Are we the Lost Generation?

Before I watched 'Lost Generation,' I was curious as to what this video would be about.  As I began watching it, my first reaction was confusion.  As I listened to the words being spoken and scroll by on the screen, I was disturbed by their message.  Suggesting that money will mean more to people than their kids, that jobs will become more important than family, that divorce is a common happening, and environmental destruction is the norm were things that I did not want to hear.  But then the narrator stated,  "All of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it," and the same text started scrolling backwards.  Now the message was that of hope and the statements no longer left me with an uneasy feeling.  

Are we the lost generation that this video is talking about?  My belief is that yes we are.  Even though it is very difficult for us to see or admit to, all of the statements are true to some extent in today's society.  I believe that we are the lost generation, but that that does not mean that we are totally lost.  There is still hope for us, but it is going to take realization, reaction, change and action to reverse our path.  Right now, we are on our way down a terribly disturbing path, but it is still possible and necessary to turn around and go the other way.  Especially with my recent involvement in classrooms and several school settings, I have seen that in this fast-paced society children are not placed as the number one priority, families are struggling to make ends meet, and to stay together.  Not to mention that today's children are extremely naive about nature and it's importance (as I discussed in my last blog entry).  This is all true today and we should be concerned. 

I felt that this video was an extremely creative way to present this message.  It obviously took a lot of time to create and place phrases together that would work both forwards and backwards. I found it interesting that this video was so effective, and yet all it was was an arrangement of words, and no images.  Usually as humans we very visual beings, however this video was able to convey  a strong sense of warning and urgency to the viewer just by using words.  To view the video go to this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

I-Movie Presentations

Today and last Monday, each group showed their I-Movie presentations to the class and we held discussions about them.  My group chose to go first last week in class.  I felt that it went very well.  We experienced no  technical difficulties, and the class seemed genuinely interested in our presentation.   Our movie generated lots of questions, and there was some good resulting discussion concerning the costs and benefits of taking more time to integrate nature into today's educational experience.  The I-Movie assignment didn't come with many guidelines, but we were instructed that our main purpose with this presentation was to be as creative as possible.  Because of this, my group chose to take a sort of different approach to this assignment.  Instead of just having us talk in front of the camera or make up a skit, we chose to create a sort-of promotional video that would encourage the viewers to really think about the information presented.  This idea lent itself very well to our topic of nature-deficit disorder.  You can view our I-Movie by clicking here. 

As a group we read Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.  I highly enjoyed reading this book and it actually effected me quite a bit.  Being a child from a family who greatly appreciates the outdoors, the information presented in this book really moved and concerned me.  I found some of the statistics and stories fascinating because they show an entire generation of children who essentially don't know what the outdoors is, and don't respect nature's value in their lives. Reading this book really made me step back and think about my own childhood and the outdoor experiences I had in comparison to today's children.  Thinking about this fostered an even deeper gratitude and appreciation for nature than I already had.  I can't even imagine what my childhood would have been like without my love for the outdoors, which I can thank my parents for.  As this book illustrates over and over again, nature-deficit disorder is a huge concern and is growing everyday.  If parents, educators and the concerned citizens of our communities don't become aware of this situation and work to reverse it, we will be robbing future children of experiences that I believe are essential to our development as intelligent human beings. In this case, the consequences of NOT taking action are monumental.

This book and this project allowed me to really discover a passion of mine.  I hope to be able to take that, and the information I have learned, and incorporate it into my future classroom.  Hopefully I will be able to help to reverse the effects of nature-deficit disorder and inspire my students to value what nature has to give.

Adolescent Brain and Alcohol

Attending this presentation by Karen Williams was a very valuable experience for me.  Ever since taking Psychology in high school, I have been fascinated with how the brain works and develops.  Karen's energetic presentation showed that she shared  this same fascination for her subject.  She started out by explaining to us that there are three periods in our lives when our brain have the most plasticity, when it is most easily and readily developed. The first period is when we are still in our mother's womb, the second is between one to six years of age, and the third is between the ages of twelve and eighteen years old.  This third stage is the stage that most people overlook, but is critical to understanding and explaining how we behave during those years.  Research shows that during adolescence the brain is changing at such a rapid pace that any interruption in brain activity can have major consequences.  This is where Karen tied the information about the brain to alcohol.  Karen stressed that MEMORY is the essence of all development.  The hippocampus, buried deep inside the brain, is the part of the brain responsible for memory.  We can learn anything and everything that we want, but if we are unable to create memories of it, then we will be back to square one and the learning we did was useless. This understanding is especially pertinant when looking at adolescents because they are in that third stage of rapid brain development.  Alcohol use at this time can hinder one's ability to make memories and therefore to learn.  Alcohol effects the brain from the front to the back.  The brain develops from the back to the front.  The brain isn't mature until around age twenty-five.  This means that the pre-frontal cortex, which controls instincts, judgements and drives, is still developing in an adolescent, but is the first to be effected by alcohol.  Teen brain neurons take about four days to recover from getting drunk, and getting drunk on weekends can reduce the hippocampus by up to 10%.  I found this information extremely interesting and scary.  Another huge part to this situation is that major damage to the brain from alcohol is delayed.  Karen explained that you might feel the headache, nausea, and hangover symptoms after a night of drinking, and then think you are fine after they go away. However, much like a concussion, the major problems such as the damage to the PFC and hippocampus don't appear until later and often are overlooked.

I believe that the entire expanse of information that Karen presented is crucial for all students, teachers and parents to be exposed to.  A lot of this information was stuff that I didn't know, and I found myself asking why I hadn't been taught this before.  We need to get this knowledge accessible for everyone.  It is critical that children be aware of what is going on with their bodies, so they can make healthy choices. It is critical for parents to know about the peak in brain development so they can properly guide and coach their adolescents instead of becoming fed up with them.  It is crucial for teachers to have this information about the brain so they can better understand their students and adjust their teaching so that the kids can more effectively learn.

Race to the Bottom

I just finished reading the article 'How to Raise The Standard In America's Schools' by Walter Isaacson.  I first have to comment on how well written this article was, and say that it sparked a very passionate feeling towards this issue in me.  I have to admit that before reading this article, I was always very skeptical towards the topic of  "standards" in education.  The word 'standard' has gained  a relatively negative connotation, and in general lots of resistance is met, especially in education, when the problem of national standards is addressed.  

My understanding of what it means to be a teacher is changing.  It's not just about what goes on in the classroom, everything is connected.  Our future success as a country is embodied in these young students and we are consciously lowering the bar, cheating them out of a proper education just so our respective state can look like it's proficient.  We NEED to stop beating around the bush and focus on creating a specific standard for these kids.  The way I read this article, these standards aren't focusing on the need for every kid to meet them at all costs. Instead they are focusing on providing a solid goal for these kids to work towards that will get them moving forward to a complete education, fully preparing them to be competitive with their peers around the world.  Equality has always been a big issue in the history of this country.  Why can't we realize that we are creating inferior kids, who have the potential to be the best, just because we are lazy and can't agree.  Is it really worth it?

While reading, I was thinking how this relates to my own life.  I experienced the inequality in levels of education last year in my first year Paideia class.  One of the objectives of requiring the Paideia class for every first year, is to create a common experience and community for the incoming students to build on.  However, because every freshman has to take Paideia, there are many different teachers for the class.   Here is where the problem arises, and the goal of the course is lost.  There is no common standard set up by the teachers for what we as students are supposed to have learned by the end of this course.  And because there is no set common ground  on what to learn,  consequently there is no common standard for grading.  This is really where I felt the inequality.  I had a teacher who graded significantly harder than other Paideia teachers because he held a higher standard of learning for the students in his class than other teachers held for their classes.  Even though this was beneficial towards my overall education, I felt that it was an extremely unfair situation.  The amount of time and work that I put in to write an C+ paper, would get a student in a different class an A paper.  After reading this article, I now see the purpose and importance of having standards in education.  We need a common base in order to effectively evaluate and improve important aspects of education, and to fully prepare our children for the future.

Role Playing.....Help or Hinderance?

We used a different approach towards teaching and learning in Monday's class.  It involved a mock proposal presented by Dr. Langholz and Dr. Knick, and role playing by us students, representing a variety of different parties in the community. The proposal aimed at increasing student achievement in the mock High Stakes Community Schools. Creating this whole scenario and learning experience for us as students obviously took some extended effort from Dr. Langholz and increased cooperation from the class.  We spent a significant amount of class time looking over the proposal and discussing it in our respective groups before we actually participated in the presentation of and response to the proposal.  

I feel that even though it took an elevated amount of effort from everyone involved, this role playing experience was very successful.  It allowed everyone an opportunity to participate, and it was also important that everyone was representing a different viewpoint/opinion on the situation.  We were able to evaluate the proposal and had to think critically in order to properly defend our position and be able to question the viewpoints of others.  In addition to this, the role playing can also be seen as effective because it actually prompted heated discussion because we had to defend our positions.  In my opinion, the role playing process is a legitimate educational technique because it actively involves students, and encourages the  analysis, evaluation, and questioning of a situation.

Chalk and Wire Lecture

We had our Chalk and Wire tutorial lecture last Monday.  Afterwards I was extremely overwhelmed with all the Education requirements that need to be met.   The Chalk and Wire information was a little confusing too because I hadn't even logged into my portfolio at that time.  Even though all this information was a bit much for me all at once, it was all really important information that I needed to review.  Sometimes I freak myself out with thinking about all of the stuff like licensing, portfolios, passing the PPST, endorsements, and paperwork.  I also have times where I worry a lot about my ability to be the BEST teacher I can for the kids.  I am not sure if I am going to be able to manage them properly, or even more importantly keep them motivated to learn.  However, I know that Luther will fully prepare me to be a future educator.  Not only did this lecture provide me with lots of essential information but it showed me that if I ever need any help all I need to do is ask and there will be someone who can answer my question or who can find someone else who can.

Since that lecture, I have logged into my Chalk and Wire account and successfully uploaded my first artifact.  All in all it was a pretty self explanatory process and it felt really good to finally get started on my portfolio.  I find that I just have to focus on doing one step at a time and I will be able to complete things without too much stress.

Regional History Day 2009

Felecia and I attended the Regional History Day 2009 at the Decorah Middle School on March 14th.  This was a very inspiring event to attend.  Viewing all of these student's projects really displayed the tremendous amount of commitment, and the quality work that middle schoolers are capable of.  I was very impressed with each and every one of the displays.  Each poster/display had an immense amount of information presented on it, and it was obvious that these projects took lots of time and motivation to complete. Each student chose a prominent person in history to research and develop a thesis on.  The fact that the kids got to make the choice of who to study was a very important aspect to the success of this project, I believe.  Because the students had a personal interest in what they were researching, their levels of motivation and enthusiasm were very high, as evidenced by the work I saw displayed.  Several people had built rotating four-sided display stands for their projects.  Others had conducted interviews with ancestors or relatives of their historical figure, and had them playing on DVD.  Still others had written letters to various people connected to their person and had their written replies displayed.  Not to mention just the creation of the projects, but also there appeared to be a huge amount of time spent planning and organizing this event.  There were flyers listing the schedule for the day, each individual's entry, the list of judges, and the different rooms where everything was to be held.       

As I mentioned before, attending this Regional History Day was inspiring to me because it gave me hope for our future generations of students.  We have been hearing a lot about how poor the United States education system is, and about all the different problems there are.  I know that all of this talk is very true, but it makes me depressed sometimes, and I wonder if it can be fixed.  The history event at Decorah Middle School reconfirmed to me that all of these students are more than capable, and it is just our job as teachers to bring out their abilities.

Reaction to "Chalk"

My initial reaction on Monday night after viewing the first part of this movie was mixed.  I couldn't decide if it was believable, and whether or not I could take it seriously.  I found myself laughing quite a bit while watching it, and it definitely kept me attentive and entertained.  But after class, I was wondering if these were really the appropriate responses for me to have, and what my reaction meant.  

It was really almost painful to watch the portions of "Chalk" where the social studies teacher was attempting to teach his lessons, engage his students, and keep classroom management under control.  He seemed to fail miserably at every single one of these things.  I was thinking to myself while watching this, how could this situation even happen, because it seems that any person who could make it past the student teaching and out into the real work force, would at least have a vague idea about how to handle these situations.  However, as I thought about it more, I realized that almost every one of us has experienced a teacher like this first hand.  So it has to be real.  Now I see how extremely crucial it is for us future teachers to learn effective classroom management, because it can literally make or break a classroom of students, or a teacher.  

In connection with "Chalk," I read the article "The Building Blocks of Positive Behavior" that was linked to our homepage. This gave me a new perspective on how to approach discipline and management in the classroom.  It talked about PBIS, "Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports," which is a system for improving student behavior that has been implemented in several schools in Alabama.  It is a school-wide approach that focuses on reinforcing positive behavior, so you catch the behavioral issues before they happen.  Two really important ideas that I took away from this method were the fact that the entire school is on board with this system, and that it really concentrates on the positives of behavior and not the negatives.  With the whole school operating on the same system, the children know clearly what is expected of them, and won't be able to get away with different behavior depending on whose class they are in.  This is a huge deal because it is CONSISTENT.  Concentrating on the positive is always better than concentrating on the negative because it takes the ATTENTION away from those doing the inappropriate things (which is what they are seeking by doing those things), and puts it towards those who are exemplifying the right behavior.  Both key ideas for successful classroom management.

Mr. Steve C's presentation

I thought that all of the advice that Steve gave us was pretty valuable in one aspect or another.  He talked about a lot of things but several specific things caught my attention.  First, I was intrigued by Steve's background in teaching.  He did some of his teaching in a suburb of Chicago and discussed how different and what a difficult experience this was.  This especially interested me because I have always thought that I would want to start out my teaching career in inner city Chicago.  I know that this would be a very ambitious and somewhat daunting task, especially in the first years of teaching, when many are likely to discontinue.  But I have lived in St. Paul, Minnesota all my life and coming to college in Decorah, Iowa has made me realize how much the city atmosphere means to me and how much it influences me.  I would really like to return to a city to teach, and I know that I could impact lives by teaching in a very low-income area.  In contrast to the panel of young local teachers that we had last week,  it was nice to hear that Steve had actually gone and had all of these experiences.  Despite the undoubtedly many obstacles and hardships involved in teaching in an area like inner city Chicago, I was able to see that it was possible and that he gained many valuable teaching experiences from teaching in an extremely needy area.   This gave me hope for accomplishing something that not many people really think I can have success with.

Another point that Steve made that I thought was really important was that he told us how important it is not to do the same thing for 40 years.  He emphasized that it is crucial to switch grade levels, schools, teaching positions, and administrative positions in order to continue to grow and learn throughout your teaching career.  This was quite important for me to hear because I tend to be someone who gets very comfortable with routine and will sometimes be scared of change.  I see now that I need to stay active in my career and open to learning at all times because it will ultimately continue to make me a better teacher, which will allow me to better prepare my students, which is what truly matters in this profession.

Teacher Panel Reflection

The Teacher Panel was very interesting for me.  One of the things that really caught my interest was when the question of how much technology should be allowed in the classrooms was brought up.  I am all for using and integrating new technology as much as is helpful when it comes to teaching, but I was really, really surprised when one of the teachers said that every kid in his classroom had their own laptop.  From my own personal experience, having my own laptop is extremely convenient, and it is a great resource.  However, I am a college student, not an elementary student.  I find the fact that each student has their own computer in an elementary/middle school setting, kind of disturbing.  From what the teachers said, every spare minute of time that the kids get, they are glued to their computer, playing games, on the internet or on Facebook.  

When I heard all of this, I kind of related it back to our discussion on development last week.  In my personal opinion, I feel that elementary and middle school kids should not have their own laptop computers.  It is just not developmentally appropriate at that age.  It seems to me that it takes away from their hands-on learning activities, and their ability to learn some basic skills like calculating math problems, problem solving and imagining, and establishing a good use of vocabulary.  These are things that we can't afford to lose in education.  I feel especially strong about this coming from a future art teacher's point of view.  Creating art is an extremely imaginative, hands-on, original process. This cannot be done on a computer.  Sure there are computer programs that can assist kids in learning about how to make art, and in making graphic design pieces, but they are still just that, computer programs.   I feel that these days kids are being rushed to grow up and be tech savy.  In this we are taking the simple pleasures like developing imagination, playing outside, and reading books away from them.  I see this as very unfair because these kids don't even know what they are missing because they have never experienced childhood as anything different.  I think that part of our responsibilities as teachers is to make sure that these kids still get to be kids while they are young. 

Paper Clips and Chapt. 2

Paper Clips

I wasn't expecting this, but watching Paper Clips was inspirational for me.  As I have just recently decided that I wanted to teach and have begun to take Education classes, I feel myself questioning my ability to become the kind of teacher that is successful, and that I want to be.  I am the kind of person that likes to have a plan and be prepared for everything.  I guess I am afraid of the high degree of spontaneity that is undoubtedly involved in teaching.  Sure I will have to have all my lessons planned out and follow certain structures, rules, and curriculums, but everyday in the classroom will be different.  Many people enjoy this aspect of teaching, whereas I feel kind of threatened by it. What happens if I don't have an answer to a child's question, or I am unable to "get through" to a student?

The Paper Clips project helped me to see and understand that even though I am going to eventually have the label of "teacher," that does not mean that I still can't learn or be taught.  I was really impressed to see that the teachers at the middle school were equally involved in the project as the students were, and they as well were actively learning about the Holocaust, right there along side the students.  There were many times when the teachers themselves did not have the answers, but this did not stop them, or hinder their ability to teach the students.  They simply kept going and figured out a way to find an answer or solve a problem.  From this I see that everyday will be a new learning experience for me, but because of that, I will become a better teacher everyday.

Reading on Development -Chapt. 2

One major point that seems to come up across the board surrounding the teaching profession is the key goal of being able to motivate the kids to learn and to put in the work that goes with it.  I have found that this is probably most important in the subject area of art, which is what I plan on teaching.  There is this huge misconception that you have to be talented or "good" at art in order to be successful at it.  I truly believe that people have a hard time thinking of art as something that can be taught.  For some reason, many people believe that this ability to be good at art is only give to some people, and those are lucky people.  For the rest of us, we just don't have that gift so why even bother because we will never be able to create anything comparable to the talented people.  It is true; some people do have a natural talent for things like drawing, painting, or pottery.  However, this DOES NOT mean that you are automatically incapable of creating "good" art or learning how to do so.  I found that our development discussion tied in really well with this.  Developmentally some people are ahead of others.  During my J-term clinical experience in the classroom, I heard a lot of kids saying, "This is too hard," "I am bad at this," or "I can't do this."  It is not that they can't do it, it is just that they haven't tried or practiced enough.  I think it is important to be aware of the early-later experience issue when looking at these kids.  They may not be the best at art now, but maybe that is because they haven't had an earlier opportunity to learn, or to be taught the basic skills that others may have already had.  As teachers, we need to know that every one of our students has a gift/talent.  Even in the art classroom.  It will be my job to build on those strengths and create a niche for each student.