It was pretty cool to see the Scarlett kids in the beginning, and to see the courage of the young students who were brave enough to stand up and talk in front of their classmates, as well as the University of Michigan students, and the professors. I enjoyed working in the Brandon center and thought that the librarian talk was useful. We discussed how we would use the soda ban in our science group with a librarian who I think was named Pam? I'm not sure anymore, it's been a few days and I'm bad with names (Though I call John "Rob" on purpose, and you all should too). If you want to see our results they are here http://teachingwithtech2012.wikispaces.com/Science+Approach+to+Soda+Ban
I think that I may be the only person to post a negative thought on this blog from what I've seen so far. So excuse my lack of rainbows and butterflies but I thought that our conversation with Pam lasted a bit too long, and by the end of it we were going too far in depth about stuff I will never use. I did enjoy it at first, but by the end it was hard to pay attention because I felt like there was no apparent reason to pay attention. I, being human, have trouble paying attention to irrelevant subjects. My other group members that I talked to did not feel this way though, so this could just be me.
To end the day we did podcasts. Now excuse my re-emergence of rainbows and butterflies, but I loved this! The atmosphere was positive even though we were there late on a Friday night. It seemed like most people were having lots of fun with this(I certainly had fun, even though my best podcast ever didn't save. I proceeded to make up a tribute song to that podcast on the spot, which was fun.), and it was just a good way to mix it up on us. Overall I enjoyed the class, loved the variety of approaches and how we switched to the Brandon center in the beginning. Looking forward to next class, hopefully they can keep things interesting as they did this week.
Peace out, Pierson.
Matt! I TOO was concerned about the lengthy class on a Friday and was pleasantly surprised by how well the time passed WITHOUT me looking at the clock. Do not feel bad about writing something negative on your blog! We are supposed to write how WE feel about the class and OUR opinions of the reading materials, not someone else’s viewpoint. So write out without apology! And don’t be afraid to be different/have a different viewpoint. Just remember that students that you teach may also be the same way so do not forget about creating a “safe place” for them to also express views that may be different from you/the class (if that’s applicable). I enjoyed your rainbow and butterfly references. Cute!
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately missed this class. It sounds like I missed out on a lot, especially with the podcasts! I wish I could have been able to go, especially to make my podcast in the environment of everyone else making theirs. I know I felt awkwardly uncomfortable sitting in the cafeteria of Scarlett one day after school recording myself say something totally random ... ... This would have been way more fun if I could have sat around everyone else making and experimenting with theirs.
ReplyDeleteI also wish I could have been there to see the Scarlett students visit U of M that day. I forgot that they did this until I read your blog post about it. My student is a kid of very, very few words, so while I'm sure he had fun, he had an absolute minimal amount to say about when I asked him the following Monday. I would have loved to see their expressions walking around and to see their courage as you described it. Awesome.