Facilitating Learning

I don't know about all of you, but I think I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Spring semester!  Only five weeks left!  Last week we discussed facilitating learning and one of the major things we talked about was learning styles.  There are seven different learning styles that are the most common.  Among these seven styles the two I use the most are Bodily/kinesthetic and Musical/rhythmic intelligence.

I really enjoy exercising, being healthy, and learn about health issues.  Therefore, when something can be intertwined with those areas I understand them better.  When I can study while exercising or relating what I am learning to health I understand it the first time instead of having to go over what I am studying a hundred times.   Now for Musical/rhythmic intelligence I have always loved dancing and singing (even though I am not good at singing).  For many years of my life dance/twirling has been a big focus for me, which is probably why things come easier to me if I can put it into a routine to a rhythm.  An example of this is when I had to learn the bones of the body I made a song up with all the names and how they are connected.  Now when I am studying having country or music with no words playing softly in the background makes it easy for me to concentrate and learn what I need to faster.  Also if I can’t concentrated I give myself a little break to go twirl, when I come back I can focus a lot better.

Remembering that there are at least seven different ways to learn is important, because in our classes next semester we will probably have every one of those learning styles represented.  I hope everybody had a good start to their week and are looking forward to working on our digit storytelling project this evening! J

Commutating!!

Communicating can make or break a relationship which is why I feel that I communicate with different people in different ways.  With professors and people I work with I communicate in a professional way through e-mails and face to face talking.  When it comes to talking with friends and family I am very open and I communicate in all ways, face-to-face, e-mail, and facebook, whichever way is the easiest.  With both the professional and close people in my life I find that communicating face to face is what I prefer to do.  When I am communicated with people I find it very helpful to be able to see the body and facial expressions they have.  I will be communicating with my students face to face, so I know what they are actually thinking instead of just what they can think up to write down in an e-mail or blog.

Now for the tweeting we had to do this past week, I am not sure I like the fact that we were told we had to tweet 20 times.  Some people may not like to share as most about themselves as others on a daily bases.  Some may say that those individuals need to open up more, because you many need to does this later in a job, however not everybody is going to in a  job that communicates that way.  Some people are in a career that only involves talking face to face, e-mailing, and blogging.   I, myself found tweeting fun and different, I have never really changed a status that many times in a week.   I do feel though that it is good for students to learn about twitter and try it.  I think that figuring out a game to play would be the best way to get students excited about twitter and help them get the experience they need with it.

Yay for Diversity!!

This week we covered diversity!  First we had a lesson taught by Cory and Jenna, they did a great job!  Then on Friday we went to ISCORE it was great!! I wish I could have gone to Zach’s and Allie’s sessions but couldn’t, I hear they did great though!! 

My first session was Minority Student Athlete Experiences at a Predominately White Institution was great!  It was fun to hear about how athletes from all over talked about coming to Iowa State and what it was like coming to a school that has mostly white students.  It was very interesting to hear first hand from some of the student athletes about their experiences on the campus and on the court or field.  A couple things they all had in common were, they didn’t like the snow, they thought Iowa State as a community was very friendly, and not being white was not a problem.  They are proud of where they came from and that has made coming to Iowa State a great choice from each of them.

I decided to stay for the Keynote speaker who was John Carlos, he was great!  He was one of two USA team members at the 1968 Olympics who raised a fist in pride causing political controversy and a long journey of hard times for him and his teammate.  However, Mr. Carlos used this journey to make a difference.  He now goes all over talking about his journey and helping individuals find a path of their own.  Listening to Mr. Carlos was very inspirational he discussed how God tells each of us where we are going, all we have to do is be ready.  God’s journey for Mr. Carlos was to stand up for his rights along with all black’s rights.   He stood up for what he believed was important, which is why people like Mr. Carlos and Rosa Parks were able to make a difference.  They made a difference because they were not afraid to stand out which is something we could all learn from.  Standing up for differences instead of looking down on them is important.  One last quote from Mr. Carlos that sums up diversity is “one person’s ego can destroy a colony.”   We each need to remember that the next time we are going to say/do something that could hurt somebody else.