Motivation

I really enjoyed this guys talk on motivation. It is worth watching. We have to find ways to get our students to see where the value of education lies. Too many of our kids have bought the lie of the objective and standardized test. It is how we evaluate knowledge and has validity as far as learning goes but only narrowly addresses what education is about. The have to have the knowledge combined with a broad sense of life and world view.

Simeon

Here he is Simeon Joseph. He decided not to wait but came a few hours before we had planned. (C-section scheduled for 8 AM--Time of Birth 4:10 AM) But that is ok with us.





Big sister seems to be doing ok, but it has to be hard to go from the
child to one of the children.



well, I have been up since 2 am not much to say.........



if you are wondering about the name see Luke chapter 2 and find Simeon & Anna.

Best Laid Plans

Well, not everything in life is supposed to work out. The curse made sure of that. But when things go wrong there is a quick response of why me that is usually muttered or yelled. The reality is what do we have to complain about? Is there no one on earth is a worse situation then we are? I am in one of this situations right now. Do not want to reap the consequences of a project started too late and technical difficulties forcing it to be even later. Oh well, there are reasons for things...if you do not think so, I feel sorry for you because there is only on solution for that. You have to become a nihilist.

Truth exist and there is meaning.

Things I think

I think that life is full and even when more comes it somehow seems to fit. As we look forward to the birth of our second child the thought enters my mind: how do we get life done? I am amazed at how God gives us what we need, not want; when we need, not want it. And if He doesn't give us something then we will find out why we didn't need it sooner or later.

I do not think that life is meaningless. Those who are of the Post-modern bent need to either stop reading or make an attempt to consider that objective truth exist. If life is meaningless (the only valid conclusion for a post-modern because meaning implies truth) then why does love exist? Why does it feel great when we are part of something that is bigger then ourselves? I am not aware of a society that does not have this sense of bigness. Its like at the end of one of the Lord of Rings: the Two Towers when same talks about goodness.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

These are the things I think about when I tuck my daughter in at night.

learning online vs. classroom learning round 1

Once upon a time many schools had one room, one teacher, and multiple age groups. Students learned in a variety of ways including but not restricted to self-guided lessons, individual instruction, small group instruction, and large group discussion that crossed the age barrier. Are those days gone? The necessity of the one-room system due to the cost to student ratio were removed over time with smaller schools being consolidated, providing for grade appropriate instruction for all.

It would seem that the things that drove the use of a one-room school might have come full circle. Technological instruction can be mass produced and self-regulated. One teacher can record lessons that can be distributed an infinite number of times. The cost per student ratio can be reduced because direct individual instruction reaches multiple people at the same time. A system that has prerecorded instruction then would need fewer instructors. The instructors that it did utilize could spend time answering questions and grading assignments via technology. This should allow them to service more students then the traditional teacher who has these activities plus planning and instruction time.

What does this scenario have to do with the discussion of online vs. classroom instruction? Simply put: it is where we live! The realities of economy vs. effectiveness might short-circuit a discussion on philosophy and pedagogy. In some ways it reminds me of an old episode of the television show “Welcome Back Kotter.” In the episode a computer begins to instruct students in the class and the teacher ends up reading the paper. At some point the computer is less then effective and Mr. Kotter is back on the job.

There is a place for both and the effectiveness of either will depend on the learning and the instructional design of the learning environment. Classroom instruction depends on the ability of the teacher to adapt to the pace and learning styles of the students. Online instruction is dependent on the ability of the educational programmer to communicate effectively through the medium. In the classroom student motivation has a lot to do with attention and retention. On line learning requires self-discipline and time management—translation: motivation. Both programs rely on similar things to succeed and the real variable is the students learning style and intrinsic drive.

Returning to the one-room schoolhouse. There are many options for the online learning scenario. One options is the way this program and other like it are arranged—without personal/non-technical contact. Teachers instruct students from an office or cubical and might be able to handle more of a class load if there is adequate preplanning time.

Another option is the highbred between the two. I am currently teaching summer school where I am the “instructor” for twenty-seven students in multiple classes. These students use a program that has direct instruction delivered in a variety of methods individually accessed via their own computer. Students are able to access lessons both at school or anywhere they have the Internet. This allows a small school that would not have enough enrolment to offer the number of summer school classes it needs to help students with credit recovery. I am certified to teach math and science but I am overseeing multiple classes—it is a one-room school.

Do I think this is quality instruction? Yes I think it is quality instruction in some cases. But at the same time I do not believe that every classroom situation is quality instruction either. It depends on too many variables to say which is better. (There is an aside here that I would love to discuss some other time and that is the potential difference e-documents have on reading abilities as compared to the tactile function of a real book.) But as I said before the cost to student ratio may derail any discussion based on philosophy of education.

online vs. classroom

Once upon a time many schools had one room, one teacher, and multiple age groups. Students learned in a variety of ways including but not restricted to self-guided lessons, individual instruction, small group instruction, and large group discussion that crossed the age barrier. Are those days gone? The necessity of the one-room system due to the cost to student ratio were removed over time with smaller schools being consolidated, providing for grade appropriate instruction for all.

It would seem that the things that drove the use of a one-room school might have come full circle. Technological instruction can be mass produced and self-regulated. One teacher can record lessons that can be distributed an infinite number of times. The cost per student ratio can be reduced because direct individual instruction reaches multiple people at the same time. A system that has prerecorded instruction then would need fewer instructors. The instructors that it did utilize could spend time answering questions and grading assignments via technology. This should allow them to service more students then the traditional teacher who has these activities plus planning and instruction time.

What does this scenario have to do with the discussion of online vs. classroom instruction? Simply put: it is where we live! The realities of economy vs. effectiveness might short-circuit a discussion on philosophy and pedagogy. In some ways it reminds me of an old episode of the television show “Welcome Back Kotter.” In the episode a computer begins to instruct students in the class and the teacher ends up reading the paper. At some point the computer is less then effective and Mr. Kotter is back on the job.

There is a place for both and the effectiveness of either will depend on the learning and the instructional design of the learning environment. Classroom instruction depends on the ability of the teacher to adapt to the pace and learning styles of the students. Online instruction is dependent on the ability of the educational programmer to communicate effectively through the medium. In the classroom student motivation has a lot to do with attention and retention. On line learning requires self-discipline and time management—translation: motivation. Both programs rely on similar things to succeed and the real variable is the students learning style and intrinsic drive.

Returning to the one-room schoolhouse. There are many options for the online learning scenario. One options is the way this program and other like it are arranged—without personal/non-technical contact. Teachers instruct students from an office or cubical and might be able to handle more of a class load if there is adequate preplanning time.

Another option is the highbred between the two. I am currently teaching summer school where I am the “instructor” for twenty-seven students in multiple classes. These students use a program that has direct instruction delivered in a variety of methods individually accessed via their own computer. Students are able to access lessons both at school or anywhere they have the Internet. This allows a small school that would not have enough enrolment to offer the number of summer school classes it needs to help students with credit recovery. I am certified to teach math and science but I am overseeing multiple classes—it is a one-room school.

Do I think this is quality instruction? Yes I think it is quality instruction in some cases. But at the same time I do not believe that every classroom situation is quality instruction either. It depends on too many variables to say which is better. (There is an aside here that I would love to discuss some other time and that is the potential difference e-documents have on reading abilities as compared to the tactile function of a real book.) But as I said before the cost to student ratio may derail any discussion based on philosophy of education.