In my high school experience, creativity and imagination was not really a part of the curriculum. Most of my classes were your typical lecture or discussion based group over a book we were supposed to read. Why wasn't creativity a part of my experience? Maybe the teachers weren't creative, or maybe they didn't know how to teach it. I think creativity is an important skill, even though it is really not abundant in today's society. As a result, as teachers, I think we need to work on our creativity so we can use it in our lesson plans as we educate the youth of today.
If creativity and imagination is important, then the question arises about how teachers should encourage, teach and reward creative thinking. I agree with The Third Teacher and its explanations regarding inventive thinking. So much of today's education is content based and is fact recited by fact in every class. To teach creativity, we need to stop trying to form careers, and start forming minds. It's easier said than done, but I think we should come up with ideas in classes to make the students think outside of the box and use their creativity and imagination to complete assignments and daily activities. We need to encourage students to go outside their comfort zone and go above and beyond. If students are only completing activities in their comfort zone, they are not going to be creative. If we ask more of them and go beyond the recital of facts, the students are bound to use the imagination and creativity they had when they were just a little kid.
The rewarding process could be tough as a teacher when it comes to using inventiveness in our schools, but I think it is very possible. As a teacher, if you see a student trying hard on an assignment to go outside his/her comfort zone, I think that should earn praise, even if it isn't the greatest work. If you take off points, the student might stop thinking creatively and go back to reciting facts in every assignment. A student needs to be praised and rewarded when they use imagination and creativity because if the student hears positive feedback, they are going to continue along the same road of inventive thinking, something schools need to strive toward in today's society.
As I mentioned earlier, I think creativity is a crucial skill to have in the 21st Century. Right now, you see so many businesses and careers in the world that use no creativity at all. The workforce is getting older in the United States, and the baby boomers from the 1950's are starting to retire, thus it is time to get inventiveness back in gear. As we get deeper into the 21st Century, younger employees are going to be scattered across the country, and to be successful, I think they need to be inventive thinkers instead of being narrow sighted. Creativity can drive a society in a positive direction if it is used correctly, thus it is vitally important to teach and encourage inventive thinking in today's schools.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Nutrition/Dietitian Guest Speaker
On Monday, October 25, 2010 I attended a lecture that pertained to sports and athlete nutrition. As a college athlete, I found the lecture to be very valuable because I learned about what I should include in my diet and what I should leave out of it. The lecturer was Leslie Schilling, who is a Dietitian that works with athletes in the Memphis, Tennessee area. In addition, she has been a teacher and professor before at the University of Memphis, so she was very well equipped to develop a lecture.
Mrs. Shilling's presentation was very good. She set up a PowerPoint presentation, but it was not your usual boring bullet by bullet presentation. Her lecture was very informal, which kept everyone in the audience attentive and engaged. I thought she was a great speaker, as she understood her content very well, but still was able to put her personality into the lecture. She used humor and videos to make the presentation enjoyable. Although it was a PowerPoint presentation, it was very entertaining because of her presentation skills and enthusiasm in presenting her speech.
Her lecture may have been very informal and a question and answer format, but she was very knowledgeable in her area. The participants in the lecture hall were all athletes, and the speaker's specialty is working with athletes, so she could very easily relate to the audience. As a dietitian she needs to know almost everything there is to know, and sitting in the audience, I felt like she knew everything about nutrition and its relationship with athletes. I thought I knew a lot about nutrition, but after the lecture, I feel so much more informed and understand what my body really needs as an athlete.
As for the content she talked about, she really covered everything. She talked about proper eating habits and about including carbohydrates, protein, and fat in our diets. In addition, she talked about nutritional supplements and the positives and negatives in using supplements. Her main goal was to inform us that every meal serves a purpose, and it is vital that we eat three meals a day because if we lose a meal, we are losing several needed nutrients and calories.
From a teaching standpoint, I learned how to develop and present a successful speech to a class. After her lecture, I know how important it is to be enthusiastic and have knowledge in what you are presenting. You don't want to be dull, instead you want to be informative, but engaging at the same time. In addition, don't be afraid to make jokes and put yourself into the lecture. Most importantly, be yourself and talk to the class like you were talking informally in the hallway with a friend. As for a PowerPoint presentation, I now know it is ok to use if it is not a bullet by bullet presentation. Be engaging and enthusiastic, and use videos and several pictures to make it appealing to the class. In essence, I learned a lot about presentation and being an expert in what you are presenting to a class as an educator.
Mrs. Shilling's presentation was very good. She set up a PowerPoint presentation, but it was not your usual boring bullet by bullet presentation. Her lecture was very informal, which kept everyone in the audience attentive and engaged. I thought she was a great speaker, as she understood her content very well, but still was able to put her personality into the lecture. She used humor and videos to make the presentation enjoyable. Although it was a PowerPoint presentation, it was very entertaining because of her presentation skills and enthusiasm in presenting her speech.
Her lecture may have been very informal and a question and answer format, but she was very knowledgeable in her area. The participants in the lecture hall were all athletes, and the speaker's specialty is working with athletes, so she could very easily relate to the audience. As a dietitian she needs to know almost everything there is to know, and sitting in the audience, I felt like she knew everything about nutrition and its relationship with athletes. I thought I knew a lot about nutrition, but after the lecture, I feel so much more informed and understand what my body really needs as an athlete.
As for the content she talked about, she really covered everything. She talked about proper eating habits and about including carbohydrates, protein, and fat in our diets. In addition, she talked about nutritional supplements and the positives and negatives in using supplements. Her main goal was to inform us that every meal serves a purpose, and it is vital that we eat three meals a day because if we lose a meal, we are losing several needed nutrients and calories.
From a teaching standpoint, I learned how to develop and present a successful speech to a class. After her lecture, I know how important it is to be enthusiastic and have knowledge in what you are presenting. You don't want to be dull, instead you want to be informative, but engaging at the same time. In addition, don't be afraid to make jokes and put yourself into the lecture. Most importantly, be yourself and talk to the class like you were talking informally in the hallway with a friend. As for a PowerPoint presentation, I now know it is ok to use if it is not a bullet by bullet presentation. Be engaging and enthusiastic, and use videos and several pictures to make it appealing to the class. In essence, I learned a lot about presentation and being an expert in what you are presenting to a class as an educator.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Reflectiveness
Reflectiveness can mean many things, but to me it means to look back on your past work and analyze it. By reflecting, a teacher or student can see how much they have improved or what they need to continue to work on. When teachers reflect, they can evaluate and decide how to move forward in their profession. As a result, teachers and students together are able to form short-term and long-term goals.
In today's world, teachers and students struggle to reflect because of time. In today's society, we are always on the run and living in the here and now. We just don't think about reflecting and taking time to breath and look back on things. We just want to get things done and look ahead to the future. It seems that the past is more quickly forgotten today than in past decades. I agree that is important to look toward the future, but the past should not be forgotten. We learn from the past and our past work, and it is vital to reflect on previous work to improve a person's qualities in the future. People find it hard to find time to reflect, but it is something that should be done. We just need to breath, take a break, sit down, and evaluate our work and let it help us in moving forward to the future.
I believe that some people consider reflection to be the heart of the teaching process because of its importance. By reflecting, students and teachers can see what they are capable of doing and what might trouble them. Reflectiveness allows us to learn from our own work and grow from past assignments. Learning and improving ourselves is the heart of the teaching profession. We can never settle and be content as a teacher, instead we need to continue to find ways to improve and better ourselves as teachers. All of this is made possible by reflecting, hence the importance of finding time to reflect.
I, myself, find it easiest to reflect when I have free time and do not have to worry about homework or studying. As a college student, it is hard to find this time, so I usually do not reflect until there is a break in the school schedule. For example, with fall break approaching, that will be a time where I will sit down at my computer and look at my past work and evaluate myself and think of ways I can improve and grow. I save all my assignments over the course of a semester, which makes it possible to reflect and learn from my past. As you can see, it is tough to find time to reflect, but I think it should be done about one or two times over the course of a semester. We may not think much of it in today's society, but reflectiveness is vital whether it is being done by a teacher or a student.
In today's world, teachers and students struggle to reflect because of time. In today's society, we are always on the run and living in the here and now. We just don't think about reflecting and taking time to breath and look back on things. We just want to get things done and look ahead to the future. It seems that the past is more quickly forgotten today than in past decades. I agree that is important to look toward the future, but the past should not be forgotten. We learn from the past and our past work, and it is vital to reflect on previous work to improve a person's qualities in the future. People find it hard to find time to reflect, but it is something that should be done. We just need to breath, take a break, sit down, and evaluate our work and let it help us in moving forward to the future.
I believe that some people consider reflection to be the heart of the teaching process because of its importance. By reflecting, students and teachers can see what they are capable of doing and what might trouble them. Reflectiveness allows us to learn from our own work and grow from past assignments. Learning and improving ourselves is the heart of the teaching profession. We can never settle and be content as a teacher, instead we need to continue to find ways to improve and better ourselves as teachers. All of this is made possible by reflecting, hence the importance of finding time to reflect.
I, myself, find it easiest to reflect when I have free time and do not have to worry about homework or studying. As a college student, it is hard to find this time, so I usually do not reflect until there is a break in the school schedule. For example, with fall break approaching, that will be a time where I will sit down at my computer and look at my past work and evaluate myself and think of ways I can improve and grow. I save all my assignments over the course of a semester, which makes it possible to reflect and learn from my past. As you can see, it is tough to find time to reflect, but I think it should be done about one or two times over the course of a semester. We may not think much of it in today's society, but reflectiveness is vital whether it is being done by a teacher or a student.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)