We had some friends over for the evening. It was nice. I made 5 bean chili with extra tomato, pumpkin soup with Romano and Pumpkin seeds topping... and we brought out our extra table leaf. Its been awhile since our house has had so many guests! The doorbell broke somehow, so the children had to knock. It was interesting to see how persistent they were... loud knocks for little kids! Two friends from Brazil were especially delighted to experience Halloween Haid Style, and they made this general Pumpkin Fest Scrooge see the holiday with new eyes - a fun way to spend a beautiful fall evening.
And the little Lion Girl was especially fun to watch.
Dancing with the Stars... I am watching it as if the stars are the real dance professionals. I know more about Julianne, Cheryl, Maksim, Mark Ballas, and Edyta than the stars this season! I really want to go see them on tour this year.
We probably don't get enough calcium in this house. Our milk has gone "chunky" and blue tinged the last two times. And its 2 weeks past due when I finally notice! Ew.
I should grow my hair out. Recently some students saw a picture of me from a few years ago and commented on how good it looked. Yeah, it was a self esteem boost! I always feel older and less beautiful with shorter hair. Now its long enough for a back ponytail, chin and shoulder length. It needs about seven inches! I think that VS models have led us all to believe that women with long hair are more attractive. Like on Desperate Housewives! Bree and Susan are so beautiful and in real life are ... well... about twenty years older than me!
Politicians are spending SO MUCH MONEY on advertising. Every day we get these glossy, full color, 8.5 x 17 flyers. We've been getting at least three a day for the past month! Its annoying to me that I have to recycle all their ads. Why be so wasteful, you politicians? I can use an educated guess to estimate they each cost 40 cents... so we're talking big bucks if they are giving them to all Americans!
Another thought - how can I get my students to understand the difference between bar and line graphs? I feel like I say "line graphs are for continuous data" over and over. One girl told me that "bar graphs are just more fun to make because you get to color". Oh, of course.
I'm having some international guests on Friday night - a couple from Brazil and an an 18 year old from South Korea. Its their first Halloween to make jackolanterns or give candy to kids. That should be fun for them! And having guests makes our house super clean, because we go on a cleaning frenzy!
Wednesday night marked the end of my husband's 2008 softball season. He had four teams that were league champs, and two that got second place. He hit two homeruns and three triples last night. I'd say that is a good way to end the season!
One last thing... gas prices! Is it an election ploy... or is it the value of the US dollar compared to other currencies... or is gasoline more of an elastic purchase in regards to supply-demand graphs I had to make in Ag Econ 41?
So ... MU had the longest parade ever. I think it was totally worth it. I could feel the nostalgia and sentimentality of others in the crowd, too. I over heard people talking about roommates, cousins of classmates, etc. and had to wonder how many of the babies dressed in tiger ears were "True Sons and Daughters" and how many marriages, business partnerships, and lifelong friendships were formed because of Ol' Mizzou.
Hurray, hurray, and a bully for old Mizzou! Rah, rah, rah.....
Today I got brave and plugged her in. There were some start-up irregularities, and the backlight isn't lit, BUT IT PLAYS! Even the head phones, which also were washed, work. Hip, hip, hooray!As well as the mixes I've made that are called:
Super Pump Up Workout: Please Don't Stop the Music
Good Night, Bethany: Music to Sleep
and
Bring the Christmas Cheer: Holly Jolly Mix
Amy departing Hermann on the AmTrack. I am so blessed she'd take the 6 hour trip to visit!
- Mail my friends Mary and Ann some present packages
- Re-try the Panera Bread
Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe I made last night, this time with steamed broccoli in hopes that it will be less "crunch"
- Complete my fall wreath decoration that I bought in early September and hang
- Vacuum
- Have lunch with my friend Hilary, perhaps re-color her hair
- Mop Kitchen floor
- Check out the book "Wicked" and begin reading
- Address the growing pile of laundry collecting on my bathroom floor
- Watch the new SATC movie that arrived on Wednesday
Definition: This learning theory is based on the structure and function of the brain. As long as the brain is not prohibited from fulfilling its normal processes, learning will occur.
Discussion: People often say that everyone can learn. Yet the reality is that everyone does learn. Every person is born with a brain that functions as an immensely powerful processor. Traditional schooling, however, often inhibits learning by discouraging, ignoring, or punishing the brain's natural learning processes.The core principles of brain-based learning state that:
- The brain is a parallel processor, meaning it can perform several activities at once, like tasting and smelling.
- Learning engages the whole physiology.
- The search for meaning is innate.
- The search for meaning comes through patterning.
- Emotions are critical to patterning.
- The brain processes wholes and parts simultaneously.
- Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception.
- Learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes.
- We have two types of memory: spatial and rote.
- We understand best when facts are embedded in natural, spatial memory.
- Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat. Each brain is unique.
The three instructional techniques associated with brain-based learning are:
Orchestrated immersion--Creating learning environments that fully immerse students in an educational experience
Relaxed alertness--Trying to eliminate fear in learners, while maintaining a highly challenging environment
Active processing--Allowing the learner to consolidate and internalize information by actively processing itHow Brain-Based Learning Impacts Education
Curriculum--Teachers must design learning around student interests and make learning contextual.
Instruction--Educators let students learn in teams and use peripheral learning. Teachers structure learning around real problems, encouraging students to also learn in settings outside the classroom and the school building.
Assessment--Since all students are learning, their assessment should allow them to understand their own learning styles and preferences. This way, students monitor and enhance their own learning process.Teachers must immerse learners in complex, interactive experiences that are both rich and real. One excellent example is immersing students in a foreign culture to teach them a second language. Educators must take advantage of the brain's ability to parallel process.
- Students must have a personally meaningful challenge. Such challenges stimulate a student's mind to the desired state of alertness.
- In order for a student to gain insight about a problem, there must be intensive analysis of the different ways to approach it, and about learning in general. This is what's known as the "active processing of experience."
- People learn best when solving realistic problems.
- The big picture can't be separated from the details.
- Because every brain is different, educators should allow learners to customize their own environments.
- The best problem solvers are those that laugh!
- Designers of educational tools must be artistic in their creation of brain-friendly environments.
- Instructors need to realize that the best way to learn is not through lecture,
but by participation in realistic environments that let learners try new things safely.
I try to associate both positive and negative emotion with the subject area I teach. I know that students who have an aversion to something or a conflict of opinion with a subject will be very engaged in my lesson plans. I also know that adding humor, comics, heartwarming anecdotes, and favorite pop culture items to my lesson plans engage student learners. As I type this, I am trying to figure out how to connect Osmosis, Diffusion, and Protein Transport to the lives of 16 year olds. I'll let you know when I find out how to do this!
This week I assigned a project closely correlated to brain research. Students had choice in their project, were able to use creative reasoning and parody, and were presented with a project based assessment rather than a traditional assessment. Here is a link to the Cell Presidential Election 2008 project.
I assigned homework tonight that asked students to consider some meaningful, realistic problem solving. The two questions asked students to explain how a person can smell bacon, even though the source of the smell is downstairs in the kitchen AND to come up with ways to mix Kool Aid and water without stirring. In both cases, I asked the students to draw a picture showing molecules and their movement. I am exicted to see how they are thinking.
This post is long, and probably very dull as few readers are science teachers. I'll post something more appeal to all later... this apple and mountain dew delight recipe or perhaps some pictures of Octoberfest 2008!
Here's a fun poster I found when researching for this blog: (I think its fun).
What Can I Do?
Tips: Three Things You Can Do To Help Save Forests1. Buy paper products with recycled content -- especially post-consumer
fibers.Look for products that have a high recycled content, including high
post-consumer content. Post-consumer fibers are recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers and would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill or an incinerator.
2. Buy paper products made with clean, safe processes.Paper products are bleached to make them whiter and brighter, but chlorine used in many bleaching processes contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish. Look for products labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF). In some cases, elemental chlorine-free (ECF) may be acceptable.
3. Tell tissue manufacturers to stop using virgin wood for throwaway
products.If a brand you buy for your home doesn't have any recycled content,
contact the manufacturer (click here to
send a message to paper giant Kimberly-Clark). Tell the company to use more
recycled fibers, to avoid sourcing from ecologically valuable forests such
as
those in the Cumberland Plateau and Canadian boreal, and to ensure any
virgin
fibers used are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Saving
forests also
helps reduce global warming pollution.
The truth is that God had a perfect plan, looking back to Genesis. Sin destroyed His perfect plans for us. Sin came in between us and God, and separates us from God's love.
Its untrue when people say:
God grieves with us. He grieves our losses because they are His losses, too.
The next time someone reacts to a tragedy and says "Its God's plan, we can't know WHY he had this happen" think carefully about the plans God had in store for us. Confront them and let them know that God is indeed in control, but that he wanted a life free from pain, suffering, and death for His children.
The next time you are faced with tragedy or loss, be careful to just say:
I think I will write a little more on this topic of personal loss and encouragement in a future post.
So, here's how it works:
1. Set your iPod to shuffle
2. Press play
3. For every question, type the song that's playing
4. When you go to a new question, press the next button
How weird was that? Not only do I have lots more artists like DIDO than I had thought on my shuffle, there were some chuckling coincidences. I thought the funniest ones are the funeral song and graduation and the most appropriate ones were Graduation, Falling in Love, and Mental Breakdown!
PS - If you forward me things via email, this is where they end up!
Shop around the perimeter of the store. Grocery stores know that it’s easiest to keep the foods with the highest turnover rate (i.e., those that spoil the fastest) on the outside of the store. That way, they can stock and replace these foods more quickly as people buy them. These are things like vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, cheese, eggs, and dairy products. For the most part, the foods around the edge of the store are the healthiest foods. They are rich in nutrients that will keep you healthy and energetic. They do not contain lots of preservatives and have not been refined to remove all the good nutrients.
Less Than Healthy Choices:
So, its obvious I shop for two different taste buds in my house and that I am getting really good at following the advice of shopping the perimeter of the store!
