Week4:Faviocons

I never knew why some of my bookmarks had little images next to their description. Now I do! This is a great idea. It seems very simple to create one for your website. I bookmarked the tutorial and am going to use it when I create a web page for my sister's consulting business. COOL!

Week 4: Comment to Mike's post on Jobs speech

Mike’s Post:
Watching TV last night, I caught the end of a nightly news program on ABC. They were talking about their ‘person of the week’. Well, this week was Steve Jobs. The story began with the announcement of the release of the new iPad that will revolutionize the netbook. The story went on to tell of Jobs’ beginning, getting fired from Apple, returning, his involvement with Pixar, and of course his inventions of iPods and iPhones. They showed a clip from the YouTube clip we were to watch this week in class, his commencement speech at Stanford from 2005. While re-watching the speech, my wife said aloud how much see loved that speech too. I went back and watched it again. It is so inspiring and Steve is such a magnificent speaker. It made me think about what I have done and how I became to be a music teacher. I never thought I would be where I am today. I was an athlete never playing an instrument until my sophomore year in college. I went into college a psychology major and left with a degree in music composition. Still never thought I would teach. Really had no idea what I was going to do, but Steve’s words described it all, “Have the trust that the dots will connect in your future. That the dots will connect to something gives you the strength to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path”. I often sit and reflect to how I got to where I am today and what will the future bring. I try to instill this in my students, that if you follow your heart and trust yourself, your drive will lead you down the right path, even if your parents do not approve like mine did. What will the future hold for any of us? I cannot imagine. But I do know I will be sitting outside on a warm summer night ten years or so from now thinking how did it all happen.

Source

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA&feature=player_embedded#

Mike,

I saw this and admit that it just seemed like a good inspirational speech but I really didn’t think about what it meant to my life until I read your post. I took a few moments to reflect on my travels though life and realized that I have spent so much time stressing about things and wondering what would happen if I wasn’t proactive. I guess I always feared being stuck in an unhappy place or of not having control of my destiny. (which is kind of strange because I’ve never really had any prolonged unhappy time in my life) This might play a part in why I will end up with 5 graduate degrees ☺ (keeping my options open and creating possibilities for the future). Instead of thinking “what if” I should have trusted that the path would lead me where I am supposed to be. Like you, I never imagined myself teaching. (and truthfully, nobody else did either) As I have evolved as a person and have experienced many different paths along the way, I found that I want to share. So, the dots will connect. When I look back I see they have. I just need to look forward and trust that they will. Thanks for your heartfelt reflection. Like you, I always feel inspired when I hear Jobs speak.

Week 4 Reading

The Eleventh Practice

This chapter took some interesting concepts and different views on leadership. I have never heard before that leaders are the ones that can bring possibilities. I know that makes sense and is somewhat obvious. It goes along with his or her idea that anyone anywhere in any situation can be a leader. Leading from any chair tells us that anyone can make things happen can open up possibilities. This is a cool concept.
I really like the Nelson Mandela Quote on page 178-179 so I included it here.



Telling the we story

I thought this chapter was interesting but I ‘m not sure I want to be part of “we” in all situations. I know that if everyone felt connected and cared for, and respected others, the world would be a better place. If you looked at yourself as part of something bigger then you would take care of those around you because they are part of this too. However, this doesn’t take into account that not every one has honorable intentions. Maybe I’ off here but although I get the concept I’m not sure it is a good idea. I agree that if we join together and think less of what “I” want instead think of what is best for “Us” better outcomes and less conflict will occur. I suppose if all individual assumed this mentality it might eliminate some of the selfish manipulative, criminal types. However, I had a hard time trusting everyone’s intentions.

Week 4: Scratch, Flash, and Sim City

The scratch project seems like a great undertaking but one that is very worthwhile. I think it is great that they are making simple tools for student to learn in afterschool programs. This way students can experience success with building in programs like this. There is nothing more cool that seeing some kind of animation you did an thinking- Hey I made that!
The Flash tutorial went very fast. I think the ones on Lynda.com might be better but I bookmarked it for later use. Joe's work was fun to look at. I'm not sure if I did the right thing with the example because the guy's head fell off. I thought that was rather hilarious so maybe that was the intention. Kids would love that unexpected outcome.
Second Life holds great promise in education for the higher level kids. I wish more old-timers would relax and let high school kids use it. Second life teen might be a god option but I have not had the opportunity to look at it. It gives student the chance to interact and experience learning with others from a remote area.
I'm not too familiar with Sim City and the note said it would not play on our macbooks. From what I know I believe students are given a scenario that they can manipulate to reach a goal. What sounds more engaging than that? I'm not sure but I think it was similar to the CD ROM Tycoon games. My kids had a bunch. They built zoos, roller coasters, and cities. They would spend hours trying to stay in budget and build something successful.

Week 4: Video Tools for streaming comments

I took at look at this tutorial this week because I was having trouble adding video to dreamweaver. I found it useful to look through all the different sites that you could upload a video for free. I think people are most familiar with You Tub but Viddler and Blip TV are growing in popularity. I like Viddler because you can add comments to the move and tag them to certain spots in the movie. This is great for education purposes. In some situations using teacher tube might make people more comfortable with the video because it is supposedly for education. As far as the video streaming tools go, honestly I never thought about the difference between hosting and streaming. From what I can tell, hosting makes the video searchable and people can give feedback. Streaming is a direct link. I've used jing before to screen capture and send coworkers the link. It is a great way to communicate visuals without clogging the inbox with big files. Lastly, the You TUbe download tools section hosted a number of resources. However, I don't think it is right to take a video off of You Tube without permission. I guess if you had approval to take the video you could use these tools. This was great because all this time I thought you could right click, save target as, and download any video. I went to You Tube and sure enough I could not find a video where I could do this. :) I leran something new all the time!

Week 3: Response to Heather's Project

Hey Heather I emailed the comments on your project. I think there are some audio difficulties. I just wanted to let you know how much I liked it! Great work! I made some specific suggestions in the email:)

Week 3: Response to Duncan

I do realize the Zanders are quite zen and all, but the paragraph or two from chapter 7 in The Art of Possibility that reads:

Yet standing stationary on the bank, utterly still, I took an existential leap. "Let its force run through me," I allowed, not having moved an inch. "Let it turn all my molecules in its direction; trust it and surrender. Let it give me what it has to offer."
And it did, and it has ever since; wherever I seek life's passion, the river is there churning through me. I can hear its mind-numbing rush, the movements of billions of atoms.
-page 115, The Art of Possibility

left me speechless (I know it's a book and I'm not talking anyway). If I heard someone actually say that out loud as we are led to believe, I wouldn't even know what to say.

I guess what I could say is that if I were to write a book, I would probably leave that out of it. I've said many strange things in my life, and I wouldn't publish them either.

Duncan,

I agree! He then goes on to talk about “What is nature asking for?” (p. 115). I understand he is trying to make the point that we need to experience life and be a participant not an observer. ‘To be one with nature and nature one with you’ It is just a bit out of my zone of thinking. I found this Will Smith interview that kind of goes along these lines. I posted it on my blog. ☺

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oENmXKKlCAI