Blog Synthesis

I enjoyed keeping a blog to share my ideas. It didn’t feel like work since the writings were so quick and short, but I also don’t feel I lived up to the course expectations because I didn’t write frequently enough. I would post once every two weeks to share my ideas on a topic and whenever I sat down to write another one, I found I didn’t have anything different to add. A lot of the topics we covered in class were very awkward for me. I had never spent 2 seconds thinking about fashion or how the editor tries to put a clip together or what makes music sound the way it does. I am a very shallow person when it comes to works of art, usually just taking things for what they are and not giving it another thought. When I would write in my blog though, I always felt like there was some connection that would jump out at me. I think because of my practice and education about teaching, it was easy for me to make bridges between the ideas I was learning about and my love for teaching.

My first post about photography was a little rough when I look back on it. I was still getting the hang of understanding the process of different works of art. I still agree with what I wrote about using technology to make something more compelling however. I just didn’t get into it in as much detail as I think would have been helpful for the reader. My second post was much more successful I think. I really enjoyed reading about the TV and movie editing and I related to it since I teach in a class that is not heavily enjoyed normally. Teaching algebra in the inner city is not a job that lends itself to having students with lots of intrinsic motivation. I must make it mean something and make it relevant and telling for our class to be successful. I think this post was an important step for me in the class because I felt like I could really start to make some meaningful connections.

By the time I wrote my third post I was heavily involved in the class and felt very good about it. As I was reading the information about the 3 aspects of interior design, my mind was racing with the pillars that teaching stands on, and what teachers need to do to be successful and compelling. I think the 3 ideas I came up with are still very true. Students must feel safe before anything can happen, students must be engaged for actual learning to take place, and students must see organization or else they will not recognize your teaching.

Looking back on my fourth post, it wasn’t as thought provoking as my previous two efforts. The idea of having a hook for teaching is very simple and did not require a lot of thought to put together. It is a bridge to the classroom, but just did not delve into the world of music we had read about. I think I had trouble coming up with more connections between music and teaching. Thinking about it now, I could have made a connection between the smaller points of a song and the smaller points of a lesson that make both compelling.

My last post about fashion is something I am very interested in. I think there is a great importance to the point I made about letting students try things for themselves rather than telling them how to do it. There is little to learn if someone is merely repeating an act that someone else did. If you think about the people who are successful and more important to society than most, it is the people who are making up ways to do things rather than relying on other people to tell them what to do. People who can do what other people tell them do are needed as well, but their value is minimal and can be replaced easily. If someone invents a new and improved process through critical thinking and that person will be irreplaceable.

Overall, my blog entries were effective methods of communicating the bridges I came up with throughout the semester. Writing in a blog is an easy, stress-free way to express ideas and I believe it led to some good breakthroughs. It was a good outlet to sharing ideas, and the comments from others helped make it more successful.