Distance Education

Distance education has several benefits, but also several disadvantages attached to it. Specifically, for the self-directed and self-motivated learner, one advantage of participating in an online classroom environment would be that they could learn at their own pace, and in their own timing, without being held back by students who are at a lower level of understanding than them. I think a somewhat common problem within the classroom is that students who are at a higher level than their peers, can become bored and disinterested in the material because they don't feel any kind of challange. However, with distance learning, that type of student would be able to learn new material at their own pace, so that they are constantly engaged.
Although distance education could be a positive thing for certain types of students, there are also many draw-backs. Distance learning, for example, looses several of the essential elements of a student being present in an actual classroom, interacting face-to-face with their teacher and peers. So much of learning happens in those personal and frequent interactions: students asking eachother questions and bouncing ideas off of one another, students being able to ask the teacher for help when they don't understand something, etc. For a learner who is not self-motivated and self-directed, the distance learning environment could be more of a hindrance than a positive thing.

Creation of a Kiosk

Creating a kiosk on Powerpoint was an interesting and educational experience. When the project was first introduced, I felt overwhelmed having had no previous experience with the program. But after testing out the different elements of the program, combined with my minimal experience with powerpoint, I felt more at ease and excited to begin.
A couple different elements of the project were tricky at first, but rewarding in the end. The first was the process of embedding a video into my actual presentation. After researching for about an hour, and watching several different youtube "how to" videos, I finally figured out how to do it. There were a couple instances when I felt like giving up on having a video in my presentation because it was so frustrating to figure out, but I'm glad I stuck it out. It not only added a great deal to the final product, but now I know how to do it for the future!
This project was useful in several different ways, and will be a great resource for my own classroom. I could see myself using this program in the future, especially considering it incorporates all three of the learning styles: audio, visual, and kinesthetic. It is highly interactive and gives students the opportunity to take ownership over their learning. I feel like I'm walking away from this project with a great deal of practical knowledge and skill, and am excited to incorporate this same technology into my own classroom.

Creation of a TeacherWeb

Creating my own teacher website was both enjoyable and challenging. It was fun to explore and become more familiar with the different elements that go into making a TeacherWeb, since someday I will need to make my own and will have already had lots of prior experience! It was also fun to add my own creativity to the website, experimenting with what my own site may potentially have included when I have my own classroom. Although for the most part developing the TeacherWeb was a positive experience, it was challenging as well--the internet is not always a reliable medium! After working for hours researching different online resources to include in the "web resources" category on my website, the site crashed, along with 3 hours worth of effort and labor. Frustrating at first, it immediately dawned on me that when I someday have my own classroom, I will be faced with similar problems--and I will have to improvise! The teaching world leaves very little room for empathy and excuses, you just have to get the work done. So--after hours of doing and RE-doing portions of my website, exploring teaching resources that I hadn't before, and having learned a few important lessons about the life of a teacher, creating the TeacherWeb was a positive experience!

Multiple Intelligences Inventory

What did you discover about yourself?
The intelligences that I had the highest scores in were "existential" and "intrapersonal," both of which I feel are pretty accurate. The next highest score I had was "musical" which is something I wouldn't have ever considered before taking this questionnaire, but has definitely always been a passion of mine (even though I'm not very musically-inclined). Each of the questions, I thought, were intuitive and easy to either give a score or not.

How might this info be useful to you as a teacher?
Knowing my own strengths, or the areas I'm "smart in," and also having a working knowledge of each of the other intelligences will benefit me a great deal as a teacher. Each student will be unique and different, possessing distinct and individual qualities, and so knowing the intelligences will help me to not only invest in them as people, but also gear each of my instructions/lessons to their different characteristics.