Week 2 - Post 4 - wk2 reading - Rule #6

One of my favorite teachers was my high school 12th Grade English teacher, Hazel Haley. She was the oldest teacher at the school (she had taught at my school so long the entire English building was named after her), completely committed to the subject matter, and her class was NOT easy in the slightest. You couldn't be in one of her classes and not respect her knowledge of the subject. I enjoyed her class because of this, but the reason she was one of my favorite teachers had less to do with that and more to do with the fact she never took the subject she loved too seriously. he may never have heard of it, but she practiced Rule #6 every day she taught.

My previous English teacher for 11th Grade American English, Mrs. Fite, was a horror who sapped all the interest and humor out of the material we read and subscribed to over analyzing literature to death as a rule (We still laugh in my family about the time Mrs. Fite told my mother I was just too creative and I would have a hard time in university because of it. Most inaccurate and ridiculous advice... EVER!). Miss Haley was a breath of fresh air because she understood that you could both respect a subject as well as laugh about it when it was a bit ridiculous.

I'll never forget the day that she told our class that she was glad the curriculum had been changed so we were now reading Macbeth instead of Hamlet because she thought Hamlet was just a whiner and if he had just stopped whining and killed his uncle right away everyone would have been infinitely better off... and no, I'm not paraphrasing loosely... that was pretty much how she said it. Here was an English teacher actually criticizing a play by Shakespeare... this was simply novel to my 12th grade self. In her jesting she created an environment where we students were actually allowed to criticize what we were reading as long as we could back up our opinion, and that was infinitely more valuable to me in university than being told I should be "less creative."

Miss Haley epitomized our reading's Rule #6 for me. She could be serious and committed to her job, but she also knew when to step back and just laugh and I know her students all learned more because of that.

Hazel Haley died in 2008 after having taught for 69 years, 67 of those at Lakeland Senior High School. This interview is from her last week of teaching:

Week 2 - Post 3 - Week 2 Comment

This is my comment post. I decided to reflect on Nick Oaster's posting on his thesis project.

I have spent most of this week working on the thesis and buying my first house (yikes and yay!). I feel the thesis is coming along nicely and should be able to have it solid by next week sometime. I really wish I could have a couple more months, but such is the nature of school - always pressed for time. The general scope of my thesis is that students lack an ability to self-assess themselves properly. Specifically to my field of music, students lack an objective tool for self-assessment. I see this problem in my students all the time: they perform a song, I ask "How did you do?" They say "I THINK it was good" OR "I GUESS ok" OR "I don't know" OR "good" when it was actually below their normal work or what they could have done OR "bad" when it was actually a good display of musical ability. Furthermore, I saw students just not being aware of what they did, how they performed, or how they presented themselves to the world. There are numerous theories as to why this happens that I discuss in my thesis, but much less is known about actually fixing the problem.

In my thesis I argue that high quality recordings and videos can be an objective self-assessment tool for students. I came up with this solution throughout the program. Spending hours making numerous podcasts and videocasts for various EMDT classes allowed me to see and hear myself. After getting past the anxiety of hearing myself, I was able to notice behaviors, both physically and aurally, that I was not aware of. I started using these tools (the computer/cell phones) in private lessons that I teach - trumpet and voice, and I noticed that all of the students noticed similar behaviors that they too were not aware of. From there, the basis for my solution was set, and I have been using those tools in private and small group settings ever since. Students can listen to themselves, critique themselves, and ultimately, fix themselves.

My Reaction Post

When I was in high school my art teacher had us complete a couple of quick drawing assignments on our first day as an assessment of where we were at. On the final day of class, much to our surprise, we did those same assignments again. Then she let us compare our original assignments, which we hadn't seen since that first class, with our current work. Even students who thought they hadn't made much progress were stunned to see that they had actually improved significantly over time. They had a skewed perspective that was only corrected with tangible evidence of their skill improvement.

I get the feeling that your video taping would give this same view point correction.

Seeing a video of yourself after the fact so that you can step back from the performance and take a fair look at the performance makes so much sense. Sometimes it's hard to have an accurate perspective in the moment, especially in performance-based classes like music. It's so easy to have either your anxiety about performing or that natural high you can get in front of the audience color how you remember how well you did. Video taping lets you step away from those issues and just evaluate the performance as it actually was.

During my student teaching we had to tape one of the classes we taught and I was surprised how many little things about my teaching (both good and bad) I was able to notice through the video that I would have never seen otherwise. Video taping lets you, in a way, be your own audience.

Week 2 - Post 2: The flaw in the education system

Through my current Google Reader obsession (I mainline 43 blogs a day now, NOT including the class blogs... I'm sure there's some 12-step program I ought to be joining about this) I bumped into the following quote from Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson:

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is, among other things, one of the scientists who is responsible for Pluto being demoted and people like me being forced to wear t-shirts that say this:

As a result of his involvement with the whole Pluto debacle he even received hate mail from elementary school children. He also happens to be exceptionally funny and personable, which is what's saving him from getting pro-Pluto-as-a-planet hate mail from me too... well, that and from a strictly technical perspective he makes a good point that Pluto does behave completely oddly for a planet, what with its wonky orbit and tiny size.

He's also got a point about education. Like our reading from last week, he questions the value of having students work towards A's, which is a feedback scheme that becomes almost completely irrelevant when you become an adult (well, unless you apply to work at Google that is, because they ask for your GPA for some reason). Here's the full quote:

The flaw in the educational system, as far as I see it, is that you live your life – the teacher and student – in quest of A’s. Yet later in life, the A is irrelevant. So then what is the point of the school system? It’s missing something. It is not identifying the people who actually succeed in life, because they’re not showing up as the straight A’s. So somewhere in there, the educational system needs to reflect on what it takes to succeed in life, and get some of that back into the classroom.

There is ever so much more to becoming a success than being able to get good grades in the standard school system. The school system as it is just doesn't work for a lot of children, but because this single system doesn't work to teach certain students some people see anyone who can't get A's as failures. And, in the end, this letter grade structure relates very little to what we do outside of school.

Dr. Tyson is right in questioning the system and what kids who go through it actually gain (or don't gain as he suggests) from getting letter grade feedback instead of something more relevant.

Week 2 - Post 1: Content Proposal (Full proposal under the cut)

Technology and Training: The Use of Simulations to Train and Practice High-Stress Skills

EDM-665 On Line Course Development
EDM-613 Media Asset Creation
Education Media Design & Technology MS Program
Full Sail University

Prepared by:
Bianca Woods
March 9, 2010

I. THESIS ABSTRACT

Training is key to the development of skills, but how best should these skills be trained? This paper shows that the problem of insufficient practice, particularly of skills that must be performed under stress, can be addressed using computer software and a distinct development method. Research indicates that significant rehearsal is needed for skill mastery, that stress degrades the ability to perform tasks, and that increased task practice can lead to improved task competency. This paper suggests that the solution to skill rehearsal requirements for high-stress jobs, taking into account research regarding the effects of stress, is the use of simulation software to provide a means for individuals to explore deliberate practice with the goal of skill mastery.

Click here to read the full Content Proposal