"The Dictionary Game"

OK, it is a day after I played the "dictionary game" and I am very disappointed on how I did. I have always felt that public speaking was one of my strong points this game made me rethink it a little. I felt like I was choking, the words would not come out. I tried to keep myself composed but I think the class could see my state of panic. Like a good sport I am I have taken this dreadful experience as a warning that I have to be prepared for everything when I present. I would not like it all to choke in front of the audience like I did yesterday. So I take his experience as a lesson and a warning. Overall, I liked this exercise. 

"Mr. Levitan's Visit"

Answer some of the following in short paragraph format. 
• What did you learn from Vic Levitan’s visit today? 
• What new ideas do you have for your project? 
• How has your course of action changed? 
• At this point, which are your greatest challenges for pulling off the Project portion of Senior Project Seminar? 

What I learned from Vic Levitan's visit yesterday was to better enforce or even clarify what a presentation should look like and what content it should contain. Some of the ideas that I found interesting was that the format that is typically followed be changed up for instance leave the introduction for the middle of the presentation instead of the usual starting with my name is...and this is my project... I also learned that you want to keep it simple and short he stressed the fact that the average individual tunes out or losses focus in less then five minutes or shorter. He has given me a couple ideas but funny was that my mentor and I had gotten together and actually came up with some really great ideas and how we are going to present my project. In my opinion the greatest challenge I face is what am I going to put into the presentation itself! I have so many ideas and things to incorporate but I am constantly reminded that I have to keep it K.I.S.S. so that is one of the most challenging obstacles I face. 

Ms. Carroll:

Hello my name is Cindi Tapia and I am interested in the education field. Over the course of the year I have decided to create a product in which I can teach social studies which will allow students to interact with me and their fellow classmates. As we know technology has revolutionized how concepts and lessons are being thought to children, my project will incorporate technology into the curriculum I plan to teach to Mrs. Mahoney's fourth grade class. The form in which I will accomplish this is by using the smart board. What makes my project unique is not the tools I use but I will actually create using these tools. Over the course of my visits to the class I have noticed based on my own experiences that games, grab students attention. Games teach without the student realizing they are learning.

I plan to further familiarize myself with the smart board and how to use it to its maximum potential. That alone I feel is an obstacle in itself because I have to admit I am not the best in all things technology. Another obstacle that I think I will face is actually keeping the lesson running without me losing the attention of the students and viewers at the presentation.

"A Great Time"

Today I had an amazing time, I took my brother to the academy of Natural Sciences which has been around for nearly 200 years (AMAZING). Call me weird, or a dork I had a great time. The day was against us (it has been raining non stop since yesterday) but we managed. We arrived at 8th and Market Street around ten and made our way to the museum. The price of admission was incredible only eight bucks with student I.D. I decided to use Spring Break as an opportunity to venture out with my partner in Crime (Antonio my little brother) and learn something new. We saw one of the new exhibit which was the return of Hadrosaurus Foulkii.I was fascinated I mean who would know that before this dinosaur nobody even knew such creatures existed and literally in our back yard history was made, which lead to countless stories and new discoveries. Apart from us having fun in the Butterfly exhibit and searching for dinosaurs in the bone yard. I learned a lot, such as the museum dedicated to dinosaurs that was never constructed due to corrupt politics. So somewhere uncharted in Central Park there are dinosaur bones buried who never found their way to such anticipated museum. I would have never known that if I had never gone. I have to say that if you want to go somewhere where you will have fun for all ages. I strongly suggest going to the museum you'll have a blast.

"Little Ones, Spring Fever?"

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet up with my sponsor. When I got there they were all seated listening to what the teacher was saying. I could see although in their faces that they were light years away from the actual lesson. I couldn't really blame them the day was horrible it was raining with thunder and lightning. It felt like a Sunday when you don't even feel like rolling out of bed to drink coffee or anything. It surprised me because I could see clearly that they were a bit distracted but that was just the first ten minutes. After twenty to thirty what I thought was just the rainy blues was coming out short. I worked with "giggles" and I had a somewhat hard time to keep focused. Usually he goofs off but pays attention after I grab his attention. Today he was just melting on his desk along with the rest of the students, I was shocked to see that they were affected by spring fever. He didn't want to even copy what the teacher had written on the board. I felt like I had to practically pull teeth to get him to pay attention and participate. After a few haggle here and there. He managed to pull through but, whoosh was it a challenge! I guess even little ones can get a little spring fever, I suppose they are entitled to some extent usually they are all on fire! I hope that when we come back they will be ready to rock and roll!

"The Product"

Lately, well since yesterday really I spent my evening thinking of what I would like to do as my final product. I thought and talked to people who I value about what they thought would be good for my final product. My main concern which I stressed was I didn't want to create something dull in which I am going to bore the people that are going to be sitting there listening to me for an entire HOUR. It's bad enough that overall people really doze off after a couple of minutes during an entire presentation. I have to admit that I am guilty as charged. I watched the "Last Lecture" and although I followed along during the entire time I have to say I got lost and dazed for a brief moment. That is what I have taken upon me to conquer. How will I grab the viewers attention?, how will I leave an impression? and what will I do to create such an effect? As for now I feel that I can grab and transfer knowledge by creating some type of game in which it will not only recommend student-teacher interaction but also stimulate them to actually apply their previous knowledge. Something that I learned about education and how technology affects while I was writing my research paper was the philosophy of "Constructivism". The essesnce of "Constructivism" is to apply additional knowledge on top of knowledge. So my product will not teach a new subject but another aspect of what has been already thought to them. Again it will be composed in a way in which the whole class will work together to execute the lesson and learn something new about a social studies unit. For the time being I have laid my foundation...all I have to do now is BUILD THE HOUSE!