KNOWLEDGE IN GENERAL

In my education class earlier today, my professor said something incredibly meaningful.  "The more I learn, the more I recognize how little I know."  I feel like this is an essential understanding for all teachers and all students everywhere.  We must maintain humility, recognizing that we are often too proud, thinking we have it all together, when, in reality, we know just a drop of water from an ocean of information.

For example, when I talk to my friends about trying to understand God, I always use the metaphor that, "We are like ants trying to understand the digestive system of a human."  It's not gonna happen, because we are too small and insignificant.

In the same way, we must understand that all knowledge will be, in many ways, beyond our understanding.  But that shouldn't stop us from seeking it. 

For our classroom, this influences the way we hold ourselves when teaching and the way we respond to students.  Pride is never going to help a teacher gain respect from their students.  In fact, it's the awe of the sublime universe and reality that envelops us that allows students to also be drawn to the beauty of knowledge.  I want to be aware of my personal smallness and the world's innate hugeness, so that I can be a humble teacher (but always a student), drawing my students (but always teachers) to understand the world with me. 

In this way, the classroom is a tranquil environment in which the class seeks truth together, understanding that the "more I see, the less I know." 

A Note on Graphic Novels

There is a girl in one of my education classes who explained that she has dyslexia, a learning disability in regards to reading.  She told the class that because of this learning problem, she has hated reading since being a child.  However, when I came to class the other day, I saw her reading a graphic novel of The Walking Dead.  I had to do a double-take.

Hold on!  So, this girl has expressed that she adamently hates reading, but here she is, skimming through a graphic novel, with a smile on her face.  She clearly does not hate reading, but only lacks the understanding that graphic novels, too, are usefully works of literature. 

It also made me realize that not only would graphic novels be helpful for visual learners and those that are not interested in traditional books, but also those for with learning disabilities or ESL students, simply because graphic novels are less intimidating. 

It's also kind of inspiring, because I realize that students that really think that they can't read or don't like to read can be convinced that reading isn't really so bad, and, if they find the right kind of book with the right kind of content, they might enjoy it after all!

IDEAS: GAMES AND MANAGEMENT

Wow, look at how much fun these students are having with their mathematical formulas!  Believable, right? 

Maybe not, but what IS believable is the idea that students will probably have more fun playing games in the classroom than they will sitting around and listening to lecture...

There are so many great ideas out there for teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language.  I believe that competitive and fun acitivities lower the affective filter so that students can better acquire language skills.  Instructions, discussion, and explanation should all be done in the second or foreign language, but always allow the students extra time to figure things out and explain it to one another before beginning the activity.  Below is a link to an awesome website of various game ideas, and my favorite one from this particular site is listed below!!  Note:  It could also be used in the AVERAGE ENGLISH CLASSROOM with vocabulary words.

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR ESL/EFL CLASSROOM

Example:  Sentence Race

    Level: Any Level
    A good game for large classes and for reviewing vocabulary lessons.

1. Prepare a list of review vocabulary words.
2. Write each word on two small pieces of paper. That means writing the word twice, once on each paper.
3. Organize the pieces like bundles, 2 bundles, 2 sets of identical words.
4. Divide the class into 2 teams. get them to make creative team names.
5. Distribute each list of words to both teams. every student on each team should have a paper.  Both teams have the same words.
6. When you call a word, 2 students should stand up, one from each team. The students must then run to the blackboard and race to write a sentence using their word.

    The winner is the one with a correct and clearly written sentence.
    This is always a hit with kids. For more advanced students, use tougher words.



ALSO, IF YOU WANT SOME OTHER GREAT IDEAS FOR THE ESL CLASSROOM, CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE AND YOU WILL STEP INTO A VORTEX OF IMMEASURABLE KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS ON THE SUBJECT.  IT'S "DAVE'S ESL CAFE IDEA COOKBOOK." THANKS BE TO DAVE.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NOT INTERESTED IN ESL/EFL (PROBABLY MOST OF YOU), CHECK OUT THE LINK BELOW !!!  IT IS A SITE FOUND ON THE ESL CAFE PAGE, BUT IT IS SPECIFICALLY FOR...

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT!!!

WHO THE HECK DOESN'T DESIRE MORE ENLIGHTENMENT CONCERNING DISCIPLINE?

Summative and Formative

Summative Testing.  Ewwwww, just thinking about it makes me cringe. 
Formative Assessment.  Alright, we can work with that!

What's the big difference between these two?  Well, whether it's objective or performance, testing is going to be both stressful and invaluable (concerning its affective value for future learning) to the student.  Summative testing is simply a gauge of what the student has gained, what they are capable of in that precise moment of time.  Really, it's meaningless.  Testing is useful for statistics and placement but has absolutely no intrinsic value concerning the process of education itself.  It has no feedback, no helpfulness, no teaching. 

So, why do we stress summative testing so much?  Simply for the utilitarian idea that permits students to be accepted into a different program or compared before being hired?  What about educational purposes?  Why do we frivolously waste positive classroom time to this worthless effort?

Formative assessment.  Ahh, these words are such comfort in comparison!  Testing isn't even bad in and of itself.  However, it must be used well, in order to teach the student for her or his future, so that they can learn from their mistakes and better themselves throughout the education process.  Doesn't this make a lot more sense for the teacher to use?  In this form of assessment, the student will always be showing what they are learning, but they will also always receive constructive criticism and useful feedback.  It will direct their learning, study skills, and focus, while also helping the teacher to adapt his or her teaching methods. 

In summation, summative assessment sucks, and I'd like to inform you that formative assessment is much more meaningful to both the student and the teacher, so let's think about our actions before we just blindly follow the system and its superficial expectations, eh?

Second Language Acquisition

So, I'm actually writing a BLOG!!  Hopefully, my personal narrative prose will not bore you as much as my short fiction and poetry.

I'd like to take this opportunity to write a little bit about my experience in my Linguistics class yesterday.  We were discussing the problems with the Second Language classroom in America (which are many, I might add).  It was sorely depressing to hear countless stories of students who had been "studying" Spanish for years with absolutely no skills in the language use itself.

And I have my own theory as to why students are enrolled in Spanish classes but not learning a thing...

Now, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the theory that language acquisition is more important than language learning.  Acquisition is the natural obtainment of language skills by immersion; it could be compared to first language acquisition, which comes about naturally, through the child hearing the language all around her or him from a young age.  SLA can occur, then, when a foreigner lives in a country and learns the language almost by diffusion.  It's not a conscious effort, but instead, a natural process. 

Lanugage learning, on the other hand, is the systematic studying of a lanuage.  Arguably, it is the sole manner of language learning in our country's school system, simply because teachers refuse to speak the language constantly, but, instead, attempt to make the class "easier" or "more comfortable" for the students by speaking their native language (English) to teach the foreign language (Spanish).  How does that help?

How the heck are students going to master a language and obtain fluency by studying the language's rules and structures in their own language?  This is an absolutely TERRIBLE way of teaching a language. 

One of my favorite Spanish tools is the website linked to the image below.  However, this webiste (studyspanish.com) is useful in obtaining a language monitor, not to acquire communication skills. 

To truly learn Spanish, one must be immersed in the language itself.  This means that TEACHERS MUST SPEAK IN SPANISH !!!  This often makes the students uncomfortable, because it's incredibly challenging at first.  However, if the teacher adequately uses hints, images, motions, engagement, and games in the classroom, the students will actually acquire language skills and be able to communicate.

Therefore, the classroom should be more engaging and Spanish-filled, resembling less like the systematic teaching of studyspanish.com and appearing more like the news video below. 

ODE TO STUDENT TEACHING

My palms are sweaty
My lips are chapped
I don't know what I'm doing
But there's no looking back

I'm a mixture, a mut
Melded peer-ness and superiority
I'm the center of attention,
But I don't have authority

Because I gotta follow the rules
Of the real teacher and the game:
The government expectations
And equalization that it claims

So, I carry my lesson plans
With its standardized ideals
In my backpack... no briefcase!
This false security reveals

That as I remember my textbooks,
Wondering what I actually gained
From four years of classes
Theories, papers, dates, and names

I know nothing! nothing!
My mind draws a blank
I feel like this "education"
Was an April fool's prank

So I look to my future
There's no looking back
My palms are still sweaty
My lips are still chapped

OBITUARY

Sara Wilkenson
On Wednesday, April 3, 2013, of Slimey Stone. Daughter of Joe and Mary; sister of James Wilkenson, Jean Harby, and Dolores Devin. Friends received at the JOHN JONES FUNERAL HOME,123 Main Street, Slimey Stone on Friday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m.

Unfortunately, Sara dropped dead as Heather Rabold stopped formulating her thoughts at 12:34pm, Wednesday.  Heather, frustrated with the suddenness of her static character's sudden dynamic development and bored with her predictable path, decided to give Sara an unexpected end.