Portfolio is up!

My e-portfolio is now up, and can be viewed at:

http://homepage.usask.ca/~rbs072/

Really good recipe

I made this for supper on Saturday night without a recipe - I've made curries before, but never one with any type of meat in it. I highly recommend this, it was fantastic.

Shrimp curry

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 tomatoes, diced, or 1 large can diced tomatoes, drained.
Chili/jalapeno peppers, cut up (however many you want; I'd use 2)
shrimp (my mom bought one of those ready to eat rings that was on sale; I've no idea how much it weighed, probably a pound-ish) - remove the tails
1 tbsp curry powder
1-2 tbsp lemon juice (this is key!)
whatever other spices you have on hand - black pepper, cumin, coriander work well)

Fry the onions in a little oil until tender, then add the garlic and peppers and cook a little longer. Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to release their liquid. Add the shrimp, spices, and lemon juice, and let it all simmer for 10 minutes or so. At first, I wasn't sure what this mix needed; once I added lemon juice, I realized that this was probably the most important ingredient for bringing the whole thing together.

Eat it with flatbread like naan. Sooo good.

Random Instructional Thought

For an independent study project, I thought I could have students generate questions about how something chemistry-ish works - for example, "How is ice cream made?" "How does coffee get decaffeinated?" "What is an octane rating?" etc. etc.

Then, students could post these questions on a wall. I could then use these questions as an anchor activity for the keeners who finish everything in way less time than it took me to plan it, perhaps requiring that each student research at least one question over the course of the term. Once researched, students could present their findings to the class, or make a poster, or design a web-quest , etc.

The wall would, of course, be known as my "Wonderwall."

That made me laugh for about a whole day. *cough* nerd *cough**cough*

John Gatto

I recently read a book entitled "Dumbing Us Down," by a decorated teacher from New York named John Gatto. This book was given to me by a friend at Christmas time, and I read it on a bus trip to Edmonton in January. Mr. Gatto has some radical views on education, and is somewhat pessimistic in nature. He makes a number of good points, though also many that I do not agree with. His main argument is that, contrary to centuries of apprenticeship education, schools today are artificial settings that teach students to be emotionally dependent and take away their intrinsic interest in learning. I can appreciate where Gatto comes from in these instances; however, his advocacy for home schooling is something that I do not agree with, for I see home schooling as just substituting one artificial situation for another. In schools, Gatto argues that students lose the knowledge that can be gained from their elders; in home schooling, I argue that students lose the knowledge that can be gained from their peers. I think Gatto and I can agree on how successful apprenticeship training can be. It would be interesting if apprenticeship training could be extended from the trades to all subject areas as well. Just a thought.

Dance happenings

So, Yevshan is having its 50th anniversary in November, and we are currently in the progress of putting a show together. One of our instructor's associates from Ukraine is staying with us for a month, and writing a whole heck of a lot of music while our instructor choreographs. It's a totally different experience - this guy gave us a rough copy of some music, we choreographed a dance to it, now this guy is editing it to match the choreography. He is quite the accordion wizard. His name is Oleg, by the way.

So Proud

While on my internship, I taught Ukrainian dance in Nipawin. Last weekend, the intermediate group performed at Telemiracle, and the performance was taped and is now up on Youtube. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsfa5Nj0Id4

E-Portfolio Planning Ass't

1. I have chosen to complete an e-portfolio in hopes that it can help land me one of those job things all the kids seem to be talking about. That is assuming, of course, that it turns out well, which I am never too certain of. I am hoping an e-portfolio will showcase aspects of myself that employers may be looking for in their employees. I am also hoping that an e-portfolio can be indirectly used to demonstrate my mad computer skills, for although computer science/multimedia is not one of my teaching areas, it is an area I have always been interested in and would like to pursue as both a learner and a teacher.

2. Specifically, I think that an e-portfolio can be much more user friendly than a traditional portfolio can be. Employers can go through it at their convenience (or with me, should they desire), and focus in on the traits that they find the most important in their employees. In addition, I can also put documents (unit/lesson plans, photos, video, etc.) in there and transform the portfolio experience from being flat and boring to a rich, vibrant viewin experience. As I mentioned above, the portfolio will also showcase some of my computer skills and demonstrate my desire to further myself in that area. Overall, I hope I can present more of a well-rounded view of myself to employers beyond the stodgy particulars of a resume.

3. I plan to include some brief bio stuff, my philosophy of education, my views on assessment and classroom management, past accomplishments (academic and personal), sample lesson/unit plans, and documents like my resume, reference letter, internship report, etc. I will also include a section on my lab activities; if for some reason I cannot land a teaching job, I would be open to a lab job as well, and would like this portfolio to be able to serve both purposes.

4. I want my portfolio to be simple yet elegant, with quiet introspective colors. I think I'll have a main title up top, with a subtitle below. I think then I'll have a menu bar going horizontally, with submenus horizontally below that. I could also put a sub menu bar along the bottom of the screen. I`ll try to keep functionality in mind at all times.

My sketch is at the top of this page.

5. One concern of mine is privacy. I don`t want others (especially students) getting ahold of my digits and e-mail, so I would like to have a login page to access my portfolio. I would include a username and password with my resume when I submit it.

Bingos

Last night, I had to work at a bingo. Our Ukrainian dance group works numerous bingos throughout the year to raise money for costumes and to go on trips and such. This was a "red eye," which means that it started at 9:30 and ended at about quarter to four in the morning. Why on Earth would someone want to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to play bingo? Especially when Canada is playing a semi-final game - I find it so ridiculous. It was shortly after four when we got out of there, and so to get a good start on the next day we went to Denny's for a nourishing meal. Most other patrons at that hour on a Friday night were quite interesting - their activities were certainly not as benign as bingo. After my delicious bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns, I finally rolled into bed around 6:30 this morning. Stupid bingo.

My Spring Break

For my break, my girlfriend and I went to Victoria for a few days. It was great - I'd never been to BC before, and seeing some greenery in February really cheered me up a bit. We visited the Royal BC Museum, a wax museum, and Butchart gardens, and also just walked around and took in all the sights the harbor and gardens downtown Victoria had to offer. I also read a couple books (Catcher in the Rye, which I've read before, and Taras Bulba, which didn't appeal to me as much as I thought it would).

Research Report - Long Distance Learning

The topic I would like to address is distance education. There are several ideas which I hope to discuss:

1. Benefits versus detriments: While distance education is undoubtedly presenting new educational opportunities for students in remote locations, is an important social aspect of education missing when students learn away from their peers?
2. Do students in distance ed. programs gain enough practical, hands-on experience from their courses? Are the skills they have gained enough preparation for career preparation?
3. How can distance ed. programs be made more two-dimensional and transactional, rather than one-dimensional and transmissive?

These are questions I will address to begin my search; undoubtedly, other questions will arise as the search progresses.

Wikipedia Post

I work part-time in a lab, where I grow fungus. I added the second paragraph for the entry under L. maculans, describing how fungi change a toxic compound produced by plants into a less harmful substance. This is bad, as plants produce these compounds to protect themselves, and when fungi metabolize them into less harmful substances the plant becomes susceptible to disease.

Bloom's Taxonomy Assignment

1. Knowledge: Blogs can be used to deliver content remotely, provide news about a class or a school, and facilitate discussions about any sort of topic.

2. Comprehension: Teachers should integrate blogs into their teaching because a) they are open enough that any student in a class with an internet connection can access it, but private enough that teachers can limit access from the greater public; b) they allow easy access for students to quickly post their thoughts and discuss ideas with their peers any time of the day; and c) blogs are a familiar, customizable area that students are more likely to engage with, versus traditional teaching methods.

3. Application: I could use blogs a) to facilitate a discussion board around a particular subject, such as "Chemistry in Agriculture," and post relevant materials to it; b) as a way for students to work collaboratively in groups and share their research data for a group project; c) as a supplement to regular classes, with extra material plus notes for students who could not attend class for whatever reason

4. Analysis: I would argue that blogs would be most useful when facilitating discussion type things, or when the communication needs to be open for a whole class to comment on. However, blogs seem to be fairly linear affairs, and often conversations can get bogged down in a sea of comments, obscuring the initial points being made. Blogs do not have the structure that static web sites are capable of. In short, I think that each has their uses, and they are best used in combination to achieve different goals.

5. Synthesis: Blogging will change my role from being the deliverer of information to a facilitator of discussions, as students are now able to bring in their own ideas and information to post. However, I will also need to be more vigilant with privacy issues and abuse of the system, as people tend to put many comments up that can be hurtful, intentionally or otherwise. Thus I will need to educate about web safety and privacy as well.

6. Evaluation: Disadvantages of blogs include a) privacy issues relating to people outside of the intended class accessing information about students; b) students leaving comments designed to hurt other individuals, if a blog is not directly supervised by a teacher; and c) maintaining a blog could be a potentially onerous task, and could significantly increase a teacher's workload, especially in the initial stages of setting a blog up.

Got my Google account

I guess I circumnavigated the system somehow, and now have a Google account. Interesting.