Personal Learning 3

For my third personal learning experience I decided to eat lunch with Ben Adu Owusu, a international student from Ghana. At lunch we talked about the transition to Luther. Ben said it hardest part was leaving his family and not being able to go home on Holidays. He said Luther is great as far as having many people that are from Ghana, which made his transition alot easier.

Teaching Mrs. Tingle Review

I chose this movie to do a review about because I think it demonstates student teacher relationships. Mrs. Tingle is a teacher that no one likes, especially Leigh Ann. Leigh Ann is also up to be valedictorian of her class and needs to be valedictorian in order to get a scholarship to Harvard University. However, Mrs. Tingle stands in her way. The students kid nap Mrs. Tingle when she threatens to turn them into the Principal for stealing her final exam.

Inservice Review

I decided for one of my reviews I would write about the Inservice that I attended at Cresco High School. The inservice dealt with each department breaking up into their own groups and talking about what they are teaching and what they want to teach next. My department (physical education) talked about the skills they are teaching from kindergarten to 12th grade. They make sure that they are progressively getting more motor skills as they get older.

Mr. Hollands Opus Review

I chose this movie to do a review because I believe it shows how someone who at first teaches as something to fall back on, then begins to love it. The movie is about a composer who takes a teaching job to pay the rent while, in his 'spare time composes one memorable piece of music to leave his mark on the world. As Holland discovers Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans' and as the years unfold the joy of sharing his contagious passion for music with his students becomes his new definition of success.

Dangerous Minds Review

The reason I chose to do this movie for a review is because it shows how a teacher can deal with kids at a school that are not motivated and are kids that many teachers have given up on. This is about a teacher that goes to an inner city school and at first struggles to connect with her students. However, by the end of the movie she has gained the respect of her students and made their lives better in the process.

Remember the Titans Review

Remember the Titans I believe was a great movie that also has connection with this class. The reason I say that it has connection with this class is that it talks about Diversity and how to deal with it on a team. This is something that every teacher has to deal with at some point or most teachers probably deal with it everyday in their classrooms.

Personal Learning Project 2

For my personal learning project 2 I decided to watch a video about the environment. I am not really a person who gets really involved in the environment and found the video somewhat boring. The video talk about Global Warming and how it affects and is going to affect us in the future. I got alot out of the video even though I was quite bored the whole way through it.

Personal Lerning Project 1

For my personal learning project 1, I decided to write someone who has been especially kind to me. I wrote a parent of one of the wrestlers that I coached. The reason I chose this person was because they wrote me a letter during wrestling season that was very touching about my coaching abilities. Sometimes as a coach it is hectic dealing with parents and their kids. But it was one of the nicest things someone has ever done, they reasured me that I am doing alot of things right and that they really apreciate what I have done and am doing. The letter they wrote to me was:
Darin,
You are a great coach and all 3 boys think the world of you. I pray that you will be around a few more years. You are a leader and a very good role model. We know that you being on the side of the mat made it just a little easier for Jason to sit out. You were a positive support person for him. Jason looks up to you alot. Jason has an older brother Blair that he loves but Blair never understood Jason's love for sports and working towards a goal. I know that you filled that spot for Jason. Thanks and we wish you the best and always keep that passion in your heart.
Darrell and Deb

Does the internet and technology offer promise and hope for education or learning or does it just create additional problems?

My opinion on this matter is that yes the internet does help students with their school work. The internet has many very very good websites that students can access in just a click of a button. Students use the internet anyways, so now they can also learn for it. However, with the good websites there are also alot of bad ones. Some websites that students use give false or bad information, but the student does not know this and may end up putting it in a research paper. The internet has also made it harder for teachers to know if the student actually wrote the paper or came up with the information, or if it was plagerized. So I think the internet could be both good or bad, depending on the type of work being given by the teacher.

Position on controversial topic: PE in schools, should students be required to take it?

I believe that Physical Education class is a class that all students should be required to take. PE is a class that can get students physically involved in an activity and helps fight against obesity. PE also teaches students new games that they may find enjoyable and want to keep playing later on in their lives. Their have been many ways that students have proposed to drop PE, one is that if you are out for a sport, you do not need to take PE. However, being out for a sport and taking PE are two different types of activities. Another reason PE should be mandatory is it gives students a time in the day where they can just engage in physical activity and not have to worry about their social life, school work, etc. It's a class that if you show up and activly participate, you will get an A.

Why do we teach? What is the difference between school "work" and student "learning"? What makes for good teaching?

The reason I want to teach is because I want be a role model for kids and be someone they can look up to for advice. I believe that teachers have almost as big of impact of some kids lives as their parents. If kids come from families where their parents aren't active in their lives than I believe those kids can look up to teachers as a form of guidence. The difference between school"work" and student "learning" is how a student views the work. If a student views the assignment as this is dumb but I have to do it, it would be called school work. If a student views the assignment as this is kind of fun I don't mind putting in time to do this assignment, then I believe it is called student learning. A good teacher is someone who cares as much about their students as they do their own family. A good teacher can actively engage any student in any topic they are discusssing.

What makes a good teacher?

A good teacher is someone who can get a student activly involved in discussion, or in my case PE. This is a motivator, and someone that the students look up to as a role model. The best teachers I have had are those teachers that are not only someone who educates, but also someone who students can connect with on a person to person basis.

What am I trying to accomplish through teaching?

Through teaching I hope to be able to connect with students in the form of physical education. I believe that PE is very important in a fight against obesity and that getting students to get involved in PE would be a big step against obesity. PE is supposed to be fun and enjoyable for students. I would hope to accomplish to teach students about getting activly involved and learning how to work as a team. I also want to be a teacher to help out as a coach. I believe that a big way to develop a sports program is to have a teacher that is in the school district that can connect with students everyday.