Web Site critiques

I must say last class was pretty cool with the web site critiques. I thought all of the sites critiqued had at least a few things that could be extremely valuable to a teacher. I was also a little sad about my newadvent.org site. I knew it was a boring site, but after seeing everyone elses, I realized how dull it really is. But I do stick by my presentation. It is an extremely valuable site for any religion teacher (at high school level) or to anyone searching for articles on ANYTHING related to the Catholic faith (in particular). This site is a tremendous resource and has been for me for many years. I think if the site's creator spent the time to add visuals, it could get distracting. I guess each site has to be taken for what it is. This site is a Catholic reference site, that is it basically.
I am glad I wrote down the other sites that were presented. I plan on book marking them and trying to use them when and if possible in future classes. Granted I doubt I will use the sites geared at younger people at the high school level.
One thing that did strike me was the fact that (I think) many people, when asked how they found their website, replied by random searching. I realize this is many times a fun and entertaining aspect of the web, but are there education sites that are like a hub for these sites? I know there are sites like this for many topics, but is finding them another case of googling them?
Another point: Obviously, technology and the web is the way to go with education among many things, but what about over reliance on technology. Today, at the high school where I teach, the power went out for most of the town in the middle of the day. The school was actually dismissed early because of it. My issue is with my perception of an overload of technology via powerpoint presentations (to name one). What ever happened to a good old fashioned lecture where students have to listen and pay close attention to what the teacher is saying. I have found so far this year many students have been belly aching that I have not done a power point presentation, that I have not explained things clearly, blah blah blah. My perception is that most of these complaints are made without the students even giving any given lecture a chance. I have been tuned out, I think, at times solely on that basis. The truly aggravating factor is that I pride myself in the ability to explain concepts in many different ways. First I usually try straight lecture, then try to tie in previous concepts (flashback with the class and then bring them back to current concept), and give some type of contemporary example that is similar. To me all strategies used by many teachers. Do not get me wrong, I am not against the technology aspect at all. It is just frustrating being tuned out at times simply because I am not some colorful display on a screen or smart board.

Surprise Prof.Luongo course

I know I am a little late with what I going to say, but it still holds true. First off, I was very happy and excited to walk into our first class and see Dr. Luongo as our instructor. For those of you in class that have not had the pleasure, she is great. Very energetic, helpful, and just plain fun to have as an instructor. We will have plenty of work to keep us busy, but it probably won't seem like it. I was also very happy to see familiar faces from past and present classes. Hopefully the familiar faces will make the class AND blogging easier and more productive.

Surprise Prof.Luongo course

our class

I have to say this class has been extremely enjoyable. Right from day one, the comfort level has allowed for some enlightening discussions. Professor Luongo has been very helpful and very prepared. A very admirable trait. I think her approach and methods have been excellent. A nice balance of riddles, exercises, handouts, power point presentations, and open class discussions. The little notes of disobedience were a bit of a twist first time around for me, but obviously have become a nice excuse for the class to act and act up. Not sure how I will handle that tomorrow, but we shall see. I have watered my reading plans down a bit from Gnosticism and the Gospel of Mary. Having clear cut responsibilities for our grades was great. There really could be no doubt of the requirements thanks to Professor's thoroughness. The online resources were amazing. So many links!
I think I have mentioned in class discussion about class atmosphere. I genuinely believe if a student feels comfortable, they will not only have a better chance of learning, but a greater desire to want to learn. In my years of schooling, as with probably everyone, I remember the good and the bad. In college for instance, I had a professor for a course on the Gospels. This professor was like an encyclopedia, but it was very dry. I did learn information, but that is ALL it seemed like. On the flip side, another religion professor had the same level of knowledge of the subject. The course was on Eastern religions. But his personality and enthusiasm made me desire to learn more. At one point in class he was even chanting. Any man that would chat in front of undergraduate students must love what he is doing.
Students at all levels can sense when a teacher really enjoys what they are doing. And who would turn down a chance to be in on something that enjoyable. This cannot be forced. I have found the more sincere, enthusiastic, and open a teacher/professor has been, the more enjoyable the class has been. This class has been one of them.
It has been quite obvious everyone has enjoyed the class and taken many valuable lessons from it. I would personally hope to see everyone in the future. Maybe even keeping in touch with emails. Not sure who would be into that but I think it might be nice to keep in touch.
Thanks All

blogging

Ok. I have been slow with my blogs and even slower with my responses...but.
I was hesitant about the whole thing. I genuinely believe this was because of the mindset I have had at my school. I brought this up right away when we discussed blogging. At my school, at times they seemed to go overboard with protecting the school from legal issues. Do not get me wrong, in this day and age when people sue for just about anything, I totally understand there point of view. I think my perception of blogging was more of the Instant Messaging flavor. I imagined things getting off topic or getting inappropriate to the topic at hand.
In recent years the school where I worked did set up a web site where teachers could post there overall schedule, assignments, tests/quizzes. It was fairly easy to access for the students and the parents. They were also able to send emails to our school emails with any questions or problems. At times, teachers saw this as a burden. Just one more thing they had to do that would not be necessary if the students did their part and the parents did theirs. This mentality was contagious at times. Not very healthy for people that should be embracing technology. A technology that makes it possible to reach the student and parent in a different way.
Until this class, I never blogged and to be frank, never looked at one. Didn't care to. That has since changed.
My perception of blogging is clearer, I think. And I absolutely see its value and potential. Many things could have been accomplished with a blog for my classes. I have found over the years that many students have tremendous communication skills. I have been impressed and have told my classes. I think if these students had the forum like a blog for my subject, it could simply be one more tool for them.

Another great site

Ok. This site looks great. I honestly find it somewhat familiar. I am not sure if it was mentioned in class or I have looked at it in the past. I search google for classroom decor because I was thinking about an earlier class. It was our class when testing children in a room was discussed. I believe it was regarding children's vocabulary and the actual amount of words they knew and would write down it given a certain amount of time. My question at the time was how would the room they were being testing in appear? Would it be spartan or highly decorated? Thinking back on that class peaked my interest regarding what the internet might have for me.

I personally have never gone overboard with decorating. I would always have some personal pictures on a cork board nearer to my desk near the entrance to my room. I figured students would see these coming in and definitely leaving the class. Simply pictures of my dogs or something I saw on the internet that I thought was amazing or just plain silly. Nothing distasteful of course. This had always proven to be a great ice breaker in the beginning of the school year or the start of a new semester. I would also place around the room religious pictures of the pope, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and of course at least one crucifix. Some discussions were made from these. Students would at times ask about the style of a painting/picture or why someone was portrayed the way they were. Another easy and relevant visual is the crufix and the scientific accuracy of the portrayal.

I have a friend and co-worker that loves to have his students do projects for extra credit. He would then tack many of them on his walls. I often found myself very interested in them. He would sometimes be very clever in his assignments, challenging them to see symbols in Catholicism.

Is there a danger of too much? Could this be more of a distraction then a help?

He tradtionally taught Freshman over the years. Besides the last few years, I have always had older students. I never really tried those types of assignments because early on when I did, the older students showed little interest.

I do, on the other hand, show many pictures from outside sources or print outs. These are rarely on display for long.

I have seen many other teachers' rooms decorated with foundational concepts of English and Foreign Language. I do see the usefulness for those classes, especially language. I would imagine posters with

Any suggestions or comments?

good web site?

I was just doing some broad searches for some ideas for blogs and came across the following site right away: http://www.suite101.com/
I was actually fine tuning a search about religion in film and found a link to this site. Seems decent and maybe useful for all for various purposes. It looks like some interesting articles on relating some well known films to religion. I honestly believe in trying this with religion as much as possible. Most students like to go to the movies or rent them. If I can get them to see deeper into the plot then I have accomplished something. Also they may pursue research on the religious themes. I mentioned in class the movie Constantine with Keanu Reeves. Other good ones are the Star Wars films, the Matrix (ironically very Gnostic) and The Lord of the Ring Trilogy. These to me, at least, are the obvious ones, but finding others can be fun and challenging for me and hopefully the students.
I hope everyone can chime in on this blog in particular with your thoughts/experiences. Thanks

Acting out

Thinking over 12 years of teaching, I have been trying to determine what strategy has "worked" the best for me. Keep in mind I have taught in an all boys Catholic High School. I have taught all levels. Recent years have had me with Sophomores and Seniors. I have tried to teach Scripture, Old and New Testament and Ecclesiology/Church History. At times, as can be imagined, making these subjects interesting to high school students was a challenge. But there has been one approach that has worked consistently. I would first assign readings and review questions provided by textbooks. Discussions involving topics and quizzes/chapter tests were completed. But the key to students retaining information (in my opinion) was acting out main ideas or people. Students or myself would choose an event or a person and re-enact the event or a key moment in a person's life. Corrections during presentations were made when necessary. I truly believe students retain more information after reading something but then applying it to their lives. In the case of Church History or Scripture, role playing is the application.
A side note: I have seen many graduates over the years and almost all of them talk about topics that were "acted out" in class. The other thing they always mention were my personal stories. I believe that is related somewhat. When I would share a personal story the students saw my enthusiasm and became active participants in the story. So the only problem is finding ways to actively involve students. The sooner they are "in the moment" of the subject matter, the quicker and easier they may retain the information.

Stance on Reading

This may be a little after the fact. I had wanted to comment on this in general since 5/28 class. I made a note but have been putting if off. I am glad I have because as we have progressed in our class, I have mentally added some things to my opinion of reading.
Personally I have always enjoye reading for as long as I can remember. I remember having fun reading stories in grammar school in our textbooks. Middle school was the same. But high school was where my reading exploded. It was there that my curiousity had me searching books for answers and links. History was always my favorites subject so I have always loved trying to reasearch links in history. I would always try to research anything I came across. One example: growing up playing baseball and ice hockey, I naturally became a fan of certain teams and athletes. I was the type (and still am) that needed to research the team or professional athlete. I wanted to know as much as I could about them. I would even research different styles of play of certain player positions.
The following is an example of the progression of learning I went through with ice hockey. Bear with me because I will try to bring it back to reading. When I was very young my father took me to a hockey game at Madison Square Garden. I remember being very excited about the game and especially interested in the goalies. I assume this was because I always played pitcher and catcher in baseball and was just an extension of being the center of attention in the game. I had always wanted to be in the most important positions. Perhaps liking the pressure. Almost immediately afterwards, I was looking into books on hockey and goaltending. Soon afterwards, I had my first set of equipment and was going to camps to learn the position better. But throughout my progression through practice, camps, etc. I was also reading about the game and the position. Why did I do that? I personally had a desire to better myself at what I was doing.
Changing gears a little here. There were times when I started the school year I would start the first class (particularly the Church History class) and start a discussion about reading, history, and school in general. I would often point blank ask who likes reading about history and why. The obvious response (it was almost always the same answer) was students liked reading about something if they perceived relevance to their world. But sometimes I would follow that with the question of researching a topic. I would ask if any had researched a favorite band, favorite team, or someone famous they admired. They would usually say they had not.
The question I have after all of my rambling, what forms a student into one that thirsts for that knowledge? I have found it difficult at times in teaching religion to motivate students to read about people and events that happened SO long ago. I have had success with the approach of telling them, these people had the similar problems that we have today.
I have had much success over the years focusing on topics, people and events I personally found interesting. Because of this interest I was able to convey my enthusiasm to the class. Once I did that I would try methodically to show them connections and relevance to their lives.

MyAccess

I first of all have to say, I would have really enjoyed it if the school I taught at for 12 years had everything we went over today in the computer lab. From what I saw I could have probably used it for at least a few things. Over the years, I traditionally would assign note taking of chapters. The students would be able to take their own notes in their own style. I prefer bullet points, but my note taking is another story. They would get credit for completing their notes on time. Also they would be assigned standard questions throughout the text. These questions would be simply review questions on material they took notes on. But, and here is where myaccess could have come in, I think. Within their chapters, the text also had, what I collectively called exercises. They were always at the bottom of the page with a red number assigned to each one. A corresponding red number would be in the text. These exercises would be looking for student opinion responses, but within the subject matter and specific to where the number was in the text. I think having myaccess would have been interesting for the students and myself in that they would have been able to go onto the computer, check assignments, and try rough drafts and fine tune their responses. Granted, these exercises were rarely lengthy essays, but the students would have benefitted from the many features. Also, essays were assigned. One essay assignment I particularly like was on the film The Robe. When I first thought of showing it a few years ago (to my Scripture class, Sophomores) I was very worried because of the age on the movie (1953 if memory serves me correctly). But to my surprise the students I was able to show the film to actually enjoyed the movie and saw the connections I had told them to look for. I would assign them an essay discussing the main characters transformation and move towards Christianity. Once again, I think myaccess would have helped all (including myself) in producing their writings.

Steve

First thoughts

I was thinking about posting something along the lines of how I think group is great, very friendly, which will definitely help with class activities and discussions. Also Dr. Luongo seems extremely prepared and thorough. But I am a little worried I might have some difficulties on my own. Although I have been teaching for 12 years at the high school level, it is religion so it has been VERY flexible regarding our curriculum. I have only taught at this school so I do not know the ins and outs of many things public school teachers have to go through. I may have to pick everyone’s brain many times for help and advice. I pretty sure after the first class this should not be a problem for anyone.