Thing #3

Why do we blog? Well, for me I blog because I need to receive credit for my Education 3040 class. (So let me revise the question) Why should we blog? I suppose one could come up with a number of reasons: to give feedback, to inform, or to voice opinions. But, what could we get out of a blog? Feedback.  Nothing is more valuable than feedback—positive or negative.

            As a future teacher I know that I do not know everything. I know that it is not possible for me to know everything. I will often search for ways to know what my students are thinking, how they are thinking, and how they feel.

Students need an outlet that they can use to praise or criticize their teacher in a way that is colloquial and inherently honest. Buttering your teacher’s biscuits with “oh my goodness that was a wonderful lesson today!” will only hurt future students forced to suffer through the same lesson because no one ever said “this is not working”.

            For education to work we must exchange information between the teachers and students. Too often teachers find out that they students didn’t understand the material after the scores are in books. I believe that anonymous blogs would be a great way to alleviate part of the problem.

            In a blog students would not feel pressure to say all the right things. Furthermore, by doing the blog at home or on their own time, they would not feel like the teacher is watching what they write and making prejudices against them. I would try to have my students write a report about once a week on how they felt the class went. They could then tell me what worked and what didn’t, and if they felt the class time was productive and beneficial to them.

            This type of feedback would be a valuable asset in the classroom. I could monitor myself not only by the standards set by the state but also by the comprehension and learning of my students. 

Thing #2

Professor: “You will need to set up a blog for this class.”

My first thought: “Ohhhhhhhh crappppppp”

And thus my blog was born.

            The name for this blog came to me in a puffy white cloud of thought. I wanted a title with more flavor than “My 23 things” (no offense). I’m an English major and a writer, and I often have trouble keeping my voice out of my writing. I’ve been called “over opinionated” by people I find to be under opinionated, so I chose my title to demonstrate the fact that I am opinionated and am capable of recognizing my opinions as personal. After naming the blog I was slightly more excited about having a new outlet. Then, I was informed that I would need to create and avatar.

            At this point I began to wonder why God hated me so much. I’m not very good at technology, as you may have guessed. Still, I reluctantly ventured into a neat little website to make a miniature Adriana. I had hoped for a pleasant experience. I was sorely disappointed. At this point, you may feel free to call me vain. Why is my avatar so fat? Who decided that black people are more of an ashen-grey color than a nice brown? I don’t think it looks a thing like me….I do own several bottles of lotion ya know. The whole thing was so unrealistic, and I could not even find hair that resembled mine without looking nappy. Did I mention that I was sorely disappointed?

            So, I am still figuring out how the blog works, but overall it’s pretty cool. Technology is hard for me, but I think I will get the hang of it soon enough. As for that avatar…well I have nothing else to say about that avatar.

           

THING #1

They say you learn something everyday, and I guess this is more or less true. I’ve taken a psychology class or two and understand the concept of “latent learning”. To me, latent learning is passive learning—which is an awful learning style to primarily rely on.

            So, what do we learn and how do we learn it? How do we become Life Long Learners?

            There are 7 ½ habits for Life Long Learners (Google them if you don’t know what I’m talking about). One of the habits I may find difficult is habit # 7 ½: Play. I forget to play ALL the time. It’s quite sad really. I think it’s because I work too much and too hard. Its an interesting balance I need to find because, quite frankly, being burned out my sophomore year of college is a tragedy all its own. For me, I think the easiest habit is #3: View problems as challenges. I read this and I thought, “Hecks yeah! I shall conquer all!” I may have overreacted. Nonetheless, I think this is one of the best things a person can do to prevent getting sucked into a supermassive black hole of negative thinking. Instead of feeling like the world is out to get you, feel as though the world sees you as a triple threat. It wants to test your skills. I plan to give them all a run for their money, and after I win all the bets I will take that money and go buy myself a scoop of ice cream. How’s that for play?