Social Networks

In a perfect world, meaning no existence of social media site blocks at school, one way that I would incorporate social networking into the classroom would be to create a private Facebook page for each class. On this private page assignments would be posted and student responses and debates would be encouraged. Being private, only the students in that particular class can view and add to the posts. Still staying with Facebook, I think if the students created a student page where they could follow industry professionals or authors or associations that could offer beneficial information that would add to the topics being studied it would broaden their avenues of research. Of course, as a teacher I would have to have some control over who they were "friends" with and what groups the liked. Another way to incorporate social networking would be to create a class Twitter account where updates, assignments, and announcements could be posted for the class. I'm not so sure that I would encourage students to do research on Twitter because I don't think they can learn very much due to the limited number of characters in each post but I do think it's a great way to post important updates, deadlines and assignments.

Always Be Real (Not Just Relevant)

This chapter was hard for me to grasp. I realize that teaching for the future is crucial, that it's more than just curriculum. It's real life experiences that are going to make the biggest impact on a student. I know that I retain so much more when it's hands on and not everyone is like that. Some can just read a book and it sticks, how lucky are they!! I can read the same chapter three times on how to create a blog and never remember anything or I can listen to some instruction on it while actually creating one and it's retained. I can think of several ways that real is more important than relevant, especially in the Ag. classroom. I think that today's students, especially students with an Ag. background, seem to have a much better understanding of real life circumstances than I did when I was in high school. Maybe it's because they're exposed to so much more than I was. I think it's crucial to base every lesson around real life circumstance. It's easier for the kids to grasp, and I also think it would be easier to teach.

Think People & Passion rather than Classes & Content

This chapter spoke a lot to me. I find it interesting that it takes a book to stress the importance of learning more about your students as individuals, rather than as a classroom. I suppose it would be easy to get in a rut of teaching the planned curriculum and never breaking out of the box but I just don't see myself taking that route. Maybe it's because I'm wanting to teach Agriculture, a topic that I'm so passionate about and has given me so much in my life. Or maybe it's because I'm wanting to inspire kids the way my Ag. teacher did. I used to look forward to Ag. class, I couldn't wait for the school year to get started because that meant I'd get to start judging. I was fortunate to have two really great Ag. teachers, both with polar opposite teaching methods but both equally inspiring. They both knew how to help me find out what I was passionate about and what I wanted to do when I "grew up" and that meant a lot to me, it still does today. I just hope I can do the same for the kids that I will have the good fortune to be teaching.

Productivity Applications: Prezi and Google Docs

I'm so bummed that I missed last class! Thanks to a great friend though, I had some awesome notes to try to create my own Prezi. When it comes to technology I don't normally like to try new things, especially without plenty of help, but creating my first Prezi was easy and so much fun! I even took the idea to work with me and pitched it to my office. We're in the middle of creating training modules for the other branches and so far we've been creating them in PowerPoint. When I showed my manager's the Prezi website and discussed the possibilities of how we could incorporate our training into Prezi presentations they jumped on the idea. They all felt the same way I did; that Prezi's were far more interactive and entertaining to view. For lack of a better word, Prezi's are "way cooler" than PowerPoint! Aside from how they could be incorporated at work, the possibilities of how they can be used in the classroom are endless. I think that the way they transition from slide to slide and the neat graphics would capture a classroom's attention far quicker than a PowerPoint or any other form of presentation. In short, I’m sold on Prezi and don’t think I’ll be creating presentations is any other program ever again!

CowTales or BS: A Glimpse Into My Everyday Life