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Last night I was writing my journal reflection before I did the Rigney reading.  I was struggling with the journal question about wearing a mask because I feel like I have negative connotations with the word "mask", you like are intentionally performing something you are not.  I had read Goffman in my Performance and Self Esem freshmen year, and remembered liking him, so I was surprised when I realized the word "mask" brought about such negative feelings when I was writing my journal.  I think the word "mask" feels accusatory.  In Anne's class, however, when we discussed having "walls", this word did not seem as harsh.  I personally felt walls can be necessary to protect yourself and get through everyday life, and I can see why masks serve the exact same purpose.  

Last night I was writing my journal reflection before I did the Rigney reading.  I was struggling with the journal question about wearing a mask because I feel like I have negative connotations with the word "mask", you like are intentionally performing something you are not.  I had read Goffman in my Performance and Self Esem freshmen year, and remembered liking him, so I was surprised when I realized the word "mask" brought about such negative feelings when I was writing my journal.  I think the word "mask" feels accusatory.  In Anne's class, however, when we discussed having "walls", this word did not seem as harsh.  I personally felt walls can be necessary to protect yourself and get through everyday life, and I can see why masks serve the exact same purpose.  

http://www.virtualapple.org/oregontraildisk.html

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What?

At school X, the teachers rarely have printer paper, so instead of printing out essays for their teachers, the students email them or add them to Google Docs. This is also because most of the students can't afford printer ink at home. There were a few teachers who would force their students to print their work, so they would run over to my teacher's classroom, or the classroom of another teacher and ask to print their work there so they wouldn't get in trouble. Recently, the administration made a rule that you have to be able to email your work instead of printing it. 

So what?

Forcing the students to print out their work when a printer isn't easily accessible is not promoting equality at school. While some students may have a printer at home, this leaves out the students who can't afford one. Additionally, for my teacher and the others that help out the students who are forced to print end up with a smaller supply of paper. My teacher said that when he hears there's been a paper delivery he hunts it down in the school to claim some for himself. 

Now what? 

Hopefully the new rule will stop those teachers from forcing the kids to print their work. Additionally, it's just better for the environment. To tie this in with my journalism class, the students received their first article assignment, and some students are covering the new rule for the newspaper!

My site looked pretty bleak today after the storm. Leaves were everywhere and the mowed section where the wildflowers were was all the color of dead grass (with the exception of one clump of black-eyed Susans that were either very resilient, or just resisted mowing. I had never explored much beyond the wildflower area, so in walking back to Erdman I made sure to notice other aspects of the landscape. I wondered how the small forest of bamboo got behind Erdman. Since it’s an “invasive species” I assume that it wasn’t planted. I also noticed the creek that flows behind Erdman. It probably waters the bamboo, and the wildflowers when they were there. I also noticed that people had planted plants in tree stumps, and interesting mark of humans in nature.

Back in the warmth of my room (it’s gotten COLD outside!) I scrolled through the Bryn Mawr Grounds page and found some interesting botanical and architectural information (Plus pictures!) It was so interesting to see how Bryn Mawr’s campus looked in the past, how it looks now, as well as blueprints for how it might look in the future.

When I first told my friends that I had to play minecraft for one of my classes, I got a look of jealous glares. Everyone thought that I was so lucky, until one of my friends said something interesting; she said that she loved playing minecraft, but if someone had told her to play it, she probably wouldn't. That struck me as surprising, and then it made me think. How are we going to using minecraft as a tool to enagage students, and make them feel like this isn't "typical" HW or school work if we still make them play it for a few hours.

My Field placement at school X has been very hectic. So far, I have been trying to coordinate with the person they put me in contact with about working with a teacher inside a classroom, because I feel like that would help me gain some insight for this class and be better versed in the actual implementation methods in the classroom. However, the person they put me in contact with wanted me initially to work with her in an office figuring out iPad apps. We have since reached consensus about what our goals are, however, she has yet to get back to me about when I can come in and actually work with a teacher.

This was a very interesting and frustrating experience for me because I could not get the original Minecraft to open on my computer. There were plugins to download and even after it all it did not work. After searching around other websites and realizing most demo games were only meant for PC's I finally found a site that let me play on my Mac. Needless to say I did not know what I was doing and after ten minutes of building and collecting wood I somehow reach game over. I'm assuming I was killed in the game or maybe the time ran out I'm not sure. :(. I'm sure I need tons more practice and a little more guidance before I can remotely call myself a Minecraft gammer. Gamming for me presents a level of knowlege and skill into a program and I don't think I possess neither of those qualities in my attempt in Minecraft. 

On a given Friday, the professor will begin class with the overhead projector displaying vocabulary. He asked students how they interpreted the words, and then reviewed last class’s vocabulary words. The professor does not negatively enforce, or discipline his students. When they do not seem to be doing the work he will command a response from them. He simply calls on the students and expects them to answer. Later on in the class, he plays a song and asks students to identify the instruments creating the music.

The song we are focusing on today is John Legend "imagine." The professor wants the students to write about real versus fake things in their life or discuss something in their life that happens in stages. The professor uses his smart board to show the students their lyrics to the music and then editing it. 

When teaching the students the different music notes, the professor writes on the smart board and then explains how to clap along to the music notes. He reminded students to take notes and encouraged them by saying that; "it's your paper so mark it up all you want." If there is one thing that happens well in this course, is that the students are being encouraged and pushed to use their own ideas to move forward in their writing. 

What?

The history teacher at my placement is a huge supporter of technology. She even has her students bring in their personal laptops to class everyday because all of their work is online. At my last visit, she was encouraging her students to use their school email addresses to communicate with each other instead of using Facebook as a means of communication because not everyone has a Facebook. Her point was that it isn't fair to use social media when communication via that means isn't accessible to everyone. However, she proceeded to tell her students that they should take out their smart phones and sync their school email to their phones.

So what?

This stuck out to me because I found it to be odd that this teacher was willing to accept that no everyone has a Facebook but she then made what seemed to be a generalization about smart phones and the ability to sync email. It made me think about how we think about Facebook now. In class, I recall we marveled at the fact that everyone in the class had a Facebook or at least enjoyed it. My placement teacher applauded those who didn't have a Facebook because they are off the grid and colleges/employers won't be able to see anything about them online. I just found it to be interesting that she was happy that not everyone has a Facebook but she made the quick assumption that each of her high school students had a smart phone.

Now what?