The Ed Psych iMovie Project

For the Ed Psych iMovie Project my group and I read the book "The Freedom Writers Diary" by Erin Gruwell and her students. The story is very moving because it deals with many different social and racial issues, and how people eventually learned to overcome those issues. I have always been a big fan of the movie, so I was very interested in reading the actual book that the movie was based on. My main topic of this bolg however, is the project itself. I had never made an iMovie before, and thankfully there were members of my group that were familiar with the software. Also, the whole video camera situation was less than ideal because all of the internal hard drive cameras seemed to be perpetually checked out which meant that we had to use a camera with a tape, and have the help desk put it on a computer for us. All of that aside, I do feel like the project had some good elements. We had to find times that worked for every group member to meet (which isn't easy, let me tell you), which I think is a really good thing to experience becasue as teachers I feel we need to learn how to be flexible because there will be times where we'll need to sacrifice wants over needs. Also, the whole collaborative aspect was fun because we each had a say in what was going on, and it was fun to see an idea of yours become reality. My group was striving for originality (and humor as well at times). At the end of our video (which we didn't get to present in class), we showed how exactly we were tying everything together, and really get to "the point" of our movie.

Here's a link to our video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3nv568TJc

Postville, IA

"La Historia de Nuestras Vidas" ("The story of our lives") was a play that I had seen on campus earlier this semester that dealt with immigration, and namely the immigration raid that happened in Postville, IA on May 12, 2008. The play was completely in Spanish, but they had the entire play written out in English so everyone could follow along with the story. The story itself talked about the immigration struggles that the thousands of immigrants have to face in order to get into the United States. Through out the play, it was easy to see that the yearning for life in America is so strong that people with stop at nothing just for a chance of obtaining the "American dream" that we always hear so much about. After the play ended I had an overwhelming feeling of appreciation that I'm not in the same situation as the illegal immigrants. I can't blame them for wanting to come to our country because they want a better life that is almost unattainable in their homelands. I feel terribly for the families of those arrested in Postville. I feel like the government should have handled that situation in a more understanding way. I do NOT believe that the immigrants that were arrested should be allowed to live in this country illegally, and I do feel that they need to be reprimanded for breaking the law, but I feel that more compassion was needed than what they received. We are all humans trying to strive for the best lives possible. From an educational stand point, I feel there is a lot we can learn from this play about immigration. Tolerance and acceptance would definitely be two main points that I feel are important lessons for anyone to learn. Also, I can't help but think about the children across the country that are affected by these types of situations. How would a child be able to deal with the stress of their family being deported? This situation can really teach us all a lesson. We must be understanding, becasue without understanding, the world truly can be a harsh place.

The Lost Generation?

I have mixed feelings about the Lost Generation video that I recently watched for Ed Psych. I can't say that it really talked about new issues with our society today... I understand what the video was trying to portray, it not like it wasn't blunt enough. I do not agree with every element of the video though. There was a portion of the video that brought up environmental issues in our world, and on the first run through the list it made it seem like my generation is unconcerned about the environment and our impact on changing our harmful practices. I feel like there is a lot more to be done before we are even close to resolving the current day environmental issues, but I really do believe that my generation is very concerned about what is going on with our planet today. My generation has a considerable amount of issues, and some of them that have never been this debilitating before. However, we aren't necessarily a lost cause. Look back to the last Presidential election in this country. In the past it has always been understood that the elderly population has had the largest voice and weight on who was going to be elected President of the United States, but this last election saw an unprecedented rise in young (college aged) voters. If this doesn't show people that we are indeed concerned with the direction of our country I don't know what will. I also feel like my generation is one of the most accepting generations this country has ever had. We have had to deal with issues that were near non-existent in previous generations, such as the expanse on communicative technology. Never before has there been such a connected generation, and even though there are some major downsides to this fact, there are also numerous advantages to be had. I believe that my generation will be able to achieve great things, but there are problems that need to be solved now before we can live up to our full potentials. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

High Stakes Community School Experience

Throughout my life, I have always seemed to enjoy role playing experiences in a classroom setting because I feel like I can better think through issues if I pretend to actually be involved in the problematic situation. Our Ed Psych "High Stakes Community School" role playing game was no exception. I was instructed to assume the role of a counselor for underachieving students who were at risk of not graduating from high school. This was a very intriguing role for me to assume because I've never really been able to grasp the thought of dropping out of school on a personal level, but assuming the role of someone trying help at risk students obtain a diploma was kind of an eye opening experience. I learned that motivation and acceptance is KEY to keeping kids in school. We have mentioned numerous times in class that poor reading skills is one of the main underlying causes of the high school dropout rate in our country, but what can we do about it? My group discussed numerous ways to go about fixing the drop out problem in our schools, but it was terribly difficult to come up with realistic solutions that would help large numbers of students. Then during the actual role playing activity in the evening class, it was really hard to get other groups to realize that we need to worry about the at risk students as much as we do the other students who seemingly do well in school. Other groups were worrying more about sports extracurricular sports teams than they were about students who were at risk of not even earning a diploma. That was one of the BIGGEST "Ah Ha" moments that I got out of the whole experience. We as a society need to first focus on students academic needs before we can think about extra activities or programs.

Why are Finnish kids so smart?

After reading "What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart," an article published in the Wall Street Journal, I have come to various conclusions as to why Finland has gotten education right, and why the US is still struggling. As we discussed in Ed Psych last week, learning reading is quite possibly the most important skill a child needs in order to obtain academic successes. If a child does not learn to read, and read well, at a young age it could essentially ruin their chances of learning anything well in their future. You cannot escape reading no matter where you are, or what class you're in (even in math there are word problems). In the article the author made a big deal out of the activities the Finnish children do that are the same as American children, but the most important activity was an activity that isn't as popular in the States as it is in Finland. The author made mention that the majority Finnish children read constantly, along with doing other activities. I know that when I was in elementary school and middle school, I was terribly unconcerned with reading outside of class. I never really had the motivation to read, even though I was reading at a "college reading level" my 7th grade year. I enjoyed some of the books when I read them for class, but I think it made it seem like a chore to have to read a book by a deadline. I would much rather just read at my own pace, and take time to fully enjoy being in the book. The real question in America is how can we motivate kids to read, and not get frustrated with the reading process? If we can answer that question, and solve that problem, our national education system could quite possible become the pinnacle education system in the world.

Brain Development Presentation

I really enjoyed the brain development presentation that we saw at the Decorah Middle School. I was kind of skeptical before the presenter started her presentation just because it seemed like it was going to be terribly cliché. Throughout middle school and high school, there were countless health classes and seminars that constantly harped the message that alcohol was bad, and that we should look down upon it and never drink ourselves. I have always been against kids drinking because I do think that drinking before you are fully developed (physically and emotionally) is a horrible idea because of the ramifications of interrupting the growing process. Thankfully, our presenter was able to keep my interest because of the quality and informative nature of the information she was presenting. I, like many in our class, was really intrigued by the fact that there is supposedly a large spike in brain developmental activity around the ages of 14-15. I also really enjoyed the way our presenter led the demonstration. I definitely think that she was a little unorthodox at times, and some catch phrases she said still crack me up to this day, but I feel like she was very effective at retaining my attention even though her slideshow was distracting at times. I really liked the fact that there was a handout that corresponded with the presentation too because it definitely kept our minds on the subject at hand. Overall I am happy that we took the day off from class and went to the seminar instead becasue it definitely was worth while, and it was also nice to change up the normal format of our Monday evenings.

Gifted Students and Autistic Students

I was really fascinated by this article because I feel like the issues it discusses are so terribly important and need to be addressed NOW. I fell like the woman who wrote this article really hit the nail on the head on several occasions. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) in my opinion is an excellent program in theory. Our country really needs something that holds our schools accountable for what they are teaching, and how well they are teaching what they teach. However, I also believe that the NCLBA was poorly implemented, and is currently doing little help to the children or schools on this country. As the Mother said, if EVERY child, not just those with learning disabilities, had an individual IED filled out for them, plotting their progress, there would be no doubt the education predicament would be solved in this country. Obviously it would take a lot of time and hard work to even think about making this possible, but I feel it would be well worth it. I also have to agree that the "gifted" programs in our schools really do little to help expand the intellects of our gifted youth. I myself had tested into the "Gifted and Talented" program when I was in 3rd grade, and stayed in the program until I was in 8th grade. I had fun being a part of GT, but as far as really stimulting my mind, I feel like it just added extra work to my week, and was something to put on applications. We need to diversify our teaching and make sure that gifted students don't always get shoved aside.