Being a Contribution

Many contributions are made but are overlooked maybe because of the person or what was contributed. As we tend to our daily business in whatever profession we are in or your position or role, contributions can be easily overlooked. We as humans see contributions as being something large or a great accomplishment until the small things go unnoticed.  Learning to accept the small thing brings about bigger things.  Look at a flower for example. When a flower is watered, someone made a contributed to the growth of that flower.  After the flower develops and produces flowers or beautiful green leaves, a contribution is made on behalf of the plant. The beauty of a flower can bring about a smile to an ill person, someone that is unhappy, add beauty to a design, someone that may have received bad news…whatever; contributions are made and go unnoticed because people don’t look at contributions in that way.

This reading was a contribution to me because I did not see contributions in that way.  This gives me a better insight on how to view life as a whole.  I think back on thing that I do on a daily basis and now I ask myself, what contributions did I make today.  No one can never be fully rewarded for his or her contribution because contributions can be priceless.

#2

I love and really enjoy listening to music. I have a large collection of CD’s but rarely use them because when I am home I listen to music on television through my cable. When I just want to relax after a long day at work I might sit in a hot tub of water or sit on the patio in a lounger will a cold glass of my homemade punch. The only time I use my CD’s is in my vehicle. My husband is a musician so we use his I tune account when we need music. We do make copies of the music or we just load the music down to our Ipod’s. I listen to a lot of gospel music but I enjoy jazz music, easy listing, oldies, R&B, and some hip-hop. I listen to gospel because I love gospel music and because I have to learn songs for my church choir and dance team. I guess you can say that I am a combination of all.

#3

EMD613 Week 2 Comment on GLStrom blog posting

The ability to give seems such a rewarding experience that you would imagine being done by everyone on a daily basis. After all, we all appreciate receiving, but of course that doesn't occur without giving on the other end. As enjoyable an experience as it can be, it is not something all of us do consistently. In chapter three of The Art of Possibility the authors reflect on this practice by suggesting that we give A's so people have the room to realize themselves. I must admit that to me the most valuable thing we have to give is our time, and I feel people generally appreciate this. I never placed much emphasis on giving grades for the theater and photography I taught because it is quite impossible to put a letter or number on artistic expression. What is measured is the caring, time, improvement, ability and finally presentation of final work. They shared their gift with me as I did them, and the anxiety of taking chances and competing with others was minimized. Another important part of education is giving students the ability to overcome fears and believe in themselves and their abilities. When I consider where these fears come from I come back to the fact that what people worry about is not measuring up,about making mistakes and ultimately, about being judged. One of the greatest compliments a student ever shared with me was her love of my class because it was the one time a day where she didn't feel judged. In sports, classes, lunch, at home and at work she felt like she always had to perform to measure up lest she fail. She admits to always being anxious because that wasn't really her, and in my class the mask came off and she was able to be herself. Eight years later she let me know how much that meant to her and how she will never forget how it felt. She gave me one of the reward of teaching we all hear about and hope for, and while can never spend are priceless.

POSTED BY GLSTROM AT 3:37 PM

sj4987

#4

giving is important in everyone’s life. It is more important to give than to receive. When students compliment us it can make a day that is not so good become the best day in a persons life. We spend a lot of time trying to please others when we should focus on pleasing our selves because when you please yourself you have pleased someone else.

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#4Gary
I## Giving an A

by: Chris Gemp

This chapter really spoke to me.  I had a very similar experience to Mr. Z recently.  Two weeks ago, third quarter ended in my school system, so consequently I was giving tests to finalize their grades.  My sixth graders took a fairly standard test, with fill-in the blank, multiple choice, and short answer questions. My class averages were 95, 97.5, and 102(there were 5 points available for extra credit).  I made a comment to my colleague that I must have made the test “too easy”.  She responded: “Why shouldn’t everyone get an A?”  I have to say that I agreed with her.  I did not make the test any easier than in previous years. I was reminded of my first year teaching, when a different colleague told me her philosophy when making tests: “I make it hard enough so one student will fail”. 

Why should that be our goal?  I think teachers should strive to have each of our students earn an A.  I do not think we should just give out A’s, but there should certainly be no limit to the amount of A’s allowed.  We want our students to strive for greatness, so why shouldn’t we strive for that same level.  I think it is our success and our failure as much as it is the students. 

Michelangelo is often quoted as having said that inside every block of stone or marble dwells a beautiful statue; one need only remove the excess material to reveal the work of art within.  If we were to apply this visionary concept to education, it would be pointless to compare one child to another.  Instead, all the energy would be focused on chipping away at the stone, getting ride of what is in the way of each child’s developing skills, mastery, and self-expression. (Zander)

I have a student that is fairly resistant to putting forth a lot of effort into any class.  I sat down with him one day while he was supposed to be practicing the guitar and asked him why he wasn’t practicing.  He said that he was never going to pick up the guitar again after he left my class. I thought that was a pretty narrow-minded statement for a seventh grader to make. I consequently asked him what he wanted to do after he got out of school.  He mentioned that he wanted to be a mechanic.  I said, well there was a possibility that he would never pick up the guitar again after my class, but that there were still many skills he could take with him into his future endeavors.  I mentioned that work is sometime stressful and that coming home and jamming on the guitar could be a fun and relaxing activity.  Also I said that learning how to read music, would strengthen his reading ability, and that was a skill he would need all of his life.  He asked my why, and I said: “well, you may not read for pleasure, but they are always coming out with new products and someday you might have to read a users manual, and those are never easy to read, so its would be a good idea to be an excellent reader.”  Lastly we talked about when playing the guitar your hands are doing separate tasks, as well as so are your fingers.  I correlated that with the hands on requirements of being a mechanic.  He was satisfied with our short discussion and has now been very productive for the past few classes.  I am sure that will not last till the end of the year, but it has lit his fire now and when the time comes, I am sure we will have a new conversation to continue his efforts. 

sj4987 said...

@Hilary
So often people forget where they came from. The thing that we as students or as citizens go through sometime they find the need to take it out on others. I always believe that the thing we go through as to how we might be treated by others come as a lesson to make us stronger and to share that experience with someone else. And experience is a lesson, not as something to hurt but to help someone else along the way in a positive way.

#5

Adapting Reading Strategies to Teach math

     Schema theory explains how our previous experiences, knowledge, emotions, and understandings affect what and how we learn (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Schema is the background knowledge and experience readers bring to the text. Good readers draw on prior knowledge and experience to help them understand what they are reading and are thus able to use that knowledge to make connections. Struggling readers often move directly through a text without stopping to consider whether the text makes sense based on their own background knowledge, or whether their knowledge can be used to help them understand confusing or challenging materials. By teaching students how to connect to text they are able to better understand what they are reading (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Accessing prior knowledge and experiences is a good starting place when teaching strategies because every student has experiences, knowledge, opinions, and emotions that they can draw upon.

Keene and Zimmerman (1997) concluded that students comprehend better when they make different kinds of connections:

•Text-to-self

•Text-to-text

•Text-to-world

Text-to-self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of a vacation we took to my grandfather’s farm."

Sometimes when reading, readers are reminded of other things that they have read, other books by the same author, stories from a similar genre, or perhaps on the same topic. These types of connections are text-to-text connections. Readers gain insight during reading by thinking about how the information they are reading connects to other familiar text. “This character has the same problem that I read about in a story last year,” would be an example of a text-to-text connection.

Text-to-world connections are the larger connections that a reader brings to a reading situation. We all have ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences. We learn about things through television, movies, magazines, and newspapers. Often it is the text-to-world connections that teachers are trying to enhance when they teach lessons in science, social studies, and literature. An example of a text-to-world connection would be when a reader says, "I saw a program on television that talked about things described in this article."

Cris Tovani (2000) offers reasons why connecting to text helps readers: