Sis

Photo by Kaylee McGillivray

The challenge: create a six-word caption for an image. I can't say more or I'll defeat the purpose of the caption.

Tech Task #3: The Search Begins

"What's your favorite kind of music?" my friend David asks around a cheese sandwich. We are roadtripping across the prairies, listening to an old Steve Bell tape. The tape player on the Taurus cuts out every 30 seconds. Every few minutes it goes completely beserk with static, then resumes playing. That was annoying for the first 2 hours, but by now I've gotten used to it.

"I like mellow stuff. Piano. Violin. That kind of thing."

"Oh really?" he is nonplussed, but polite.

"What do you like?"

"I'm more into rap and electronica."

"Hm." I am similarily disenchanted.

Fast forward 3 hours... David finds a playlist of 25 most played songs, and we blast it through the defective sound system. True to form, the first song was quintessential rap/electronica... followed by 24 definitively mellow tunes.

"Don't like mellow songs, eh?" I tease him.

David laughs (that's why we're friends. he always sees the humor in the situation).

"I guess I like them more than I thought. Wouldn't it be funny to see a playlist for other parts of life, like '25 most told stories' or '25 most eaten foods?' "

I tell this little tale because it's a concept I've been chewing on recently. How much of what we believe about ourselves is true? What would it be like to  have a computer data printout about our real likes, dislikes, habits, etc?

For example, who (out of 6 billion people out there) could really be my best friend? Is it someone in Bangledesh? Old? Opposite gender? One thing I'm sure of: I'm sure the answer would surprise me. And I'm sure I could never pick him/her out based on my own intelligence.

I thought of this again as I searched for bloggers and twitter users to follow. It's like looking for an earring clasp on the beach. Somewhere out there are people who are blogging/tweeting about things I would be FASCINATED by, and I don't know how to find them!

But. I have a theory about finding kindred spirits online. First, find people in your area of interest. And follow them. Pay attention to who's following them. And follow them. And so on. The first blogs you follow may not be the ones you keep following, but at the very least they are clues that lead you to new networks.

 

from www.toptenreviews.com





So here are the fruits of my blog-finding labour today:
http://leoxicon.blogspot.ca/ ... teaching EAL from a lexical viewpoint. Some of his principles challenge my methods of teaching language. It's good to re-assess one's presumptions about teaching every so often!

http://flipyourclassroom.blogspot.ca/ ... flipped pedagogy. This one caught my eye because of the reference in Dean's first class about "flipped classrooms." It's a highly visual style of blogging, which really catches my attention!

www.thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/... I found this one last fall while I was interning in grade 1, but decided to add it to google reader today. My favorite feature is the plethora of writing and math instructional strategies!

I chose one about teaching EAL, one about technology in the classroom, and another about teaching primary grades. Basically, I've started three "mine shafts" to start excavating. Here's the exciting part (to me): I discovered the power of using twitter! A basic google search on "EAL blogs" profited me nothing. So I jumped on twitter and searched with some hashtags: #tesol, #esl, #tesl and discovered a whole host of people! I am now following... ahem... 38 people! That's a start! I've tapped into a network of ESL/literacy professionals from Alberta. The challenge now is to devote some time every day to keeping up with google reader and expanding my twitter network.

What are your favorite education blogs?

The Results are In!

The results are in! The question was:
Would you rather...
...sleep in a tent on the Alaskan tundra, knowing that there is a grizzly bear with her cubs close by

-OR-

...sleep in a tent in your backyard, knowing that there is an armed criminal within 2 blocks of your tent?

Total responses: 16
Grizzly bear fighters: 11
Criminal combatants: 5

...and WHY?

"It could be easier to stay away from the bears and stay warm in the tent, than get caught in the crossfire of a convict with a gun and police with guns.”

That I trust a grizzly bear verse an escaped convict. I chose his answer because a grizzly bear with her cubs will only attack if provoked... an escaped convict is a lot more dangerous because they can “snap” whenever.

I'd rather deal with a person because they can be  psychologically manipulated.

I would pick option one because a lot of the time I like animals instead of people.  Animals kill out of protective instinct, so as long as I stayed in my tent and kept all of my food in my tent, there would be a greater chance of survival with the bears vrs the convict with the gun in my opinion...hmm, maybe I prefer the safest route instead of danger.  Also, bears are cute!  (but keep your distance!)

I think that escaped convicts usually have scores to settle, and wouldn't be out for random crimes. However a Grizzly bear would be curious and territorial...

I distance myself from what I fear.

...that I prefer to be mauled naturally, rather than maliciously. The bear would be doing something admirable, after all, even if I don't see it that way at the time.

If I'm going to die at least Alaska is somewhere cool! I feel like the bear might leave me alone if I respect her territory but you never know what the mind of an ex con is like .

Animals act on instinct, while people are crazy. So long as I have no food in my tent and do not place myself between the mother and her cubs, I should be perfectly fine. She is most likely to steer clear. The convict is most likely making decisions from a place of desperation making him far less predictable.

It's less of a risk.

I'd rather die while having an adventure than to die at home.

"It would seem to say that I tend to analyze situations objectively (at least, when I am not in the situation and given time to think). 

In my backyard I am close to people who could assist me or call for help as well as objects that I can use to defend myself or hide behind.  On a tundra, there isn't much I can do to outrun a bear or hide my scent.  There also isn't any reasoning with a hungry bear and her cubs!"

 

A little post-script for my fellow teachers:

I made this handy survey using Google docs. You'll need a google account, and then go to "google documents" site, click "New" and choose "document." It's pretty straightforward to create a survey/quiz. ONLY make sure that you select "Edit Confirmation- show results" if you want them to be public- you can't go back and show them later, as far as I can tell.

 

Some uses in the classroom:

-"exit" slip

-reading response

-anonymous class vote

-survey to get to know your students better

-"Dear Abbey" column

Tech Task #2: What's your danger personality?

Tech Task #1: Hello ECMP355!

Hi friends,
Welcome to my teaching blog/online portfolio! I chose blogspot because it is linked with my gmail account, and I already have a blogspot blog (how many times can I use that word in a sentence? Say blogspot 7 times fast!). It's fun to customize blogs, but I'm always aware of how much better it could look if I had the help of a designer! I like to read blogs that have a clean, uncluttered layout, so I tried to keep mine simple.

I've spent most of the morning creating my blog, setting up my twitter account, writing the first blog post, and making my intro video. This isn't my favorite way to pass the time, but I hope that soon I can start the interesting part of social networking- meeting people!