Learning throughout the semester

This semester has been pretty great considering I’m not the most artistic person. I really enjoyed learning about all the different ways to present and come up with new ways of letting students be creative in the classroom. There were some great resources that as future teachers, I feel need to be implemented in the classroom. It not only allows us to come up with different ways of teaching, but brings some fun into the classroom. But by far the biggest thing in my opinion is all the resources are able to reach different students in the non-typical way.

Ted talks and podcast alike are great ways in letting our auditory learners soak in what is being taught at the time. And same goes for any of our visual create stuff, it allows students who learn visually and by actually doing something hands on learn as well. I’m definitely going to have to check my blogs to recap on what we learned in the class and give me some ideas in the future.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of blogs at first, I’ll be honest, but the more I did them the more I came to enjoy them. I thought they were a cool way of sharing with everyone your thoughts, and not the same old boring forums or Microsoft word post. I think blogging would be a good idea to bring into the classroom in general. It allows students to talk and have conversation over the internet during a topic, or on their own time. I don’t know about the younger grades, it would be interesting to try but I think older grades could benefit from blogs.

As a teacher and even as a person, I think its always important to keep learning. We are at an amazing time where we can literally look anything up that we want to and usually find what we are looking for. And as a teacher you should try to encourage kids to do the same, and become lifelong learners. They need to be shown how amazing it is, to learn about anything they want to learn about on their own time and in the classroom. And as technology progresses it’s a great way

Elephant in the room

I found the article to be very well put, and I can agree with everything that was said about the elephants in the room. I know that when I was going through school, I learned what was needed to be learned such as reading, basic math, basic science and so on but other than that much did not stick. And yet here I am today doing just fine and not knowing the algebraic expression for compound interest. I think we should focus more on the basic stuff that children need to know and encourage them to do learn what they find most interesting to them.

School is a place for learning, but sadly most learning is shoved down students throats and they are expected to regurgitate facts that they have no interest in learning. Now I’m not saying schooling is completely at a loss cause. Students are obviously doing well and learning things that are very important for real life. But I do think that some things need to change if we want to have students fall in love with learning.

I myself choose elementary education, just because I could not justify teaching high school classes. When I was going through high school I’m not sure I learned a whole lot, if anything. Most things we went over in high school were irrelevant and were of no interest to me. So, I decided to go with elementary education where I did learn a lot of useful things that apply to everyday life. And I hope as a teacher I am able to teach my students how to make effective use of their learning and hopefully show them just how awesome learning can be especially if you find something that you are passionate about.

I’m not sure that our educational system is setting kids up for success out in the real world as well. In China students know what they are doing by middle school age, they either go into the labor force or continue their learning. I don’t necessarily agree with this approach but I do think students should be more encouraged to find what they love doing the older they get. And instead of making them go to college or the workforce, help them find something they would truly enjoy doing for the rest of their lives.

My digital story

When looking up how to do this I was pretty excited. It was very difficult for me to get the voice over working though. I did get it working on my laptop but when i sent it to myself it wouldnt play. So hopefully you all can hear it, enjoy!

 

https://app.biteable.com/watch/presentation-1-1863522/

Final ILP

Its been quit the eye opening journey since I first started my ILP. I think its important for people everywhere to educate themselves on different cultures and their backgrounds. Not necessarily their religious ideologies, but they way they differ in contrast to western society. I choose religion because it fascinates me, and can be very cool to learn about without judgement. What was really thought provoking for me was how and where you grow up has a gigantic impact on how you go about living your life and what you believe.

If you grow up in the eastern part of the world, you may follow one of the Abrahamic traditions. But predominately you would tend to follow traditions more along the lines of Hinduism and Buddhism. There are similarities between most religions that I researched. But one thing I saw that I thought was the major difference between them was there way in thinking of how the universe came to be.

I think the two main differences between eastern and western thought is the eastern philosophy of how we got here was we came out of this planet. And by that i mean this planet and this solar system “grows” people. As in western thought is more of a ceramic view of the world. We tend to believe that this world along with us was made or forged by a creator. That is definitely not all peoples thinking, but I think as a general consensus that is the way it is for most.

It is extremely hard to study religions all around the world. It takes years to fully understand even one. I grew up christian and I still find things out to this day about the religion I was taught growing up. So when trying to learn deeply about any other tradition or culture would definitely take more time then allotted.

I really enjoyed this journey, and it was honestly mind opening. I think its important to keep an open mind when trying to learn about anything. And try to get rid of any judgement you have, especially when dealing with something like religion. Most people in this day and age heavily identify with their religious background, and most the time not in a bad way. It just doesn’t leave them with any room to accept others points of view, which can lead to bad things to happen.

My graphic visual

I found creating the graphic visual to be fun. It was a great way to be creative and kind of just come up with your own thing when working on it. I like how you can come up with a presentation or really anything that has to do with a project and make it however you want. There were a lot of options when creating what you want to which i thought was great. It was pretty easy to navigate and it comes with a quick tutorial on how to go about creating what you want, which i thought was great.

With that being said, Im not sure that younger grades would benefit as much. Because i think it may be difficult for them to create something and navigate it. I could see 5th graders maybe 4th graders depending on what you have assigned them. But i think it would be a great use in the classroom. It gets away from the traditional powerpoint and Prezi and allows students to be more creative and have fun doing it.

My visual was simple but I enjoyed creating it and it thought it was cool that you could print it right there after you were done doing it. If I were to put it up I feel like I could in my classroom. Because it represent all religious figures and symbols, and it not predominately one.

If i were to incorporate it into the classroom I would do so with higher grade levels. But I would definitely encourage them to make it however they wanted to with emphasis on individuality. I like how they have freedom of what to do and how to go about doing it. There are a lot of options when creating what you want to which i thought was great. It was pretty easy to navigate and it comes with a quick tutorial on how to go about creating what you want, which i thought was great.

Digital stories

I have always been a big fan of podcast. I listen to them quit often actually. I find that they can be very informational and fun to listen to depending on who is talking and about what. I honestly think that podcast and digital stories are awesome. Now trying to incorporate them into the classroom won’t be the easiest thing to do. But i think they could be very beneficial. With podcast students are able to look up any subject that they find interesting, and i think that is awesome. Instead of teaching them what they need to learn, with podcast students are able to learn what they want to learn.

I personally go through podcast that intrigue me, whether it be about religion, sports, science, new discoveries, or whatever it may be I can always find one that interest me. They are great resources for teachers as well. They have a lot of podcast that teachers can use, and apply to the classroom. Which i think is awesome, because it just go to show that there are uses for everyone.

As for digital stories I am not as familiar with these. But after reading the articles i could see how they could benefit the classroom. I thought they were an awesome idea because it allows students to express themselves and learn a lot while doing it. I really like how they can use all digital platforms such as video, music, text, and animation. By doing this it not only gets students to write more creatively, but it allows them to learn what they need to more intrinsically in my opinion.

I really like the idea of using both podcast, and digital stories in the classroom. With that being said i think teachers need to be careful about how much they use them in the classroom. Going through high school chemistry I had a teacher use only podcast when teaching a new subject. So i do think they are a great idea in moderation, and can be used very beneficially if used right.

Jainism

Jainism started around 3000 BCE and is considered one of the oldest religion, and philosophies in the world. Jainism is hard for me to explain in depth, I don’t fully understand it but I will try to do my best. Jainism is not your typical religion, they do not believe in God or Gods. They say that matter came from nowhere and is going nowhere, that matter is all there is and all there ever will be. They believe that all there is in this universe is souls, matter, and the universe.

Jainist believe in one universe, and they say that all there is, is this one universe. They say that there are two forces of “life”. One being called Jiva, and Jiva is the eternal soul. For every animal, insect, and human there is eternal soul that occupies all of them and that every soul is eternal. The other life force they believe in is called Ajiva, which consist of matter, time and space. And they say that because of this there are certain laws that govern the universe and if you follow these rules and live by them then you can be free from this world. When I say free, Jainist say that once you have liberated your soul you can join the eternal universe and be free of human form or any form of that matter, and this is called Moksha.

An interesting little fact i found after doing some research was that Jainist were the ones who originally used the swastika. Now don’t get the wrong idea, they used it as a sign of peace and was originally a Sanskrit word that meant good fortune. And each tip of the swastika represent a different life form of which your soul can enter into the world. Like I said before, they do not believe in a God, but if you play your cards right your soul can enter this world as a Godly form the next time around and get closer to Moksha.

Ill be honest Jainism was a hard religion for me to comprehend, and may take a little more devotion than a couple of hours looking through videos and articles. But if you are interested in learning more here is a great short little video that helped me out a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0LxwiFXOOU

 

H. (2016, August 27). Jainism 101: Religions in Global History. Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0LxwiFXOOU

(n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/PHIL_of_RELIGION_TEXT/CHAPTER_2_RELIGIONS/Jainism.htm

(n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://www.jainworld.com/jainbooks/Books/EXPLAIN.htm

Mindful use

When it comes to using social media and other internet sources to waste time, our generation are experts at it. After watching the video about quitting the internet and reading the articles it’s clear that the internet can be as bad as it is good. Many people now a days use the internet to get away from their daily lives, and “take a break” from reality. But after reading “Why You Feel Terrible After Spending Too Much Time On Facebook” its clear that it does not work. And its not just facebook that makes people feel like they are wasting their lives, its really anything else you use to fill up your time when you have down time.

I catch myself doing it every so often, and I am definitely guilty of using social media when I get bored. But I really do try to make it a minimum when I use social media such as instagram and facebook. It is easier said then done, but after I use social media I feel like I need to do something productive. Personally I notice myself get bored, and the next thing i know I have been scrolling through videos on facebook, or seen everything on instagram that has been posted. When I notice this I either put my phone down and be productive or I will go onto youtube and look up videos that interest me, and try to learn from them. I actually find that to be very helpful, I have only started doing this for a couple of months now. But when I get really bored and don’t know what else to do I figure I might as well learn something that I find of interest. Whether it be of religions, or how to hurdle better, it really doesn’t make that much of a difference as long as it peaks my interest.

I really like the article on bored and brilliant. And if you sit there and really think about it, how else would you become creative if you were never bored? I mean if your mind is being constantly stimulated by an outside source such as the internet, there is no reason for it to come up with anything out of the ordinary. And I find that pretty profound, so the next time I get bored I suppose Ill just there in silence and let my mind do its thing.

Heres a great video that brings mind fullness and technology:

Sikhism

After doing some research Sikhism was another major religion I came across and an interesting one at that. It has over 20 million followers world wide, and is the 5th largest religion in the world today. It began in 1499 in Punjab, India after Guru Nanaak went for a ritual cleanse and claimed God gave him words of wisdom. The main point behind this religion is saying that there are no Muslims or Hinduist, but that there is only God.

The Siks believe in two tenants the Sewa and Simeran. One is in devotion to God. When i say devotion I mean that they believe they need to kneel before God, and pray before God. They do not believe in labeling God any certain way, meaning in Gender or physical appearance. They say that there is no way of really knowing fully of what God is. Now Simeran is another big part of Sikhism and it has to do with humanity. Siks believe  contributing to your fellow humans is almost as important as paying homage to God.

Another major part of this religion is called Maya. Maya consist of Ego, Anger, Lust, Greed, and attachment. They think that all of these are what is wrong with the world today, and respectively so.  And to get rid of these things, they follow more toward the Hinduist and Buddhist philosophy of looking inward. And discovering the “Universal truth” that resides in each and everyone of us.

When it comes to heaven to and hell they don’t believe in this either. What they do believe is in reincarnation. They say that there is a way to escape this planet and join the heavens but one must be spiritually free in order to do so. And by contributing to humanity they are able to connect more to God on a spiritual level and kill the ego. They do not believe in converting people to their religion, but in fact helping others and help them connect to their religious beliefs.

Sikhs name all of their children in a certain way. They open up their bible and choose the first letter of the first word on that page and that is what the childs name will start with. And if the child is a boy they will have a certain last name, and so will the girl of the family. They do this to keep the Sikh family close. If your interested in learning more heres a great video that may help.

 

Religions – Sikhism: Sikh Beliefs. (2009, September 24). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/beliefs/beliefs.shtml

SIKHISM: Beliefs, paractices, symbol, names. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from http://www.religioustolerance.org/sikhism2.htm

Digital Activism

After reading the articles I found digital activism to be very neat. I can’t say I have ever took part in digital activism or any activism for that matter. But i think its an amazing idea for many reasons. Everyone now a days uses the internet across the globe. And by using digital activism people from all over the world are able to voice their opinion about something that they care about. With digital activism becoming a more common thing, I think people are going to start to see big changes in the things they believe is right. If you think about the early days, say the 1950’s people were becoming activist within a community or country and not really getting a say from any where else in the world. But with the web people from all over the world are now able to fight for what they believe in.

I really like the story about the workers in India who were affected by the Mercury poisoning. This story alone shows how powerful the internet is to humanity. By spreading across the globe and getting everyone including some celebraties attention. The 6 activist functions says that as digital activist they are only capable of 6 different things including, Shape public opinion, Plan an action, Protect activist, Share a call to action, Take action digitally, and transfer resources. Now the author of this website says that its limited on what activist can do. But after reading it i would have to say that even if it is limited people are still able to make a big impact if enough people do it.

Teachers for example are huge into activism. And rightfully so, they need to be able to voice their opinion. I mean the fate of our nations youth is in all of our hands, and when collectively looking out is a major deal. And with the internet teachers are able to make the change they want. I recently saw teachers protesting on the news wanting more money for teaching, and they ended up getting what they were protesting for. But more teachers found out through the web, which helped their case out tremendously. In my opinion internet activism is important and needs to be utilized.

Great video about internet activism.