Movin’ Thick as Molasses – 1.0
I was having a de ja vu today, I thought I was at my old job things were moving so slowly. You know when you have worked so much for so long, things start to get “slow” ? Well, my computer was doing just that. Microsoft, ugh, Word was having spasms all day, I make one change, for instance to make a text bold, and the whole document turns bold! I have to un – do…I do believe I have a bug so-to-speak in my Word, or computer of such as things were at a snails pace today.
It is my own fault, I added all these images to Word, and I should be using a layout program – I know better! But once I get going I’m pretty stubborn. 
So at my previous job, I would deem most projects: The molasses project, because my boss would act as though he wanted to do the job, when in fact he didn’t and stalled as long as he could, making up his mind was not a good characteristic of this gentleman.
OK I have uploaded my Final Project 1.0 [Total Molasses Project!]
[uploaded to Moodle and my Moodle!]
I really could keep working on this for another week, but I am giving it up now to stand at some point! This has been a very exciting process, and I am looking forward to comments on it, as I know there will need to be changes and it is really just a starting point. Oh Gosh!
My best
Kristen
Leadership and Teaching
I have been revisiting my Change Management Plan I created for that class two trimesters ago with Catherine Seo. I have updated my MCGC page, and will be adding more, you can see the plan there and the power point I created for my presentation. All my classes are beginning to overlap each other and I see change management issues that need to be addressed in all kinds of systems and processes, and processes that need change management plans! They are so very connected to people and how we learn and teach and evolve.
The below is an image I created for my change management plan, and power point:
Great resources – Thank you
Putting the Pieces Together: Integrating Technology with Marzano’s Instructional Strategies
Presented by Sherri Miller, ITRT, Gloucester County Public Schools
Virginia Society for Technology in Education conference presentation
February 24-26, 2008
Nine strategies that have a high probability of enhancing student achievement…
there are many examples and templates that support technology integration.
Similarities & Differences
Summarizing & Note-Taking
Effort & Recognition
Homework & Practice
Non-Linguistics Representations
Cooperative Learning
Objectives & Feedback
Hypotheses
Questions, Cues, & Adv. Organizers
Also: From University of Idaho
http://www.uidaho.edu/eo/dist3.html
DISTANCE EDUCATION AT A GLANCE
GUIDE 3: Instructional Development for Distance Education
This development process is now seriously set in my brain! I have now reviewed so many processes, and have a good understanding of these steps that vary with each model, but are generally the same basic framework.
Needs Assessment: A Systematic Approach for Successful Distance Education
Robert G. Stewart, Darcey M. Cuffman http://www.mtsu.edu/%7Eitconf/proceed98/rstewart.html
I found this conclusion well stated, and enforces that a systematic approach is so very essential to success:
“Moore and Kearsley (1996) conclude that “there cannot be within any unit, institution, or the nation at large, or even in a global network, a viable distance education program in the future that is not in some way integrated into a total system” (p. 245). Likewise productive needs assessments are dependent upon an systematic approach. The integration of needs assessment as part of a total distance education system should benefit all stakeholders (e.g., faculty, administrators, students).”
I have practically been a resident at ROI Rubric for online instruction. These are so incredibly helpful for me to get this first run of instruction going ….
I want to just keep our Ped2 class going at this point, I feel like I am just getting into this!
I am a little worried as I know I am behind in my final project. I really should have gone through three revisions of it by this point, but I am very nervous about it all, mostly because it is new, and also the multiple layers of understanding and being both teacher and student. I am confident I will have a successful outcome, but it is so daunting….The sample projects from Karen Case and Katie O’Connell are a great guide, and the fun part is that I know them from class….The first trimester I started at MCGC, I only took two classes, L&E and Planning for Change which is where I met Katie and Karen.
Steady on…. whew – breathe ….
Conference at SIT, more process… and Theory U.
http://public.sit.edu/peopleplantspossibilities/
I attended this conference today at SIT / World Learning: on Social and Ecological Renewal. A friend of mine is a graduate of SIT and was one of the speakers: Josh Nelson: Closing the Carbon Loop. Very informative and interesting, highlighting organic composting: one of sustainability’s best weapons, building community, healthier foods, and agriculture in VT. The keynote speaker: Steven Chase began with a great statement:
“You have to start somewhere! You can’t wait until your ready”
[Oh lord, I thought, he is speaking to me!!!]
Steve was not holding my interest so I worked on my IEEE design while the lecture was going on, there were 50-75 people attending, so I wasn’t too obvious about it. Something about being around academics that helps one think.
There were many other great speakers as well the one other talk I attended was quite an interesting discussion from Tom Grasso, who involved the audience (20 of us) first by telling who we were, and why we were attending. I was happy to see him engage with us, for us not to just be spectators, to begin a very human conversation about business, and compassion, and engaging people on a human level. He spoke of being a part of designing the future. He also spoke about the Theory U, and letting go of your perspective, and then you have an open mind, open heart, open will. I have investigated this Theory U just a bit, seeing as I have no spare time to do so – and hope to take a look further for my capstone…
I did find it quite interesting. It is a little bit far out, I would say it ties in closely with values and how you go about doing things, but there is an intuitive nature I associate with, and possibly a relation to my interest in Yoga, which has many similarities, like stillness, being open, meditation, responding intuitively to situations, etc. This was of particular interest:
http://www.presencing.com/ArtEmbodied.html
this was recommended to me by Tom Grasso :
http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/programs.php?type=contemplation_education
Now I must get back to work on my IEEE design!
The filling of the mind, recall, memory. aka “How to fold maps”
I drove home from class in deep thought of what I had just absorbed, and the race to the end of this trimester- less than three weeks away. It was that savory time of saturation, if we could just hold the moment in time, just before the waves wash back into the vast ocean, the sand is saturated, hard and dense, full of salty water, but drains quickly through the sand back into the ocean, only to rush forward and race through the sand yet again. I love learning. My teachers a MCGC are incredible, and inspiring, and tough. My sense of self is expanding and blossoming as I grow with my new knowledge and my personal experiences in doing so. There was a radio program streaming underneath my thoughts saturated with instruction and how people learn and how my teachers are teaching me, how it is effecting me vs. other students, and how we are all at different stages of life and experiences – oh this circle is complex!
The radio program was on VPR, and there was a man describing how many different possible ways there are to fold a map. I giggled as this mirrored the complexity of the issues I was imagining. A map folded by chance would have 1300 possible outcomes. But if you memorize the sequence you can fold the map the way it came in just a second or too with out having to get frustrated because you can’t re fold the map!!!
It is with out doubt the teachers at MCGC are guiding me with intense instruction and great knowledge to build a sequence that works for me, and proves to me a sold sound way to fold maps.
