Head

Head
Originally uploaded by cdevo.

hmmm, this is emblemmatic of the lack of clarity I sometimes feel when trying to balance needs of students in the class with the original structure and intent of the course as designed.

Making the switch from instructivist teaching to learner-centered teaching is a process and definitely not a linear upwards progression.

One of the texts I have been referring to is Brookfield's, Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (1995). It is from Brookfield that I took the CIQ that I am using for the first time. Brookfield goes on to talk about the purposes of reflection: "The first is to understand how considerations of power undergird, frame and distort educational processes and interactions. The second is to question assumptions and practices that seem to make our teaching lives easier but actually work against our own best long-term interests" (p. 8).

4 polaroids

4 polaroids
Originally uploaded by themexican.

I love this idea! I bet it could be used as part of an assignment in a K-12 classroom in any number of ways.
The guy who took the photos talks about the realization that things change so quickly and are transitory, so he thought it would be an interesting project to record images of himself every day over a period of time (a year?). Then he would be able to go back and notice changes. You will want to click on the image itself and read his words to get his original thinking because he explains it much better than I.

Amazing

how long it takes to play around with a new tool, or not even a new tool. I find that the nature of the Internet is such that it easily caters to those of use who like to skip around from link to link and/or get easily distracted. I find that I am much more likely to get totally engrossed with working online than I am in watching television (although not more so than a good book).

But I wanted to set up this new blog for myself since creating and keeping a blog is one of the assignments for students in my class. I thought it would be informative for me to record some of my thoughts about how the course is going.

2nd February 2005

2nd February 2005
Originally uploaded by Paul Watson.

Effective course design and pedagogy seem to me like this wheel -  simple yet complex and interwoven. And if done corectly can lead both the teacher and the learner to new and different places. Like the use of the wheel.