Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Instructor Humor and Student Learning - Walden Library
On week 2 discussion board I mentioned that humor, along with other strategies, is a strategy I use to actively engage students. Based on my experience, the humor strategy emotionally involves all my students because laughther is a form of positive emotion. Although an excerpt, I was thrilled to read the journal entry An Explanation of the Relationship between Instructor Humor and Student Learning: Instructional Humor Processing Theory. The entry discusses that instructors who use appropriate humor result in increased student learning.
This is a valuable source because it gives educators an innovative way to support student learning. This source is also useful because it talks about specific types of humor to use in the classroom. Being a popular and funny teacher does not automatically result to positive student learning. The article states that in order for the humor to make a positive impact, it must be related to instructional content.
This is a valuable source because it gives educators an innovative way to support student learning. This source is also useful because it talks about specific types of humor to use in the classroom. Being a popular and funny teacher does not automatically result to positive student learning. The article states that in order for the humor to make a positive impact, it must be related to instructional content.
Brains - Practical Classroom Applications of Current Brain Research
Brains.org is designed not only for educators, but also for parents and individuals who simply want to learn about the topic. This site is valuable because the articles it displays about the brain varies greatly. For example, brain and caffeine, brain and commercial influence, and brain and rewards/punishments.
The article Stress - a land mine for the brain (http://help4teachers.com/stress.htm), by Dr. Kathie F. Nunley, greatly ties in with our learning materials for this week. She states that "...stress is an inevitable part of the education process, research shows that it can actually undermine the learning process." This information caught my attention because there were a number of times that my students saw the stress in my body language, and in return I also noticed that some of them emulated my mood. Also during stress, the memory systems are negatively influenced, thus causing problems with our problem solving skills and decision making abilites, and according to Dr. Nunley stress cripples our short term memory which causes difficulty in retrieving previous information.
Being aware of the implications of stress could make us better teachers, parents, and students. The information on stress should also lead us to practice stress-relief activities such as walking, taking deep breaths, and even drinking cold water or tea. We should always try to remember the negative results of large amounts of stress when we are teetering between "good stress" and "bad stress."
The article Stress - a land mine for the brain (http://help4teachers.com/stress.htm), by Dr. Kathie F. Nunley, greatly ties in with our learning materials for this week. She states that "...stress is an inevitable part of the education process, research shows that it can actually undermine the learning process." This information caught my attention because there were a number of times that my students saw the stress in my body language, and in return I also noticed that some of them emulated my mood. Also during stress, the memory systems are negatively influenced, thus causing problems with our problem solving skills and decision making abilites, and according to Dr. Nunley stress cripples our short term memory which causes difficulty in retrieving previous information.
Being aware of the implications of stress could make us better teachers, parents, and students. The information on stress should also lead us to practice stress-relief activities such as walking, taking deep breaths, and even drinking cold water or tea. We should always try to remember the negative results of large amounts of stress when we are teetering between "good stress" and "bad stress."
Brain and Learning
The brain connection website is a valuable source for brain related research. Based on this week's learning, brainconnection.positscience.com also suggested that "there could be connections between brain function and educational practice." Through experiments and research that have been conducted the past 20 years, more evidence are validating the efficiency of brain-based education. Eric Jensen, a leader in the field of brain-friendly instruction also contributed to this site by stating that the brain is involved and connected with all the activities that teachers and students do. As a teacher, I have experienced this claimed by Eric Jensen. As soon as the students walk in the classroom my first objective is to wake up their brain, and I do this through cup-stacking (clicl link to read about benefits of cupstacking http://www.jmu.edu/kinesiology/hpainstitute/pdfs/SpeedStackingRationale.pdf). Cupstacking or Speed Stacking trains both sides of the brain, and it is fun, and the students get involve. Cup Stacking is now a part of the curriculum in the school site I work. We are required to practice it for 15 minutes a day, and the students get to show off their talent in a school wide tournament 3 times a year. In my professional opinion, I believe that cup stacking is a more effective way to start the day. Engaging the students in daily 6 problems, or Daily Language Review, as soon as they walk in the classroom half asleep is the thing of the past. Eric Jensen also mentioned that some students walk in the classroom disconnected, and if we do not try to connect them right away it could lead to frustration.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Useful Blog Sites
Edublogs
Edublogs is a user friendly blog for students and teachers. This particular blog has plenty of options for its users. The users are able to discuss relevant topics with its diverse community made up of students, teachers, district officials, professors, and even government officials. Use of e-newspapers, podcasts, videos, and photos makes this blog-site stylish and current.
This blog-site will continue to serve me, and others, as an ongoing resource as I continue to work on my courses in Instructional Design and Technology by keeping me connected with other professionals within the same field. Shared experiences and strategies in the blog discussions will also give me the opportunity to learn from others about real-life work situations.
Feel free to read my first entry, my username is pro20to1 http://pro20to1.edublogs.org/
http://edublogs.org/
IDEAS - Instructional Design for E-learning Approaches
This blog-site is a useful resource because it has plenty of relevant articles and discussions that could serve both instructional design students and professionals. The blog provides links to theories, models, and recommended readings to better our knowledge and skills in the field of e-learning.
http://ideas.blogs.com/
eLearning Technology
This particular blog-site by Tony Karrer discusses on the job issues about e-learning technology. This is an excellent resource to use because the postings display an abundant range of topics that pertain to Instructional Design and Technology, such as the use of Flash, on-line exams and tutoring, and webinar tools. This blog will also be beneficial to me by keeping me up to date with the recent developments in technological devices, softwares, market trends, and corporate practices.
http://elearningtech.blogspot.com
Edublogs is a user friendly blog for students and teachers. This particular blog has plenty of options for its users. The users are able to discuss relevant topics with its diverse community made up of students, teachers, district officials, professors, and even government officials. Use of e-newspapers, podcasts, videos, and photos makes this blog-site stylish and current.
This blog-site will continue to serve me, and others, as an ongoing resource as I continue to work on my courses in Instructional Design and Technology by keeping me connected with other professionals within the same field. Shared experiences and strategies in the blog discussions will also give me the opportunity to learn from others about real-life work situations.
Feel free to read my first entry, my username is pro20to1 http://pro20to1.edublogs.org/
http://edublogs.org/
IDEAS - Instructional Design for E-learning Approaches
This blog-site is a useful resource because it has plenty of relevant articles and discussions that could serve both instructional design students and professionals. The blog provides links to theories, models, and recommended readings to better our knowledge and skills in the field of e-learning.
http://ideas.blogs.com/
eLearning Technology
This particular blog-site by Tony Karrer discusses on the job issues about e-learning technology. This is an excellent resource to use because the postings display an abundant range of topics that pertain to Instructional Design and Technology, such as the use of Flash, on-line exams and tutoring, and webinar tools. This blog will also be beneficial to me by keeping me up to date with the recent developments in technological devices, softwares, market trends, and corporate practices.
http://elearningtech.blogspot.com
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