Class on the Couch

After having the experience of having class through an online conference I realized how useful technology can be. Even though it was snowing we were still able to have class from our homes. Although this was useful in an emergency, I would not want to have class this way everyday. As marvelous as technology is, it is not always reliable. Sometimes the audio would cut out and some people could not get their microphones to operate properly. It was time consuming and tedious to get responses from the whole class. I did not feel as if we were having an open discussion like the ones we have in class. I feel much more comfortable in the classroom where I can see the expressions of the instructor and my peers. This got me thinking about my own virtual classroom. I think it would be very challenging as a teacher to try to teach online everyday. It is more difficult to keep your students engaged. The could be very distracted by the things going on in their own home. If something happens to their internet or computer they could miss class altogether. The combination of all these aspects made me realize how frustrating it could be to teach online. That being said, I am excited to use video conferencing in my classroom occasionally to connect with people we otherwise would be unable to communicate with.

Stunning Snowflakes!

This weekend I was on my way back from Albany and I stopped to get some gas. It was flurrying and as I was pumping my gas I looked at my dark blue car and I noticed something I had never seen before. In all my 19 years of life I have never seen perfect snowflakes. As I looked at my car I was able to see the intricate structure of each of the flakes. They looked perfect! I have heard that no two snowflakes are the same but they say, "seeing is believing." Each flake had a unique pattern some of them looked like tiny flowers. It was remarkable! I made my friends get out of the car to look at the magnificent sight. We stood in awe of the beauty. Unfortunately, none of us had cameras with enough quality to capture the perfection. Next time it snows, I want you to try to find the perfect snowflake so you too, can appreciate the beauty of nature. This is a link to snowflakes up close! check it out!

Balloons Galore!

Pop! What a fun lab! I must admit, reading about the balloon lab in the chapter was more exciting than do it in class. I wish we would have done the lab in class before I read about it. I wish I could have actually participated in the lab without knowing what would happen. The lab had no anticipation for me because I know exactly why the balloon did not pop. It was difficult for me to pretend to be a student after knowing the ending result. I can't wait to use this activity in my own classroom! The students will love the use of the colorful balloons and I know they will be intrigued by the mysterious blue liquid. I can't wait to encourage them to use inquiry methods to design there own experiments to test their ideas. I want my class to be buzzing with discussions about results and explanations.

Tabula Rosa

The other day as I sat in my dorm room making flash cards for my networking class, I began to feel like a blank slate! It was a horrible feeling! I was making flash cards to memorize the terms I was unfamiliar with and that I would be quizzed on the following day. As I wrote the terms and their definitions, it occurred to me that I had no prior knowledge on the subject. I was making flash cards with words on one side that I had never heard of and the definitions on the reverse side had terms and concepts that I was also unfamiliar with! I spent the night memorizing my flash cards and although I knew them very well, all I had done was memorize the words; but there was no meaning behind the words. The following day, I took my quiz; the questions that involved matching the words to the definition were easy because I had memorized my cards. However, there were questions where the answers did not match the definitions I had memorized. After class, I went to speak with my professor. I explained to him how I felt lost because I had no prior knowledge of the subject. He told me that I did well on my quiz so I had nothing to worry about. I tried to explain to him that although I can recite my flash cards I could not have a conversation with someone about the material. I did not understand the material beyond the memorization of meaningless definitions. My teacher finally understood and spent the following hour and a half trying to help me. This whole ordeal made me great full that students come into school with background knowledge. I don't want my students to ever feel like a blank slate. I will invest much of my time trying to establish what kind of background knowledge my students have so that I can give them all the information they need to fill the gaps.