This will probably be one of the toughest discussions to partake in for me. First of all, when I found out that we were going to be talking about school shootings, I immediately thought about Columbine. I have read Wikipedia's posting about Columbine before but it was a while back. It is mind boggling to think about how these situations happen. Therefor, I pulled the website up again and typed in Columbine high school massacre in the search box. The very same, detailed article popped up and I found myself reading again, every word of this event that happened in 1999. This article describes in detail to the minute, the events that took place on this terrible day. It also describes the details that took place months prior leading up to the day. I have to say that I was as disturbed recently as I was the first time I read this article. it has pictures of the school and video images of these two boys in the school with students laying on the ground at the feet of these individuals. Again, it is very disturbing.
So, reading this article and how these individuals were planning this event through web postings and journal entries, it made me wonder what it takes to stop a situation like this from happening. In reality, I believe that is would be very tough to actually spot and prevent one individual from doing what they feel is the way out. With that, I am going to go another route with this discussion. After considering what it takes to actually stop these events, I want to ask the question of why we don't have a class to prepare students of these circumstances. This is a very real situation and obviously can never be overlooked. I honestly believe that it would be in the best interests of a student, if it were to be required that students take a mandatory class where they are taught about how these situations can occur and if so, what to do. I can't of think of any problems with this which is why I am bringing it up in this class. Again, this is a very terrible thing but a very real matter. Why not let students of this campus, as well as many other campuses know that this is a situation that can happen and can be somewhat prepared for?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
"The Electronic Bathroom Wall"
First of all, I stole this title from the first year Dean of Students at Colgate University as she uses this phrase to describe the onoing gossip columns that circulate the internet about different universities' campus life. Well, I found this article on Ebsco Host and refuse to post the different quotes regarding the website's material that article is in fact referring to. The website that the article, "Anonymous Gossip Sites" is referring to is www.collegeacb.com. Again, I would not encourage you to go to this website. However, I found it appropiate to mention this site's presence and ask about it's content and if it was in the realm of free speech. As far as the people that are actually on this site posting, their names and personal information is not available making the posts anonymous.
Peter Frank is a sophmore at Wesleyan University where he is the actual creator of this website. He is a 19 year old running this website out of his dorm room. He has in fact gotten numerous emails from hundreds of students and multiple administrations from different universities about the taking down of certain posts and ultimately the deleting of an entire school's category. He refuses to do so stating that he is looking out for the best interests of college students, and not of universities.
I found that this website's material revolved around racism and sexism and was very offensive.
As for now, Peter is not obligated to take the website down and is "untouchable," as he says. The article claims that Universities are fighting this website's content. Students at North Carolina Central University are protesting by boycotting all of the similar webisites. Colleges are creating workshops to encourage students to stray away from this situation. Millsaps College has gone so far as blocking these websites from their school's computers. So as far as I can tell, the websites are still going with little signs of shutting down. My argument would be that there is a limit to free speech and the right to harm other individuals vocally.
Peter Frank is a sophmore at Wesleyan University where he is the actual creator of this website. He is a 19 year old running this website out of his dorm room. He has in fact gotten numerous emails from hundreds of students and multiple administrations from different universities about the taking down of certain posts and ultimately the deleting of an entire school's category. He refuses to do so stating that he is looking out for the best interests of college students, and not of universities.
I found that this website's material revolved around racism and sexism and was very offensive.
As for now, Peter is not obligated to take the website down and is "untouchable," as he says. The article claims that Universities are fighting this website's content. Students at North Carolina Central University are protesting by boycotting all of the similar webisites. Colleges are creating workshops to encourage students to stray away from this situation. Millsaps College has gone so far as blocking these websites from their school's computers. So as far as I can tell, the websites are still going with little signs of shutting down. My argument would be that there is a limit to free speech and the right to harm other individuals vocally.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Motivation
Last week, I wanted to write a sort of discussion topic on motivation of a college student. I wanted to see what others thought about the regular college students mind set of going to class. Like I stated, I was forced to go to class and never really experienced the freedom that others do. Anyways, I found this website of teacher's expectations and a strategy guide to actually making class enjoyable enough for students to actively participate on a regular basis.
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/motiv.htm
This site is referenced by many different articles and leads me to believe that it is very useful. I know nothing about what it takes to manage a classroom but feel that this website is an excellent resourse for teachers and professors.
"Some students seem naturally enthusiastic about learning, but many need-or expect-their instructors to inspire, challenge, and stimulate them: "Effective learning in the classroom depends on the teacher's ability ... to maintain the interest that brought students to the course in the first place" (Ericksen, 1978, p. 3). Whatever level of motivation your students bring to the classroom will be transformed, for better or worse, by what happens in that classroom."
This is the opening statement which summarizes the entire piece. From what I gathered, students are compelled to learn with the simple strategy of a professor's challenging tasks. This could either mean physically or mentally. I can relate to this. I am not going to be as enthused to write down every word of a lecture or powerpoint as I am if I were engaged to the material. I believe that a more hands on presentation or class in general would be much more useful. Also, the atmosphere of the classroom is a major factor. Most students are willing to learn if everyone around them is learning. If 85 % of a class is daydreaming and not listening, whats to say if I would.
I found that an instuctor's structure of a class is very key. This made a lot of sense to me. A professor should let the the students have some or little say so in the material that is going to be studied. A student is going to learn what he or she wants to learn and by giving them a little freedom, could be very useful. Certain limitations should obviously be there. An instuctor should make the material more and more difficult as the semester moves on. This is an obvious goal that I have found in many of my undergraduate classes. Lastly, an instuctor should mix up their teaching techniques. When I thought about this, it made a lot of sense to me as a change can always be good. The same everyday methods can get old and a change of pace could be very refreshing.
The de-emphasizing of grades is something that I have never heard of. By simply letting the students know that the learning of the material is the most important thing, the grades will increase. I found that not using grades as a threat can be very useful. My whole life, it has been if I don't make the grade, I will be punished. Well, by putting more emphasis on the acutally learning of the material, students can have that pressure limited.
All in all, this was a good site for my thoughts and is very useful for what a professor should be doing. I found it very informative and helpful in my thought process of what students and teachers are doing.
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/motiv.htm
This site is referenced by many different articles and leads me to believe that it is very useful. I know nothing about what it takes to manage a classroom but feel that this website is an excellent resourse for teachers and professors.
"Some students seem naturally enthusiastic about learning, but many need-or expect-their instructors to inspire, challenge, and stimulate them: "Effective learning in the classroom depends on the teacher's ability ... to maintain the interest that brought students to the course in the first place" (Ericksen, 1978, p. 3). Whatever level of motivation your students bring to the classroom will be transformed, for better or worse, by what happens in that classroom."
This is the opening statement which summarizes the entire piece. From what I gathered, students are compelled to learn with the simple strategy of a professor's challenging tasks. This could either mean physically or mentally. I can relate to this. I am not going to be as enthused to write down every word of a lecture or powerpoint as I am if I were engaged to the material. I believe that a more hands on presentation or class in general would be much more useful. Also, the atmosphere of the classroom is a major factor. Most students are willing to learn if everyone around them is learning. If 85 % of a class is daydreaming and not listening, whats to say if I would.
I found that an instuctor's structure of a class is very key. This made a lot of sense to me. A professor should let the the students have some or little say so in the material that is going to be studied. A student is going to learn what he or she wants to learn and by giving them a little freedom, could be very useful. Certain limitations should obviously be there. An instuctor should make the material more and more difficult as the semester moves on. This is an obvious goal that I have found in many of my undergraduate classes. Lastly, an instuctor should mix up their teaching techniques. When I thought about this, it made a lot of sense to me as a change can always be good. The same everyday methods can get old and a change of pace could be very refreshing.
The de-emphasizing of grades is something that I have never heard of. By simply letting the students know that the learning of the material is the most important thing, the grades will increase. I found that not using grades as a threat can be very useful. My whole life, it has been if I don't make the grade, I will be punished. Well, by putting more emphasis on the acutally learning of the material, students can have that pressure limited.
All in all, this was a good site for my thoughts and is very useful for what a professor should be doing. I found it very informative and helpful in my thought process of what students and teachers are doing.
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