The End: My Synthesis

Throughout my previous courses I have been able to ascertain without a doubt what I was going to walk away with to add to my educational tool bag. At the start, and even through part of the middle of CEP 882 I was still trying to figure out what the class would give me to take into a classroom. I started out with hesitation, which quickly turned into procrastination, finally leading to poor initial performance. I did not know what I was supposed to be doing, or what I was supposed to be gaining from the course. I only wanted to make it out alive. Looking back I can say that I only had one other course similar to this, and by the end of it I still felt a little lost. Luckily CEP 882 grew on me; the ideas of art and the concepts of the Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences (NDCE) began to develop a use for my tool bag.

The photography module at the beginning of the course made me feel as if the entire course would be similar and it felt pointless and simple. As we moved into the Architecture and interior design module my opinion slowly began to change. Although I didn’t see it during that module I can now look back and realize that module was the turning point in my learning. I began to participate fully, and to dig into the readings and the thoughts further. I wanted to find ways to relate the compelling experiences of the modules to the classroom. How can the architecture or interior design of a space help or hinder students learning. I began to think about these things even though my project focused on bridal boutiques as I was still in transition and chose a topic I thought would be easy. Along with the desire to take each piece into a classroom environment I learned a lot in the way of technology and social networking.

I have not had a Facebook page in just over a year. I did not enjoy being a part of something in which anyone could look me up, try to befriend me, put my pictures on their site, and talk about me. I had to come to terms with recreating a Facebook account for CEP 882. I learned that discussing things on this social media is a great way to interact with a group of people with the same interests. Although I don’t think I will continue to do anything else with my current Facebook page, it was a good media for discussing things with our classmates during the past few months.

As for technology I have learned a great deal in the way of digital media usage. I had never made a video before or uploaded document, videos, or other media to Facebook before and now I can comfortably say that I know how. I may not be an expert, but I can now create a video with audio recording and be happy with the end result. It was through the creating of these videos that I started to see an integral connection between compelling experiences in music, fashion, and architecture and teaching. I felt as if the experiences I had in this course could be taken into a classroom to make it better. For example I could create a video adventuring through a museum to take students on a virtual field trip.

During the fashion module everything started to come together. I began to see the connections of all of the compelling experiences in each module in a way that could be related to the classroom. This was certainly aided by reading Wong and Henrickson as that article was directed at compelling experiences of fashion tied to teaching. I realized that students are going to follow trends, and their attitudes toward learning will also follow the trends. If we as educators can make learning fashionable then we can succeed at grabbing student attention without changing the subject matter. The outer appearance may need a makeover, but at the end of the day the material should be the same.

I am at the end of CEP 882, and at the end of the MAED program and I am finally glad to say I have something to take with me. I started worried that the course would be a waste, but ended with realization that NDCE is key to making the classroom engaging for students of all ages. I know now that CEP 882 was a compelling experience of its own.

Sabrina 

End of Term....Almost

It is almost the end of the term. I am struggling to find the motivation to get the rest of my final project done. I finished my other course last Sunday and with that out of the way I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Now that I am in the middle of the week and only a few days to go before this course ends I am starting to get stressed out yet I can't seem to get myself to get any more work done. I am so close to the end yet so far and now I am feeling like the light at the end of the tunnel is not real. Like someone has just turned on a flashlight to trick me into a false sense of hope. Of course this isn't true and we will be done shortly and not only will this term be over but my entire degree will be complete.

For this week I don't have much to connect to teaching in regard to the course topics; however, I can relate to any other school teacher that is nearing the end of a term. I feel at once like the students sitting in the chairs and the teacher trying to keep their attention for just two more weeks. If I can find a way to pull myself together and to take charge of my classroom (myself in this case) I will make it to the end and successfully. So that is the goal of the week. Finish the final WOA project, complete the conclusion week and be happy that I have given my best and learned a lot along the way. I hope everyone else in the course is finding their way to the end in a happier state than I. 

What Not to Teach?!

I have been thinking about this topic since last weekend and all I seem to come up with are the regular subjects in school like Math, History, Science. Then I watched Chandra's video for this week and I had a million other ideas pop into my head. Why can't there be a connection between different counseling and teaching skills? Any interaction in which one person is passing information on to a another person may need or could use a "makeover" in the WNTW fashion. Although I don't think I will do this type of transformation for my project I liked the idea a lot and I couldn't help but wonder if any one thinks to tell the customer service people of the world when they need an overhaul. Who's duty should it be to tell someone when they aren't doing a great job of passing along important information to the customer? After watching WNTW and Chandra's video I realized more than ever that it is our job as the customer to let the industry know they need to change something. This hit home more than ever today as I sat in a room full of unemployed citizens trying to get everything together so that we can collect unemployment in this terribly depressed economy. The woman at the front rambled on about why the iMatch Skills is so important and why her office can be so helpful. Of course none of us were listening any more because after she introduced herself she continued to ramble. She skipped from one topic to another with little interaction with the 25 people sitting in the room. Looking back on the experience I wish I had taken a minute to sit there with her and explain how she could make her product and presentation better for the future. Instead I did what many others did - finish my task as quickly as possible and get on my way back to other things in my day. I don't believe this is the right answer. Although confronting someone could bring about the completely wrong reaction I think it should be the appropriate action. It fits with my favorite quote that I do my best to live by - "Be the change you want to see in this world" (Ghandi). If we are the change, if we try to help an instructor be better, maybe it will become a snowball effect and society will grow as a whole. Just a thought for the week...

Fashion Bridges Education

Students today are swarmed with the latest fashion from having an iPhone or iPod to wearing the most expensive designer jeans. How can we take this and translate it into the classroom? What makes the world of fashion so grand that a student would rather spend time looking up the latest designs rather than studying chemistry or history?
I am no genius on this matter, but after doing the readings I have a few thoughts. First of all I think the start should be in marketing. Ferla (2005) quotes Chris Rainey who states the fashion industry uses marketing to reach the new generations. In the article Ferla (2005) is discussing the sudden appearance of religious themed apparel and how it spread like wild fire once picked up by the fashion industry as a mainstream idea. How do we translate that into education? I think we need to sit down and have a marketing team work to create new ways to make education exciting to the students. This new cover to the old book idea stems from reading the Postrel (2003) article Surface and Substance. Postrel discusses the idea that the technological world uses all of the time. If we put a new cover on the same book maybe the students will take a new interest in the book. The fear that this face change will not afflict real change is a good fear, but students today are so consumed with the bright, shiny, sparkly objects of the world that educators need to rethink their approach in creating a sparkly appeal to draw the students into old subjects. History does not have to be boring, but how do we tell the students that? I think as educators we need to go out of our comfort zone to build lesson plans that are interactive for the students in ways that have never been used before. Fashion is a huge part of the student's life's yet we take away the essential iPod rather than using it to benefit the classroom. If we create podcasts or a need for the iPod maybe students will want to stay further engaged in the classroom.
Another idea came from reading the article by Wong and Henriksen (2008). Fashion is a deep inclination for most people especially for the younger generations. Wong and Heriksen (2008) present that a buzz is often how fashion spreads so rapidly. Why don't we create a buzz about education? Create a classroom that is so engaging and fun to be in that the students go out and tell other students about the class. Next thing will be those students will, without realization, be discussing the topics from their class while enjoying the conversation with their friends and peers. Creating an engaging classroom is very important already but having one in which students go out and spread the word could help to create an educational revolution just as fashion does each year.

Getting Past the Exciting Intro

I just recently watched "grown-ups" with Adam Sandler and a slew of other comedians and I felt as though the beginning was fairly entertaining but the slap-stick humor that each comedian usually brings to a film alone was too much and did not blend together after they were all together on the screen. I feel this way in classes that I have taken before. So how can teachers get past the exciting lure that bring the students in and keep their attention the entire term?
I don't know that I have a great answer for this problem, if I did I am guessing I would make a fortune by teaching others how to conquer this problem in movies, music, and the classroom. My short suggestion would be that teachers need to know that this is a problem in most classrooms. Students may sign up for a literature class because the course description sounds alluring with suggestion of romantic love stories, or battle stories, but what is not mentioned are the long hours of tearing into shakespeare line by line, or trying to decipher old english. I don't think these things need to be mentioned in the course descriptions. Students need to get past their fear of doing course work, but not by force of a bad grade. Instead teachers need to work on creating exciting and attention grabbing lessons once the students are already in the classroom. I don't have a template or something easy to pass on to a teacher, but I can say that if each person works on creating a draw each and every day within the classroom the students will benefit greatly and will want to learn instead of being forced to learn or fail based on doing the work.
This is of course a humble opinion from someone who has only taught in one classroom for one term so far. I have taught many other classes, but not in a formal setting in which I needed to find additional ways to draw and keep my students interested. I would be interested in hearing what others might have to say on this topic.
Sabrina~

Japan in Crisis

I am not here to post about the tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Instead I wanted to make mention of the fact that while this nation was trying to pull all of its assets together to solve the problems with the disaster a group found courage to leave families and friends at home and travel 5000 miles across the ocean then 3000 miles across our nation to get to Washington D.C. and share their culture with us in tribute to their people. This is an NPR story about the NHK Orchestra's visit to the US. Listen to the pieces of music that the story has within it to hear the feelings of those playing come through their instruments and bleed into the audience.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/17/134633189/NHK-Orchestra-Plays-Tribute-To-People-Of-Japan

Hooks: Do Teachers use these in the Classroom?

After listening to Tom Ashbrook and Robert Kapilow discuss music I was immediately drawn back into my younger years of High School band followed by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In those days I truly understood what Kapilow spoke of with the notes and words of songs grabbing the attention of the person playing it or listening to it. Looking back at those experiences and thinking about how to take Kapilow's knowledge into the classroom I have had an epiphany - teacher's use these techniques of hooks everyday in the classroom.
What is a hook? According to Wikipedia a hook is a "lyric or phrase that sticks with you and is easily remembered." Throughout my Army Helicopter Pilot training I have been given many hooks to remember pieces of information. They are given a different name when used to remember information, but in reality they are nothing more than hooks like in a song. For example - an easily remembered Christmas song has repeating words that are tied to unique sets of notes, making the chain of words not only memorable, but also catchy to the listener. (Kapilow - What makes holiday music great) In the Army we are given acronyms or phrases to remember pieces of information such as TOMATO FLAMES. It is a phrase - a hook - easily remembered, but it also stands for something else that is very important with regard to FAA rules for day flight. Each letter holds onto another word or phrase that is now easily remembered because of the original hook that was given. This is a simple example of a hook  used by a teacher, but are there more?
I think that a teacher in a classroom develops ways for the students to remember many things. Hooks for remembering Shakespeare such as the famous phrase in Romeo and Juliet "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" I do not believe this phrase is intentionally given to students, but phrases like it or ways to remember Shakespeare or other plays are the hooks that teachers are developing on a daily basis to help students learn. If more teachers realized this and used the hooks like songs do there would be a better understanding on how to bring students into the classroom and out of their iPods. Developing critical hooks could be the way to develop a positive and fun environment for students to learn in. 


Does anyone have any experience on this that they would like to share? I know very little about true examples but I truly felt that the use of hooks is happening within the classroom unannounced to the teacher or the student.