Its interesting because I have had the same thought growing up too. I couldn’t agree more that children need to be listened to more often and should be allowed and encouraged to share ideas. I think allowing a child to grow and flourish in such an environment really allows for optimal development.
Not to mention most of the children I have interacted with are fun to talk to and have plenty of thoughts and ideas to share. I went to my wife’s school a few weeks ago and read one of my favorite short stories, The Sneetches. Its a wonderful story on acceptance and handling our differences. After reading I asked the children what they thought of the story and what they thought it meant to them. Mind you these were 5th graders, but I couldn’t stop them from raising their hands and speaking up. They all understood the story and the message of it.
The message in the TED talk is a pretty important one and I hope this video spreads.
I have a few topics I want to post about that I am currently working on. Right now though I am busy as a new semester begins. Please be patient with me.
Also I have a plugin called “Bad Behavior” that blocked all the SPAM I was getting. Unfortunately I think it did too good a job. It was supposed to not have any false positives, but obviously that wasn’t the case. So rather than try to fix the problem I just deactivated the plugin for now. When I have more time I will likely enable it and play around with my settings.
Please be patient with me and I promise I will have some reading material…
Well I have started a new experiment with my class. I am using Facebook as a way to manage assignments, network with students, and learn a little more about who my students are. It’s all a project I decided to take on after talking to my coworker Pete. WebCT has a classroom management system that when used effectively can make teaching life a lot easier. So what is it about Facebook that would interest Pete or myself?
Well for one, it’s a little controversial right now with the pictures and content being posted. I will say that Facebook is a lot more calm than other social networking sites, and they also have a strict policy against nudity. But more so, Facebook is a site that millions of college students already use day in and day out. So why not take advantage of this.
First off, if you are going to get students to use another social system, like WebCT, you better be damn sure it is well implemented. Otherwise there is no incentive to add it to the list. Students don’t want to manage 2 or more social systems. So rather than fight this, the idea is to find a way to integrate it into the class.
Welcome to my blog! Topics tend to focus on Science and Technology, but I throw in personal stuff too. I hope you enjoy!
