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et502's picture

How do you learn?

A few years ago, I signed up to get email updates from Sophia.org, a site that compiles online tutorials and resources for both students and teachers. Today's email: Do you know your learning style? Find out using SOPHIA's learning preference assessment. Take our two-minute adventure and you'll be on your way to making the most of your learning potential.

So of course, I took it. While I think my learning style is slightly more nuanced than their response, it was fun to reflect on the kind of teaching that I respond to.. 

transitfan's picture

field notes exceprts thinking more about classroom management

(College)

Today only 1 student shows up. He was absent last week and is eager for a private lesson to help him catch up. We review and learn to identify scales. Due to lack of time, the other students in the class will not learn this; it's not essential to identify harmonic and melodic minor scales but it's nice. One student who was absent has missed three weeks in a row, she told me in an email she has been off-campus on weekends due to a combination of family emergencies and other commitments. She says she is practicing on her own so next week we'll see. I emailed the choral director to let him know, but he didn't seem upset. I think it was a mistake to schedule Sunday afternoon class, although it sounded like a good idea at the time.

(Fourth Grade)

...I lead a somewhat complex activity in which the students broke into groups of four and “composed” a rhythm of 8 measures in 4/4 time then performed it. Some groups really took it a great level by adding movements to their performances. Overall, there was a huge range in how long it took groups to write. I tried to hurry some groups along, which didn't really work. I didn't have a back-up for when students finished writing. There were a few times I struggled to get their attention. Ms. Presley urged me to be more “alpha” and to be sure to get them quiet rather than trying to talk over them. This also came up during the “performances”; some were not very good listeners.

Laura H's picture

Field Notes 4/17

Field Notes 4/17- Ms. R 11th grade American History, Mr. T 10th grade English


Today in my field placement I noticed the different teaching styles of Ms. R and Mr. T. They are very similar in they way they plan their lessons, because they are based around Tech Prep’s core values (inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, reflection). The assignments are often very open-ended and push students to think critically and be creative (I could do a whole post about the actual projects themselves). However, it seems my two teachers have approached this type of project-based curriculum in different ways.

Jennifer Sharp

Jennifer earned her BFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. After winning numerous awards on the film festival circuit, Jennifer's feature film directorial debut, 'I'm Through With White Girls', has had a limited theatrical release through Image Entertainment in 2007. Other credits include: 'Boxed', a 12 minute short,  'Waiting', a 24 minute short, and a spec commercial, all of which, she wrote, edited, and produced as well. 

Patricia Cardoso

Cardoso directed the HBO feature Real Women Have Curves, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. The film also earned a Special Jury Award for acting at Sundance and became the first HBO film to be released theatrically. Her films have been shown at festivals including: Toronto, London, Sundance, Telluride and New Films/New Directors at MOMA. Cardoso has been awarded the National Board of Review's Excellence in Filmmaking award, a Smithsonian Institute Recognition Award, a UCLA Filmmaker of the Year Honor, the Youth Prize from the San Sebastian Film Festival, a California Governor’s Commendation and the Hubert Bals Fund from the Rotterdam Film Festival among others. As a programmer for the Festival, Cardoso was the director of Sundance's Latin American program. Cardoso has developed feature projects with Universal, Disney, Ciby 2000 and Open City Films. She is an active member of the Directors Guild of America and its Independent Director's Committee. She is also a mentor for Film Independent’s Project Involve. USC School of Cinematic Arts Directory Profile, Accessed December 12, 2012 http://cinema.usc.edu/directories/profile.cfm?id=25027&first=&last=&title=&did=1&referer=%2Fproduction%2Ffaculty.cfm&startpage=1&startrow=1

Leslie Harris

Born in 1961 in Cleveland, OH. Leslie Harris is a promising young American filmmaker whose first feature-length film, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., concerns a teenage girl's coming of age in the Brooklyn projects. The movie achieved recognition and acclaim for its writer-director at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, a major event that provides exposure for independent filmmakers. After being awarded the Special Jury Prize for Distinction at Sundance, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. was released nationally in February of 1993 to good reviews. The Washington Post called it a "breakthrough film," while Rolling Stone called Harris "a bracing new voice." Harris is a graduate of Denison University, B.F.A., 1982; and studied film at New York University. She worked for an advertising agency in New York City during summer of junior year at Denison; relocated to New York City after graduating in 1982; worked at various jobs in New York while writing first feature-length film script; Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. released by Miramax in 1992. Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/leslie-harris

Trinh T. Minh-ha

“…Trinh T. Minh-ha builds much of her work around the theme of the ‘other’ (the persona one considers him/herself to be in relation to), challenging cultural theorists' traditional notions of the subject or/subjected duality. She performed three year's worth of ethnographic field research in West Africa the Research Expedition Program of the University of California, Berkeley. This fieldwork led in part to her first film, Reassemblage, which was filmed in Senegal and released in 1982.”   -“Biography/Criticism,” University of Minnesota, accessed November 21, 2012, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/trinhT.php

Image Credit: 
Image by Jean-Paul Bourdier

Annemarie Jacir

Annemarie Jacir has been working in independent film since 1994 and has written, directed and produced a number of films, including a ‘post oslo history’ (1998), ‘The Satellite Shooters’ (2001), and ‘like twenty impossibles,’ (2003). She has taught courses in Columbia Bethlehem and Burzeit universities. ‘Salt of this Sea’ (2008) was her first feature film and second work to debut at Cannes Film Festival. She also co-founded Philistine Films, an independent production company that focuses on productions related to the Arab and Iranian world. Her 2012 film, ‘When I saw you’ has been selected as the Palestinian entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards. Source:  Rasha Salti, The National, “Stranger than Paradise,” Institute for Middle East Understanding, September 9, 2008, accessed December 17, 2012, http://imeu.net/news/article0014155.shtml

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