to change the system; that we need a revolution in education.

I would strongly agree with Sir Robinson and all of these other speakers that I have heard say this exact same phrase. The question that I ask myself is, "how?" What can we change in order to have this revolution of learning mean something? I guess that really is the million dollar question, isn't it?

One of the things that hit me the hardest in the three Ted talks that I watched Sir Robinson give was found in his talk "Bring on the Learning Revolution!" which I have embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

In this talk he compares to the current American education system to a that of a fast food restaurant's system of distributing burgers- all of the products standardized in every way. He then says that we need to structure ourselves after an agricultural model- to provide the proper context for healthy development and knowing that no two ears of corn will be the same. Although this statement was not referring to the Canadian education system I still saw the comparison in what we do with education to be similar to that of a fast food restaurant. We have our standardized goals, outcomes, and courses that we want all of our high school graduates to have. Hoping that they will all be ready to attend whatever university they wish to go to. Some teachers will even inflate grades to make it seem like their product is better than the product down the street.

Earlier on in my blog I  had posted about the amazing accountability that the curriculum gives us with the outcomes that it provides. But Robinson's statement about fast food structured education has me second guessing. Are specific outcomes really the appropriate way to look at education? Or are we to develop outcomes for the individual classes that we have from year to year?

Just recently a friend had described her grade 9 math class as being extremely below level and making the statement that they did not understand the difference between multiplication and addition without a calculator. Now, this scares me a great deal. Another friend of mine said that it is more about the progress than the "being at level" when faced with a class like this. To me the happy compromise would be for teachers to set the curricular goals for each individual class that they have in this case. Meaning that the teacher can create what they believe to be a reasonable outcome for these students and then pass what these students do know on to the next teacher. Something very similar to this process is being done in Finland which is ranked in the top 3 of the world's finest educational systems. I also believe that this would resemble that agricultural approach. As the farmer will look at the stock market, the forecast for the season ahead, as well as the equipment that he or she has in order to help the crop grow.

The problem that I see with this agricultural approach is that it is a lot of work. This work requires skills that I do not think that I will have as a first year teacher. This then leads me to wondering about the curriculum. As a teacher is it truly my job to teach the curriculum? This is what I have been told over and over again so it seems to me like it is. However, Sir Robinson's talks have me wondering if a teacher's job something even bigger than that. Is it my job to be constantly adapting, adding, and possibly removing content from the curriculum for every class that I have so that they will be creative, productive, and contributing members of a global society? Hmm... All from learning about ratios in a math class? Or the length of a quarter note in a music class?

To me it seems like it is a combination of all the classes that they take to be their true education. Maybe it isn't about the outcomes of a single class but instead, through the relation of the outcomes of all of the different courses that they take are they really learning how to learn and what relates to the "real world". Maybe the learning occurs in a reflection on the mixture of all of their experiences and social interactions and not on Black Line Master sheet 8.3.3.

Reflection of the week: At the end of all of my reflections I have just slightly changed the question that I had at the beginning (which was "What can we change in order to have this revolution of learning mean something?) to being, "How do we maximize a student's exposure to learning experiences, social interactions, and reflective thinking?" That is if my reflections are anywhere near or even the least bit closer to the hallowed field of learning.

Open Source Software

Last year I completed all of the physics requirements in my degree. This meant that at times I was much more a physics student than a music student or an education student. I wouldn't say that I was out of my element but I certainly was not in it at the start of the year. Throughout the year I learned many amazing things- some of which were easily translatable to the other subject areas that I was studying or even to my daily life. One thing that has recently come in handy is the use of Open Source Software. Some of you may already know about this stuff and use it on a regular basis but I really hadn't started exploring the Open Source world until last year in my lab course. 

The general idea of Open Source Software is to provide people with an accessible version of software that can help one become more productive in their learning, business, research, or whatever else. Once someone has used the Open Source Software of their choice the idea is that this same person will then iron out some of the kinks that they may have experienced in the software and then put that up for others to access. Then, throughout the years, this software will become better and better and continue to keep up with the times. The problem that one can sometimes run into is that these programs may not be very user friendly or they may be very new with many kinks to be ironed out. 

For the many years that I have been in music school I have been putting off buying certain software such as Sibelius and Band-In-A-Box because they cost a little bit more than I was willing to pay for them. Last week I was finding myself in need of their services but my Sibelius trial had just expired. After a moment of wondering what I would do, I decided that I would try to find an Open Source alternative. After about 5 seconds of searching through the Google results I found an alternative called MuseScore. After a 30 second download I have been able to enjoy all that I required of a notation program. I honestly feel as though I have to watch what I say because it feels like I just stole software, but I didn't! I was just able to experience the miracle that is Open Source Software. 

The thing is, in taking part in this software one cannot simply expect to be a consumer forever. Eventually it will be time for you to contribute to the Open Source community- to pay forward what other people helped you obtain by developing next generation's software or by simply updating and editing the old software. Not that anyone will force you to do so but it just is not cool to take advantage of other people's ideas and work without contributing any of your own. Not meaning that you must know how to enhance the programming of an application before using anything but just that you will one day pay forward these resources that these developers have given to you.

In the end, my reflection for the week is simply about being diverse. It is a good thing to be diverse: to try things that are outside of what you would usually do and to really learn  as much as you can from every experience that have. I have always been a believer of this and I think that as teachers we should encourage students to be versatile and holistic in their learning. Some of our students will be the next top notch physicists, professional athletes, architects, and musicians but I truly believe that in order for these students to be the best that they can be they must be able to relate to the concepts that they play with from many different perspectives. I believe that the best learners are indeed versatile learners. If I had not paid attention in my physics courses I would not know about the world of Open Source Software. If Shaquille O'Neal had not been a team leader during his NBA basketball career he would have had a much more difficult time relating to his doctoral research (about how CEO's and principals use humour in the workplace). I simply believe that there is value in having a broad range of interests and we should encourage our students to pursue these interests, but make sure that they are constantly reflecting on how these varied experiences relate to one another.

Lesson for the week: There is value in diversity. Take every opportunity that you can to broaden your worldview as these opportunities will help you learn concepts, both old and new, in ways that you could have never understood before. 

Drum School & Reflective Decision Making

Last weekend I attended a music education conference in Winnipeg. One of the presenters at this conference was Dr. G. Foote. I attended two of his sessions and came away with a lot of applicable information. During his one session on the rhythm section he discussed an application called Drum School. This app is seemingly the perfect tool to help students learn the drums. Drum School is a database of different grooves, practice techniques and exercises, instructional videos on various beats and techniques, and it only costs $5.99!! Drum School allows students to learn how to play the drums through both recordings and notation. When learning individual grooves the app allows you to isolate the different limbs, add a bassline, and even control the tempo that the recordings are being played at. This was one of the tools that Dr. Foote had explained in order to get all of us attending the session to learn how to teach the rhythm section instruments as well as learn how to play them.

Check out the Drum School App here: http://drumschoolapp.com/

On the way back home from the conference my car pool stopped by a music store to pick up an instrument that had been in for repair. I began to talk to one of the men who was working at the store about playing a rhythm section instrument. He told me about this wicked deal that they had on for basses and I almost took him up on the offer. The only thing that kept me from buying the bass was the fact that I knew that it would be an impulsive buy based on what I had heard from Dr. Foote earlier that day. So I ended up going home with no new bass but simply with a desire to one day pick up the bass if for no other reason than to be able to play on the weekly worship team.

After having a couple days between the present and this conference, I am wondering if I made the right decision in not taking that deal on the bass. I have made it a rule that if anything costs a significant amount of money, or if there is a large decision to be made in my life, that I must sleep on it for at least one night before making the decision. In the past this rule has always proven beneficial, however, since this experience I have began wondering if this mentality will one day hinder me. If one day I will be faced with a decision that may seem as though it is not urgent but then ends up being exactly that. I haven't arrived at an answer on that one just yet. For the time being, I am quite happy with my reflective and contemplative approach to important decisions but this experience has brought a little bit of suspicion into my thoughts. This is the beginning of a lesson for sure but I haven't quite yet arrived at a conclusion yet.

Lesson for this week: Drum School is a really cool application and I should take up a rhythm section instrument.

Accessible Assignments

On my way home from school today I accidentally dropped my back pack on my driveway when pulling it out of the car. I initially had no concern for the bag's well-being as this was not the first time that this has happened. However, my panic level suddenly spiked as soon as I remembered that my computer was in my backpack!! So I scooped up my bag and rushed into my house to make sure that my computer was alright after its tumble. Luckily it was.

For that period of time between realizing that my computer was in my bag to being able to check the state the my computer, I was imagining pulling out two halves of my used-to-be computer. My mind then raced to all of those assignments that I had started, those files that I had saved, and especially the notes that I had taken to help me on my midterm and I worried about my inability to access these files. Although my computer turned out fine I realized how it was necessary to be able to access my files from different computers.

The fabled excuse of a dog eating one's homework may be replaced by a simple excuse about how one dropped their computer on the ground. This made me realize that I need to really use file sharing applications like Dropbox, Google Drive, or even a website. Even with my students I should use this type of technology. These file sharing applications could allow me access to each student's project and I can see how much they have done on any given assignment at any point in time. This may give me some great feedback as to how my students are thinking and how I can help guide their thinking better. Plus, by using file sharing applications we can keep files from years ago and pull them up on any computer (old, new, home, or school). These applications would not only limit excuses of not finishing homework but they could increase class-time efficiency by helping out with the summative assessment during, and between, classes.

Even though I was fine this time I really would have been out of luck had my computer been damaged. Not only would I be unable to afford a new one but I would have to rebuild any resources that I had started to accumulate, restart any projects that I had done work on, and lose notes on discussions that I probably will not have the privilege of having ever again.

Lesson for the week: Take preventative measures in protecting important files because you never know when something unexpected might happen. Also, make assignments accessible from multiple computers.

Mythbusting: Learning Styles

Over the past two months I have really been thinking about the different ways that students learn. I have even had the great experience of being a middle years band clinician for students who are learning how to play their first instrument. These clinics gave me the opportunity to try a number of different techniques with students to see what makes and keeps students engaged, to learn how to develop a friendly and respectful atmosphere, to learn how to adapt very quickly to different class dynamics, to evaluate and understand what the needs of the students are, and countless other things. I had two goals in these clinics: 1) to meet the standard that had been set by the music teacher who had hired us clinicians and 2) to teach concepts and songs in an aural, visual, and kinesthetic way. My second goal was initiated to test a hypothesis that I had developed myself- I really don't believe that students have a specific learning type in which they learn best in. I most certainly think that by using all of the different learning styles any student will better understand the content simply because they will be able to relate to the content on a higher level or in a different way.

I recently saw a video clip about a school that had incorporated the arts into every class. In this clip there was a lot of advocating for the use of the arts in our classrooms. By incorporating the arts in the program this school had lowered its dropout rate, raised the literacy and numeracy of the students, improved their special education program, and made the teachers happier to teach tin the school. Yes, I agree the arts are great. However, I truly believe that the increase in the effectiveness of this school's education is simply because the teachers began to engage students by providing the students with more channels that they can relate to the course content through. In the video, when John Ceschini says, "[the arts] give us ways to engage kids, to get them involved, to have them be a part of what we want them to be a part of, which is learning the curriculum." he is sharing a dream of finding a way to reach all kids no matter what the circumstance are. The arts were able to provide many more channels for these students and this is why I believe that the arts belong in non-arts classes- they give an opportunity for students to engage in a wide range of ways.

Here is the referenced video

It's interesting that we don't usually see things the other way around though. I have heard very little about incorporating the sciences (or non-arts) in arts classes. I would like to think that this vice versa scenario would actually allow for more channels of relating to the subject material for students. Take for example the idea of using jumping jacks, jogging, or walking to teach a sense of pulse or implementing physical concepts to better understand why fingerings are the way they are and how instruments sound higher and lower although they play on the same clef- these things and many more allow for a better understanding of band instruments and musical concepts. Too often we overlook tools that can be used to help us reach that one student who is having a difficult time relating to the content. Even by just incorporating some kind of recording/mixing/arranging project you can engage more students and activate their learning.

In the end, the clinics that I had done seemed to be in agreement with the beliefs that I had beforehand. I tried to meet the visual, aural, and kinesthetic needs of the students and, although I didn't have the most innovative and effective ideas to try this, this idea seemed to help students relate to the material better. By breaking up the clinic into a cycle of smaller sections that included 5 minutes of visual, then 15 minutes aural and discussion-based, and then 10 minutes kinesthetic, the students seemed more engaged than I think they might have become with a single style of teaching. Some students were even able to put together a few deeper concepts on their own by relating the different areas that we were touching on.

Lesson for the week: We have to give students as many ways to relate to course material as possible whether this be through arts in the sciences or sciences in the arts we must make the effort to reach every student in as many ways as we are able to.


"We got to find a way to reach all kids, every kid no matter what. And the arts do that, they give us ways to engage kids, to get them involved, to have them be a part of what we want them to be a part of, which is learning the curriculum." 

- John Ceschini 

YouTube Origins

When I started this blog I said that I was striving to become one who was a contributor to the internet and not just a consumer. Yesterday I finally felt like I contributed something to the internet- I posted my first two YouTube videos. Honestly, YouTube has been this final frontier for me. I think of YouTube as the New York of the modern day- If you wanted to make a name for yourself, New York is where you went. I personally don't think that these videos will net that many views in their lifetime but I just enjoy the fact that I have now become a part of this collaborative community of YouTube. A world in which every video is a window into somebody's life and that they are proud of what they are doing. There's something really cool about finally being a member of that community. 

The videos that I posted are a couple conducting practicums that happened this past week. Neither one of them particularly exceptional but I thought that I had to start somewhere. Looking back at all of the old episodes of the YouTube channels that I follow I notice that many of their early videos were less produced and usually at a lower quality of a video. However, if they never started they would have never produced some of the great videos that we have today. These people wanted to do something and went out and did it- conquered challenges that they were sure to have faced.

In whatever way you view YouTube this principle of exploring something that interests you is a great thing to do and an awesome trait to develop in your students. The truth is that not very many of us are truly great when we first start doing something. Take musical instruments for example, yes we can have some aptitude when we first pick up the instrument, but the truth is that we are usually only good compared to the amount of experience that we have- we need to realize this and focus on where we're going. If we only look at where we are we either get caught up in a sense of arrogance or inadequacy- both of which are hindrances in the long-term development of an individual. As people we need to focus on the goal that we are moving towards; as teachers I feel like we should pass this mindset onto our students so they can realize that learning, as well as life, is all about our constant development, celebrating the big and little things, and moving forward every day. 

Lesson for the week: Take a chance and explore what interests you. Look to where you're going, celebrate your accomplishments, but do not lose sight of your goal by getting caught up with the immediate.

A Note on Notes

Last year I found that I would fill up all of these notebooks with countless notes and ridiculous amounts of doodles. Unfortunately I would usually remember the doodles that I drew and not so much the content beside them. This year I have converted to taking notes primarily in word documents. Originally I had avoided this method of taking notes simply because I thought that I would be disconnected from the classroom. However, I am finding many different benefits to this method of note taking.

The reason why I started doing this is that my backpack was getting too heavy with all of the different notebooks that I was hauling everywhere. So I bought two notebooks to test my computer notes against- to see if the benefit of a light backpack is out-weighed by my hypothesized lack of connection to the class. So far I have found that I am not only toting around a lighter backpack but I am also able to write notes down just as fast on my computer as I can on paper (plus I can reformat the information once I have written down a large section of notes). I have also found it much easier to find my notes for every class and also keep track of the homework that I have every night by just checking my computer documents. At the same time I have found that the computer is my eye contact default making me miss more of the classroom discussion than I would like for the most part. I am able to keep up with the content covered but I would have to say that I wish that there was some way to be able to be just as involved in these discussions as I am with pen and paper. Maybe this will come with practice but for the time being I am rather satisfied for the trade off that I am making.

In our lives we often fall into these slumps of complacency. We continue on with the same methods that we have always used because they work well enough. I have been taking notes in the exact same way for as long as I can remember but there are other things that I do that I don't change. For example, every day when I get home from school I always eat a snack. This is a habit that I have established since grade school. Am I always hungry when I come home? No. Do I eat a snack because that is just what I am used to doing? Yeah, I think so. The same thing can happen to our teaching. I am usually pretty decent at public speaking and I am comfortable in doing so. However, I need to be aware that not all students learn best by being talked at. Actually, I would plead the case that this is very far from the illusive "perfect model of teaching". The problem that I have is that this is where my comfort zone is and where I have developed my skill set. Due to a factor other than comfort- that is, my beliefs of an effective classroom- I feel as though I will need to change my default style of teaching. My best solution for this is to try a different method. It is true that it may have its foreseeable downsides but unless one explores the new, one will continue to be static, solidifying one's place in the methods that they have already deemed flawed.

Lesson for the week: Always be open to modifying your methods in search of what works best. It may be true that we cannot attain perfection but by investigating different methods we can get a lot closer than we once were. Note: this applies for much more than simple note taking.

Evaluating Bias

Now, I understand that nearly, if not everyone that will see this post is studying in education or has studied education. However, I just really want to write about this absolutely awesome concept that I heard about in one of my classes. The concept that I am talking about is that of assessing students completely based on the outcomes that are outlined in provincial curriculum. 

The idea is not to grade students on assignments, concerts, or projects but instead by to assess whether they have reached, exceeded, or have failed to reach outcomes. Genius!! Whoever thought of this deserves a gold star! Not only does this provide teachers with a method to justify their marks but it also moves away from teachers handing out percentage based marks that could have easily been 5% either way of the given mark. With this idea you can look through all of the different outcomes and say that this student is either meeting or not meeting these outcomes quite definitively (some people may include exceeding and other stages too). If our jobs are to teach the curriculum then we would probably assume that it is the job of a student to learn the curriculum. If this is the case (and some people may say that it is not) then why would we not assess and grade based on the curriculum? To me it seems obvious. However, maybe I'm missing something. 

The whole point of me bringing this method of assessment up is that I had been functioning under a bias that I did not know that I had. I was working with a bias that had me believing that assignments were just a thing that we teachers hand out in order to give our students marks and that these assignments were out of a certain amount marks simply based on how much work that was needed to be done to complete them well. I had been functioning under this bias because, as far as I could tell, many teachers that I had functioned under the same one and used marks simply as a tool to assign us grades so that they could keep their jobs- I hope that this was not the case. 

After reflecting on realizing my bias towards evaluation I did come to the conclusion that there are so many things that we teachers do for reasons that I don't really understand. Meaning that I must always be thinking critically and challenging what I do believe and why I believe it. Sometimes we think that we have the whole picture figured out but it always seems to turn out that we really don't. We may have a photograph that looks good from far away but is missing pixels when you look up close. Or you may have a picture of something that is put together quite well but then you realize that it is all part of a larger puzzle and that some pieces just aren't making sense. This evaluation method was not only an awesome skill to learn but it was also a good reminder that we never really know everything about anything- even if we are trying to learn about ourselves. 

Lesson for the week: There are many great ideas that are waiting for us to simply challenge our own thinking and functions in order to find them. 

"Everything is Amazing"

I thought of this video about halfway through my last post and thought that I would share it.

This is a segment of the Conan O'Brien show that I found on Youtube.

The World of Technology

Right now, I am exploring what seems like an entirely new world on the internet. I am finding out about all of these incredible pages, tools, and methods of teaching that are just blowing my mind! Today, when sitting in one of my classes, I was shown this amazing resource for teaching physics by one of my friends. This site lays out the high school physics curriculum in a very manageable and interactive manner- making it a great resource for teachers who may be having difficulty planning their own course or for students taking the course through distance ed. Overall the site was very impressive and made me understand that there are absolutely incredible resources out there just waiting to be found.

Too often we take for granted the things that we use in our everyday life- especially technology that we are used to. How many resources and collaboration opportunities are available through technology? How many do we actually know of and/or participate in? If teachers are to be providing students with the best education possible should we not try to know as much as possible about this world of technology that we are able to access?

It is easy to keep up with the new developments in education when one is in university, however, will I keep up once I begin to teach on my own? Or will I stick with the methods that my teachers used on me and the technologies that I was shown how to use when I graduated? Statistics say that the latter is much more probable. Meaning that many teachers will be teaching a generation behind where research in education is. Bringing me to the realization that I may one day be teaching a generation behind (even if it is unknowingly). Taking this ICT class has exposed me to a number of different sites, tools, and technologies that I never knew of- making me realize that one can miss a lot if they are not paying attention. Also, it has only been a couple of weeks into the course- I think that there may be a few more things that I don't know up ahead.

Lesson of the day for future me: Pay attention and stay connected. 

The Journey Begins

For a long time I have been a consumer of the internet- using some of the various knowledge, resources, games, and communicative tools that the internet has to offer. However, this era of my cyberspace citizenship has come to an end. Today I cross the line from being consumer to contributor. Today is the day that I begin to put some of my own thoughts and resources out there for people to view, share, and adapt. 

I am currently enrolled in a course that will teach me how to use technology in order to enhance the learning in my future classrooms. One of the things that I get to do in this class is construct a blog as a central spot where I can group all of my resources. More importantly, this blog provides me with a place where I can reflect and evaluate all of things that I am learning about as I go through this course (and the many others that I find myself in). I am a very reflective person and greatly benefit from the act of writing about what I learn. Meaning that this blog will probably be one of my greatest places of personal learning. I only hope that my own learning can be beneficial to those of you who read my posts and follow me on my journey.