First Night of Videos

Monday Night was the first night of videos. They were pretty interesting. The thing I found most interesting was that people had so many different ideas. I never even thought of doing a slide show like the first group had. I think because there were no guidelines, peoples' creativity really shown through! It was cool to see the different ideas so far and am excited for next monday to see even more.

Presentation at Decorah Middle School

The presentation given last monday was really interesting. The most interesting thing I learned was that just as your body goes through times of growth, so does your brain. I didn't know that your brian had two major points of growth and that during those times, it can be damaged more easily.

One thing I did not like about the presentation is the way she presented. I felt as though she treated us like young children. I didn't like how she spoke in different voices to try and be funny. This is a lesson learned as a future teacher. I think it is important to know the age of your students and to not teach them at a lower level.

"Mock Meeting"

Tonight in our usual Monday night class, we did some role playing. It was very engaging as a student. I had the role of being a fine arts teacher. I was supposed to defend my department by explaining why the fine arts are important in school. This was somewhat of a task for me because I am "anti-artsy". Anyways, it was really interesting to hear all the different points of view on the main topic, "how to develop a High Stakes Community School."

Many opinions were heard, parents of high achieving students, parents of low achieving students, local businessmen, teachers, students, and more. I am not sure if this "school" would ever be possible. I think this because the entire night was a debate, if that many people disagree on one issue, it will certainly be a challenge to convince parents, teachers, community members, as well as anyone who has some sort of tie with the school to be in favor of such a huge change.

I think class itself was very informative. I learned just as much as any other class but in a more interactive way. I believe there are ways to teach to make students excited and WANT to learn.