Furman Engaged!

Last week I attended an event at Furman University called Furman Engaged and the website describes it as:

“Furman Engaged! celebrates the wide variety of undergraduate research, scholarship and creativity of our undergraduates. Launched by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Internships in 2009, this annual event brings our campus community and visitors together for a day of presentations, posters and performances across Furman's campus. Our students present topics from a range of disciplines, from research in the sciences and humanities to creative works in the fine arts.”

I attended the Education department session in the morning and heard some wonderful presentations! They included diversity topics such as Identity Issues, Child Abuse, Students with Incarcerated Parents, Foster Care, and Bilingual families. It was interesting to talk with the presenters and hear what their research found and how this information could help them in the classroom. I also learned about some interesting resources that I want read.  It was extra special because some of the presenters were former students.

Next I went to the Physical Activities Center which was a gym filled with poster exhibits from each department. I really enjoyed going to several of them and hearing the presenters. I really enjoyed the presentation on the 3D printer. I have heard of them but never really seen one in action. It was also interesting to get in a discussion about how and why someone would want to have one.

I look forward to this event next year!

Number Photo Challenge

I’ve been doing an Instagram Photo a Day Challenge with Geeky Girls Knit this month and it has been a lot of fun. It involves the number of the day of the month and taking a photo of something representing that number. It was easy at first but as the numbers get bigger, it is harder and harder to do.

I think this would be a great math challenge for the classroom. Students could use a camera or a phone to take a photo and it can be loaded into an album on the computer for each day. At the end of the week, the class could look at the photos.

This would be a great lesson for students of all ages. For the younger ages, you could limit the number that you want to stop at. For older students, you can even use numbers in multiples if you want. At the end of the week, there could even been an anonymous vote for “Best In Show.”

There could be so many variations made from this challenge that I think you could find something to fit the needs of any classroom. What other variations would you suggest? Please share.

What Would You Choose?

In School’s out Friday from Lucacept - intercepting the Web, jennylu shows a video where women have a choice of walking through 2 doors labeled Beautiful or Average. It is interesting to watch the women and see them choosing a door. Some talk about how it made them feel.

This made me think about teachers and what labels we would use for them. I could imagine what our students would give teachers!  I came up with a lot more questions and no answers.

Here are some that labels that came to mind:

Effective or Adequate,

Inspiring or Educating,

Strict or Easy-going

Motivator or Teacher,

Creative or Common,

Outstanding or Average.

Given the choice of 2 doors with these labels, which one would you choose? Which one do students perceive you as?

As a beginning teacher, I would definitely have a hard time labeling myself with the more positive label. As I gained more experience and saw other teachers in their classrooms, I had an easier time seeing myself in a more positive light. Some things I could see me as needing to do better but striving to be the best.

Are some teachers more critical of themselves than they really are? I think teachers are very modest and don’t like to toot their own horns. They feel it is wrong to think that they are doing great jobs but I think we need to start allowing ourselves to be proud of what we are doing. Just like it isn’t wrong for those women to believe that they are beautiful, teachers should not feel bad about doing a great job!

Do students see teachers the same way that teachers see themselves?  Of course not! Most students resent a teacher who is hard on them even if that teacher is effective. Some teachers are great “friends” to students but many times students don’t seem to respect these teachers.

Do we build up teachers to where they are confident in their own teaching abilities or do we tear down their abilities? When teachers get evaluated, there are usually notes taken about the weaknesses that the teachers show and need to improve. There are so many hoops to jump that it is impossible to think you can show everything that is required in one lesson but that is uaually how teachers are evaluated.

What other labels would you come up with? How would you answer the questions?

Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

eEtiquette – “101 dos and don'ts for everyday digital interaction.” (L:G; SA:A)

Planet Nutshell – educational videos for teachers to use. (L:T; SA:A)

Find Your Park – interactive map of all the US national parks and public lands. (L:G; SA:A)

Poetry Foundation – “The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literaryorganization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.” (L:G; SA:A)

Shadow Puppet Edu – free iPad app;  Easily create videos in the classroom! Students as young as five can make videos to tell stories, explain ideas, or document their learning. 30+ lesson ideas supporting Common Core make it easy to get started! (L:G; SA:A)

Original photo by Pat Hensley