Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings bring us a new week. Luckily for most people it's a day of rest. For many it's a day of chores around the house, catching up with things they didn't get done last week, in order for them to be complete before more work piles up on Monday. Sunday is a beautiful day for me. Even if it's not pretty outside. I feel that I have sort of a "do-over" of sorts. This is the day for me to set out my plans for the week. How I treat my work today will affect how it's completed for the duration of the week.

Something about seeing the sunrise on a Sunday morning energizes me. I got to see that this morning! However, I didn't have my camera with me. I peeked over a fence I was walking by and watched as the beautiful dark orange sphere emerged from behind the horizon.

One of my favorite parts of Sunday morning is settling in to watch CBS Sunday Morning. This morning was the anniversary of their 30th year on air. I really enjoyed this piece they played this morning.
Watch CBS Videos Online

Seems there's always something that catches my interest on that show. It's where I first learned about Second Life, and the creative world that I would soon be a part of. In fact, the day the story aired (article version of what was aired on the show, I removed myself from in front of the TV and logged onto the computer and downloaded Second Life™, and haven't left since (note the date of the story and my rez date!)

Happy Sunday to everyone, try to do something today that adds to the greater canvas that is our world. My addition will be a small one--bringing a dessert to the Super Bowl party I'm attending!! :) Cheers to all!

Conversation from my Ed. Research Class

This past week, my educational research class has been discussing the following questions. I really enjoyed hearing each person's opinion, but most were from a k-12 perspective. How do you as an IDD, or higher ed. learning technology person feel about the following?

1. Do you personally believe that educational research is important? Why or why not?
2. Is it ethical to persuade people to participate in education research studies? Pressure them?
3. Why do so many graduate students positively dread taking research courses?
4. Is knowledge produced by educational researchers better than knowledge that working educators acquire through experience? Why or why not?

Here are my rambling thoughts on #1. It also has a k-12 spin on it as I was involved in that arena for the better part of 14 years.

Educational research gives us a basis to move forward. But also very important, is to combine the best available research facts with the knowledge and principles of educators…making sure the educators understand the values behind the research and why they are asked to teach a certain way or employ a particular method. All the current best practices employed in most educational arenas are all research based. Educators have long been employing the methods of research to create best practices for learning environments. If we didn’t have methods backed by research, then there would be a lot of chaos in our school systems. No one person or source can know all there is to know about an area of study, without looking at past research and building their future work on what’s been done before, even if it were something that failed. Once something is tested by a community of learners, and published to better that community, we can say that we’re employing researched based methods. In our classrooms today, there’s little room for “winging” it. With the implications and rigors of NCLB, there shouldn’t be a classroom in our nation that doesn’t employ methods and best practices that are research based. Even if a teacher doesn’t realize it they’re probably making use of research based findings. Without educational research, progressing forward to find methods that best meet the students’ needs wouldn’t occur.

My answer to #4

Knowledge, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary is “a (1): the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (2): acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique b (1): the fact or condition of being aware of something (2): the range of one's information or understanding c: the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning : cognition d: the fact or condition of having information or of being learned” (Merriam-Webster, 2009). By this definition, I pose the question, is one type of knowledge “better” than another, if knowledge is merely the condition of being aware of something. Theoretical knowledge versus practical knowledge is quite like the chicken and the egg scenario. While most would suggest that the knowledge produced by educational researchers teaches or informs working educators, I say that it is working educators that “teach” educational researchers. Not only working educators, but what happens in their classrooms, how they interact with their students, and most importantly how they teach. You cannot have educational research without the practical knowledge happening in the classrooms. One is useless without the other. While it is quite hard to quantify knowledge, it’s more important to look at trends in educational research. Most educational researchers are in a field where the knowledge produced are soft skills—i.e. the knowledge gained is less clearly defined than that in harder scientific arenas. Quantifying findings in science is much clearer than that when dealing with social sciences and education. Researchers haven’t been able to make their findings stronger because of the nature of the subjects—humans, we’re not all alike and we don’t have similar responses to even the same stimulus.
The only way I can answer this question fairly is to detail how it happened for me personally. As a former teacher, I found that my own experience taught me so much more inside the classroom, than the year in a master’s program that was heavily doused in theory, or the 4 years in the undergraduate education program at a highly research intensive university. My first 3 years was like my own personal research study. Learning new ways students learn, watching how knowledge is acquired first hand, and documenting individual growth. Understanding that from one student to another there could be vast differences, even though the materials and exposure to them was the same. However, that didn’t take away the fact that much of how I taught was based on educational researchers findings of how students learn. So again, which comes first, the theory or the practice? We all need to practice before we do, and the only way to do this is to read and understand the findings that have come before us. My personal findings of my own experience would be useless without what I learned from educational research. So in my own experience both educational research and practical experience are equally valuable.
I’m fairly certain that educational researchers would attest that their information is more valuable and in touch with the latest findings, while working educators would say that the researchers are out of touch and haven’t had any real practice in a classroom and stay in their field because they can’t handle the practicality of it, but overall, neither one is correct. Knowledge is information and is key to pushing our society forward; whether it’s knowledge I come into contact because of something in my own classroom or something I learn through research, I’ve moved myself forward in my own thinking, and as long as people continue to do this, we will continue to grow.

99 Things Meme

While I waited (impatiently) for my computer to complete it's full back up to my external hard drive I browsed the internet. I saw David Lee King's blog and it got me thinking. I only write when it's for SL Things to Do, and I thought it time to branch out. So what better way to start than one of those annoying meme's that goes around.
So the rules are:
Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

Here we go--

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars. (well the tent was under the stars)
3. Played in a band. ( I secretly want to be a "do-wop" girl)
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa. (going in March!!!!)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted. (mom's idea of a present for my dad--of me and brother when we were little.)
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone SCUBA diving or snorkling
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies. (have the badge to prove it)
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar. (was a total accident too...yuck)
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
77. Broken a bone. (nose --in 7th grade)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible. (i am pretty sure we had to do this in CCD)
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous. (David Gerghin--Alison Krause--Alan Jackson--)
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

So....If you would like to continue this meme, link back to your blog here in comments with your 99Things...I think I will continue posting here, with inane commentary or randomness that will clog up your RSS reader. Looking forward to sharing non-slthingstodo. :)

Jenn