Reflections on Class (August 3rd)

I was pretty grateful to Kristin and Jeff for setting up our last class the way they did. I liked being able to just sit back and listen to come insightful stories on the last day of summer semester. I really wasn't up to do any hands on activities or group work ... especially since I had been up so late the night before trying to finish all the comments we had due.
I really enjoyed listening to the previous MACers who spoke in my section (Cohort A). I liked seeing how diverse their eventual job positions were in. It seems like everyone took a different route and that was inspiring to see. I have a lot of questions and uncertainties with regards to where I want to work come next summer and I start looking for jobs. I have a lot of ideals when it comes to education and I feel that a lot of them are being tested or at least poked through this program. That's not to say it's a bad thing, just that I'm rethinking a lot of things about school, schooling, and teaching.
Before entering SecMAC the most experience I'd had with schools was my own education + any volunteering I did at my high school (after graduation) or the school my mom worked at. I did also volunteer here in MI after moving last year. All of the schools I've volunteered at though, are private religious schools and so in that sense my exposure to 'schools' has been very limited. I was hoping that through the MAC program I would not only get more exposure to public schooling, but also a better idea and appreciation of public schools.
What's happened though, is that my concerns about public schools have just increased and widened. I guess that's something I should have expected, but regardless it is making me rethinking where I want to work and what kind of teacher I would be. Seeing these teachers take so many different paths helped me think about my questions more thoroughly.
I also liked the fact that Kristin and Jeff combined our cohorts for the second section. I was a little sad at first when I realized we were going to be split, because I was hoping we would all be together for the last session. We didn't get a lot of opportunities to take classes together across discipline (I feel like I hardly saw the STEM people!) so it was nice to finish in the way we started the summer.

Edublogosphere

So I went on CTools and looked through the list of suggested blogs that Kristin had put up. I also glanced at Jeffs. I ended up looking at a number of them but I found this article to be really interesting: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/07/10-things-in-school-that-should-be-obsolete/
It made me think of how during high school and college I would often get a lot of good studying done in prayer rooms. If you haven't been to muslim prayer rooms, usually they are just carpeted rooms that are empty. Sometimes there will be book shelves with Qurans for people to pick up and read as well as posters on the walls but usually there isn't really any furniture or seating. I remember I would basically sit on the floor for hours at a time and just go through chemistry chapters until my brain told me it was enough. I remember thinking about how nice it would be to be able to do this in class in general. Also, I don't know about you, but my elementary, middle, and high school classes ALL used to ask to go outside for class. I think beyond the fact that students are trying to avoid work, there is some merit to that request. I love studying outside, especially in the summer, and other than the sometimes obstructive glare of the sun, I really feel like I get a lot done. I think it would be really nice to think about how I would incorporate more fluid models of classroom set up and how this would affect my students learning
I really liked this site. To be honest, a lot of the articles on the site are interesting and a lot of them are meant to have practical implications for teaching ... There are a lot of 'tips' articles as well as 10 best or 50 most articles that seem helpful. Ofcourse I'm not saying that I'm jumping on board with everything on there, just that it's interesting and I like how practical the site is ...
Finally, what got me to visit the site was Kristin's comment about how we should be able to spot someone/thing familiar on the site ... I totally missed that ... what was I supposed to find??