night-r0bin

[night-r0bin]

Links of interest

https://www.reddit.com/r/teaching/

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/01/22/ctq_berile_punk.html

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/may/17/punk-rock-makes-good-teacher

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/may/17/punk-rock-makes-good-teacher

https://twitter.com/ 

I use twitter to follow other educators and sites that can help my future career.   My classroom teacher this semester turned me on to this idea

http://punkrockpedagogy.blogspot.com/

For learning to deal with difficult people: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships/conflict-resolution-skills.htm#resources

http://www.educationworld.com/

http://www.chalkbeat.org/in/

[night-r0bin]

National Parks Presentations

At the start of the semester, my class was informed that we would be doing a national parks project.  We were to make a poster or powerpoint about the park we chose to research and then present it to the class.  It was a semester long project.  I paired up with someone different for this project, a woman who was new to the class but not the teaching program.  Together we chose Mount Rushmore, because she had just gone there and I have always wanted to visit it.  My partners main interest in the park came from her idolization of Abe Lincoln, mine came from wanting to see such a cool piece of Americana and awesome sculpting. 

For the project, we were to answer questions on the history, economics, civics, geography, and culture.  What intrigued me the most during my research was how the land was taken away from the Native Americans after it was granted to them, and then they decided to build this monument.  Then the American Indian Movement occupied the monument in 1971 to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.  The leader of this occupation was Crazy Horse and now a monument is being built to him.  I find it fascinating that we just gloss over things like that.  It’s kind of insulting. 

This was a great project, and a fun way to get students engaged with geography.  I would use it in my classroom and couple it with an estimating distance on a map lesson.  Through research, students learn facts about cultures they may have never heard of and also learn about geography on their own and how it compares with their home state (which is them creating their own learning) . It allowed me the opportunity to make a new friend while  Which is also something I feel this assignment SHOULD do. 

[night-r0bin]

Butterfly Camouflage

Butterfly Camouflage was an art project my class did.  What we did was cut out and color butterflies, or what we think a butterfly looks like, and “hide” them from our classmates.  What I found most interesting about this project was the different ways my classmates hid theirs.  At first I was going to color mine to hide on a pillar in the classroom, but I had trouble matching the colors.  Instead I opted to color it black and hide it on my friends back.  She was able to walk around for quite some time before anyone noticed it.  This is a fun project to integrate with science because it shows how some species are able to protect themselves from predators.  It is also a good art project because a teacher can allow students to give their own interpretation of a butterfly and camouflage, which can help bring interest to a subject they may find boring.  The most well hidden of my classmates was one a couple of students hid on a coffee mug. It was well done!

[night-r0bin]

Art is subjective

This semester I attended two major concerts.  One was for John “Jugheads” 50th birthday.  He was in the famous snotty punk band Screeching Weasel, but has been in other numerous and influential bands in the scene, which is why his birthday was such a big deal.  I’m writing about this for my arts blog much like I wrote about the Neon Bone concert: the influence of great art is worldwide.  One of the bands that played the show was The Manges.  They are from Italy and flew all the way over here to play one show for this man.  And this simply because his music inspired them.  That shows the power or art, and the power of music especially.  That’s them below:

They rocked the house, playing their brand of Italian pop punk in honor of the guy that played some music that helped inspire their style.  Of course he’s not the sole influence (more Ramones than anything) but they still live half a word away and took the time to play for him on his birthday.  This is a lesson that can be taught to my students: don’t be afraid of creating something, because you never know who you can touch with your music.  More pictures from the show below.  The Mopes and The Lillingtons also played.

The Mopes

The Lillingtons

[night-r0bin]

Greek Posters

During my time at field this semester I saw a lot of art going on, but the one lesson that stood out the most came from the Greek Mythology unit.  With this unit, the class was read to, and read, Greek myths.  The students were taken aback by some of the stories, as they couldn’t believe the action and adventure they were hearing.  Some were shocked because they were hearing that sort of thing in school! (They were heavily edited, but still had some juicy parts left).  What I think generated the most interest, and made it arts related was the integration of plays into the unit.  The students in the two fourth grade classes were assigned specific plays, and they were given time to rehearse and create props.  It was awesome to see the level of creativity that went on, for example, the Trojan Horse was created using brown construction paper over a table and one student created a horse head.  For the play the students crawled underneath it and moved the horse.  It was great.  A couple of students struggled with making weapons, so I made a spear and a sword out of construction paper.  Even I was engaged!  The weapons turned out great and were prized possessions.  I recorded the plays but cannot show them on here, but they were funny, and the students injected their own life into them. 

The class also created Greek myth posters.  Students grouped up according to their chosen god and created posters with information on them.  Most students took to this well, but there were a couple of posters that students obviously did not take their time on.  Some were even busted attempting to plagiarize.  This lesson is one I will use in my future classroom because it integrates history and the arts for a fun experience that the student love.

[night-r0bin]

Classroom Management

As a separate part of the democratic community project, my social studies class was tasked with developing a classroom management/environment.  Together my group came up with a seating arrangement, and a list of rules, procedures, and consequences.  For this project my group mates and I drew upon our previous and current field experience, and thought about what worked best.  We then drew up the plan to reflect what we thought would be our ideal classroom.  After meeting with our instructor at the end of the semester to talk about the plan we had an engaging conversation about what worked well and what did not as we saw it in our field experience.  For me, I thought the mini economy idea of class management worked well, but I am still not sure if it’s the right tool for me.  Some students seem to not care whether they get money at all or even if they are in debt.  I think the biggest take away for me is the concept of having the whole class develop rules and procedures for the classroom that they will follow throughout the year.  I think this is a crucial step in showing a class that you have their best interests at heart, while also showing them that I take learning seriously and I expect them to as well.

[night-r0bin]

Our Town!

One of the first democratic projects my social studies methods class engaged in was the building of a town.  Together the class brainstormed what buildings/businesses/neighborhoods were essential to a “town” (or a city).  The suggestions from the class were written down on the whiteboard, and ranged from ideas like a dog park to a liquor store.  Being the sole comic nerd (and the only one in any of the classes it seems) I suggested a comic book store.  We were to bring supplies in to build our house for the town and we were also to construct the building we chose.  At my house I cut up old comic books and glued them to a spare cardboard box I had lying around.  As you can see below the town took great shape.  We all came together to decide the layout of the town and we put our houses where we wanted them.  An interesting thing that happened during a conversation about this project came when the one African American in our class brought up the fact that Cabrini Green was a part of our town.  She thought the class had included it in order to have a “ghetto” portion of our neighborhood, but in reality it was from a previous class where one of the students actually came from poverty and wanted to include it in the project.  It was eye opening because I didn’t even think twice about it, but she was incensed.  I understood her point of view and made me think twice about dismissing something like that as trivial.  

For my future classroom I believe this project can be used to show diversity to the students.  Not everyone comes from the same area, and it gives students a chance to have pride in their neighborhood as well as show that maybe some of us have it a little more rough than others, so we should never judge a book by its cover.

[night-r0bin]

Take a seat, make a friend

The first day of any class can be a little uncomfortable, even after being the same classes with my mates for the last few years.  So after winter break when I had to enter yet another class with the same people, I was still stricken by the same uncomfortable feeling.  Our instructor asked us to pair up with someone we usually do not associate with and make a new friend.  I got together with Anastasia, who I have had in many classes but not taken the time get to really know.  Going in I knew her and I were unconventional students (meaning we are older than the usual age group of students.  Both of us are in our 30′s).  We took time to share info about ourselves then we were to create a handshake.  It was nothing too complicated, but it was still a fun shake.  This activity impacted me greatly because I felt that it was a great first day activity.  It can be used in my future classroom by getting all of my students to interact with one another on a different level.  I’m sure many of them will be friends, so I will want them to befriend someone they are not as familiar with, just like Anastasia and I did.

[night-r0bin]

Wax Museum

Another interesting project my class participated in was a wax museum.  In it, we chose a famous person and researched them.  We found the salient details of their lives, and then acting as that person as if we were in a wax museum, we presented our information.  Many of my fellow students dressed up as the person we were portraying.  My favorite was Anastasia dressed up as Ben Franklin (it reminded me of the episode of The Office where they hire a “stripper” but it’s literally just a Ben Franklin impersonator).  I chose to do Stan Lee because of my love of comics and his importance to the medium.  Finding information on him was not hard because he is such a popular person now thanks to the Marvel movies being so popular.  I did not dress up as him because I could not find a good wig or glasses like his.

This assignment seems to be best used to have students do a wax museum of popular people from their state.  The elementary classroom I am in now is doing just that; portraying a famous person from our state.  They can choose from famous movie stars, musicians, government officials, and historical figures.  The class is excited for the project, and I am sad I will not be around to see the end result. 

[night-r0bin]

Rube Goldberg Machine

As part of an arts project, my group (Dunia, Brock, Alicia, Ali, Kayla, Jordan, and Bri) all brought in household items to make a Rube Goldberg machine.  The point of this machine is that it is a complex machine that accomplishes a simple task.  The cliche ones from my youth were always in old school cartoons or movies.  The first one that comes to mind is the one in Back To The Future, where a complex machine opens the dog food for the dog (the dog food bowl is full and the dog is not eating it; fantastic movie).  I brought in a paint roller, an old binder, and piece of a wind chime.  Other items brought in include a wine bottle, golf balls, some mega bloks, and an empty orange juice container.  Our machine was tough to build, but I think the toughest part was just figuring out what we wanted the machine to do.  We settled on a fun design where a ball was resting on the piece of wind chime, then rolled through an empty tube, hit a popsicle stick fan that knocked another ball down another ramp and that ball knocked over an obstacle.  It was great!  I feel that this is a great team building exercise, and will force students to think deeply and abstractly. (Bonus pic of me with popsicle stick claws because I had just seen Logan)

[night-r0bin]

Social Studies, Art, and Punk Rock

I’m writing today about what I feel is an applicable social studies and art crossover.  This past Friday I attended a concert at Skeletunes in Fort Wayne where my favorite band, neon bone, was playing.  They flew in from Meunster, Germany for a couple week tour.  I had spoken with the front man of the band, Lars, over Facebook a few different times.  The first time was to ask him to send me a shirt.  Once we figured out the international shipping charge he mailed it to me.  It is one of my prize shirts.  Neon bone’s music appeals to me on so many levels, and the subject matter is always close to my heart.  It is usually about love and it’s failed attempts, or the feeling of being in love.  There’s also themes about being broke, drinking too much, and nerdy stuff.  I have all of their music (though not all physical; shipping over seas is too expensive sometimes) and listen to it regularly.  How this is social studies is that I was afforded the opportunity to hang out with the band for a bit before the show.  Lars and I talked culture and how the various perceptions of our cultures is different.  For example, I mentioned wanting to attend and Oktoberfest in Germany at some point and he said how it is more of a touristy thing, and not something the Germans really go crazy over.  He also said how everyone they had met in America was so nice, and I thought that was odd because we have the stereotype of being assholes.  We talked beer and how because of purity laws in Germany they do not have much variety in their beer.  But here in the U.S. we have so many different types.  I was even able to by him one of favorite beers, the Black and Tan by Yeungling.  I also bought one for a woman from Germany that accompanied them on the tour.  He talked about how they were chowing down on all of the American food because it is so fatty and delicious (Ha!  and everyone mocks it!).  We talked about how McDonald’s basically has the same menu over there, because I had heard it was different all over the world.  We talked music and festivals and he was so nice he gave me a free shirt, stickers, and pins.  It was a great evening and I am so happy to have lived it.  I even got the set list and had it autographed by the band.

To me, music gives life meaning and I think that many of my students will feel the same.  I will always be a strong advocate of music in the classroom and do my best to work it in whenever possible.  Students can and will be shown that there is music outside of our country, and it is just as good.  This relates to geography lessons, where culture (like I mentioned above when talking to the band) can be discussed.

[night-r0bin]

Artifact Activity

On the same day we did the shoe box activity, my class did an artifact activity.  Here, we chose 5 artifacts that we felt defined our values or who we are as person.  I chose 5 artifacts that I felt defined who I am and influenced my life.  The first item is my leather jacket.  It is adorned with punk rock and comic book pins and is my cloak.  It keeps me warm and helps me feel unique in a world where everyone wears the same styles.  It’s part of the Ramones-core scene, but that is not big around here so no one else really has that style.  My second item is my annotated copy of the Dragonlance Chronicles.  This book series is what shaped my love of fantasy literature and Dungeons and Dragons.  The book is well written and a source of inspiration when I need to think of great characters.  My friends and I often imitate the style while playing.  The third artifact are the my dog’s collars.  My boys, Luke and Bennett, have been with me for a long time now (12 and 11 years) and I love them.  Just like most dogs do for their masters they bring me joy and love me unconditionally.  The fourth item is my favorite picture of my sister and I from our youth.  Her and I are very close and always have been.  We shared a room until 4th grade, and she is the most kind, loving soul on the planet.  She is a model of how to act in this world.  My last item is a record.  I chose neon bone because they’re my current favorite band, but I’m just a huge music buff.  I have over 700 cd’s and hundreds of records.  I didn’t start collecting records until 6 years ago and have built up a nice collection.  Music defines me in some ways, because a good punk record can say what I have trouble letting out.  This activity was wonderful because I got to see what some of my classmates brought.  This is an opportunity to bring my future classroom together by having them share personal effects with one another.

[night-r0bin]

Shoe box activity

An activity in my social studies methods class came in the form of the “shoe box activity”.  For this the class is imitating moving west like the pioneers of old.  We take ten minutes to fit what we can into a shoe box before embarking.  I took it to mean that we are still in the modern world, so I grabbed some electronics for mine.  I didn’t have a spare shoe box lying around, so instead I used a tote bag and filled it up.  I started the timer on my phone and set off around the house.  The items I came up with were this:

*  My Nintendo 3DS to play video games on

*  A case houses all of my 3DS games

*  My iPod because I love music and it has over 8000 songs on it

* Charger for my iPod and phone and speaker

*  A Bluetooth speaker to entertain myself and everyone on the trip

*  Two pictures in frames.  One is my favorite picture of all time, it’s of my sister and I as kids and we are both smiling as we ride a rocking horse together.  It is over 20 years old and has great sentimental attachment to it because my sister is the greatest.  The other picture is of me and my friends Dave, Adam, and Paul.  Adam and Paul are my two closest friends in the world and the picture captures that.  It was taken at our friend Lee’s wedding (though he’s not in it).

*  The last item is my copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.  I’m not a              religious man, but I do appreciate good philosophy as guidance through life.  I  adhere to his sayings (or try to anyway) and do my best to be stoic and accept what comes at me in life with dignity and humility, and learn to accept what I can change and what I cannot. 

This assignment was interesting and I enjoyed how it made me think about what was important.  I think that is the lesson that can be taught to students; the idea of what is really important in life.  It is not TV’s or video game systems.  Rather, it is the things in life that can keep us going when times are tough.

[night-r0bin]

Today in my Social Studies methods class we discussed the importance of geography.  Geography can incorporate all other subjects into it, therefore it is the ultimate tool for integration.  Need to talk about economics?  Geography has you covered?  History of the people?  Look to geography.  We learned this through a helpful mnemonic device; Mr. Help.  The M stands for movement, the R for region, He for human environment interaction, L for location, and P for place (what makes something special).  The biggest lesson I learned today is that I must make kids connect to their local community because geography is more than just the whole world.  If they want to appreciate animals in a zoo in Sydney, Australia they must first appreciate the animals in their local zoo.

We integrated language arts and wrote a cinquain poem about our neighborhoods today.  That is was the mobiles pictured above are.  It was a good idea and one I will use in my future classroom if I am able to teach geography (which I will fight for!)

[night-r0bin]

Makin’ Music

Ok, it has been a while since I have blogged.  I am terrible about it.  However, I’m getting back on track for it.  This week in my Teaching About The Arts class, my classmates and I brought in instruments from home.  The instruments were nothing more than what we could find around the house, and everyone signed up for a different instrument.  There were drums, percussion, rain sticks, tappers, and shakers.  I was a tapper and the only thing I could find around the house to bring was some old metal from thresholds and some wooden spoons.  I used the wooden spoons and tapped those along with Allison and her pvc percussion instrument (which rocked!) and Brandi and Sarah.  We covered Ozzy’s Crazy Train.  What I found most interesting about this was the idea of how to implement music into the curriculum.  I’m a music nerd, not one that knows how to play an instrument, but rather one that listens to music all of the time.  I have hundreds of cds and hundreds of records.  I love pop punk and death metal, or anything just out of the ordinary.  I want to be able to use music in the classroom, and I think this is a good way to do so.  I can see myself having my students bringing in items from their house and jamming with me as we learn.  Music captivates almost everyone, and if it is possible to encourage learning with music I am all ears.  Rock on.

[night-r0bin]

Coloring Sound

In my art class I recently learned about synesthesia; the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.  The example I was shown about this topic came in the form of Melissa McCracken and her art.  She is a synesthete and is able to translate sound into vivid paintings. In class we grouped up and took time to explore how music shapes the way we may paint.  The lesson plan called for my group to paint along to The Piano Guys’ version of Adele’s “Hello”. I personally do not care for radio music, especially Adele.  However, I enjoy orchestra music so this version was a good listen.  The process started off with me being asked to listen to the song and list what images came to mind.  Then I listened to it again and marked where in the song the images came to mind.  Then I took my blank canvas and my paints and went to work.  I had heard the Adele version many times while having a drink after work (it played over the speakers) so I had an idea of what the song may be about.  The melancholy of the string instruments gave me some interesting visuals and I recorded them down as best I could.  I enjoyed the project and think is a a great way to paint because music evokes such emotion and imagery out of most people. Now I want to do it to some pop punk…

[night-r0bin]

Blog 6: Tying it all together

The biggest take away from my W310 course comes from understanding the best ways to catch my learner’s attention. What really resonated with me was the comparison of the brain to a rider and an elephant.  Fighting the elephant is something I struggle with, and it gave good insight as to why that happens.  It was made clear to me that the elephant must be engaged in order to keep the learner’s attention.  All of the ways to engage the elephant are ideas I will always hold on to: tell it stories, surprise it, show it shiny things, leverage the elephant’s habits, and tell it all the other elephants are doing it.  

Another take away from the course comes in the form of learning how to design.  Ideas like using color and type seem so simple, yet when trying to apply them to design they are surprisingly complex.  For example, I always thought that any color would do for any situation, but it turns out I need to coordinate colors with colors already in a photo.  In regards to type, it was interesting to learn exactly what fonts looked good with what I wanted to do (oh and the idea of using silly fonts like wingdings in my designs).  

A third idea that has stuck with me is the importance of technology in my future classroom.  I love technology and think it is a delight to use and this class has shown me how my love of technology can be applied in the classroom.  It has also shown me the pitfalls of technology though; I have to be sure to keep up to date with a lot of software and websites in order to give my students the best possible experience with technology.  While it’s true that my students will be elementary level, I still want to have reliable knowledge when it comes to technology so I can create grade level appropriate items for them.

One of the more interesting takeaways from the course came from learning about how to design for the environment.  The idea is to take the burden off of memory and put that information into the environment. This can make gaps in knowledge disappear and alleviate some of the stress put on students.  The key is to find the right amount of information to put in the environment while still making sure the learner takes something away from a lesson.  For example, it is ok to give students a math equation on a test so they don’t have to stress out memorizing it.  The idea is that the equation acts as a prompt reminding them of how and why the equation works.

The final take away from my W310 course is the importance of reflection.  The importance of reflection has been stressed throughout all of my education courses and I was unsure of its place in the real world.  However, after taking the time to reflect through both discussion and tumblr blogs, I have come to see how it helps me sort out my thoughts and figure out what works for me and my growth as a future educator.