Blog Assignment #1

After reading "If I Built A School" by Krissy Venosdale and watching Sugata Mitra's "School in the Cloud" video, I realized that after years of being in school, the only way I think about school is the way it was taught when I was growing up; the teachers would teach, the students would learn, and teachers would give test. Both Venosdale and Mitra opened my eyes. They have such an imagination for what school should be like. At first, I did not agree with Venosdale when reading "If I Built A School." Her views of a curriculum free school and lots of creativity made me think. If there was no curriculum, no homework, no force, how can the students learn what they need to learn? Because I believe that some subjects need to be taught and all students should know those subjects well. It just made me think that school was not school. But after watching Mitra's video, students will be interested in learning when you get them interested. So technically in a school with no curriculum and no test, if you ask the right questions and spark interest in the students, the students will learn on their own. It is the idea of keeping the students curious.

If I Built a School...
If I were to build a school, it would probably be very similar to Krissy Venosdale's. It would be a place where students learned what they wanted to learn and not what they had to learn. It would be a comfortable and cozy place and definitely stress free. Teachers will keep the curiosity in students keeping them interested in learning. There will be no test because I believe test do not measure a students knowledge. Test add on to the stress that a kid should not have. I want my school to be a place students want to be not what to leave from.

What I Want My Students to Know
After I graduate, I would like to teach Elementary School. I want my students to know what they need to know and what they want to know. I want to spark their curiosity in different things. I want to ask many questions that they will probably never find the answer to. I want my students to be excited to learn and I want to keep my students interested and make sure that there is not a dull moment in the classroom.

What I Want My Students to Be Able to Do
I want my students to be able to do anything that they want to do. I do not want to hear a student say that they can not do something. If my student wanted to build a bottle rocket, I want to be able to give him or her the knowledge and skills to build a bottle rocket. I want to give my students the knowledge to be able to do anything they want to.

What Will Be My Primary Way of Teaching My Students What I Want Them to Know and to Do/What Tools Will I Use in the Classroom
Sugata Mitra is right that technology is taking over. If a person wanted to know something, what would they do? Get on the internet and search it. If I wanted to learn how to build something, I would probably get on YouTube and look it up. Technology has given us an edge on learning and as a future teacher, I know that technology and the internet will eventually be included in all school systems for students to freely use. So my primary way of teaching is to include technology and the internet into learning. Since there is a chance that when I begin teaching students will have access to the internet daily, lets say if I had a class of forth graders learning the solar system, I would ask them to get in groups, get on the internet for ten minutes, and then we will have a class discussion on what we found. In my opinion, I think this will keep a students interest because there are not any kids that can sit long enough to listen to a teacher lecture. This way the students will learn from their peers and myself. I can elaborate on things that they came across but do not know what it is. It keeps the students from being bored.

What Role Will Students Play in the Classroom
Students along with their peers will work together and obtain knowledge. Every student will have a chance to say what is on their mind and ask questions about the things they are interested in. Students will learn what they what to learn. It is about what they what not what I want.

"Curiosity killed the cat..."

"Satisfaction brought it back."

Practice Blog Post

About Me
Hi. My name is Paula Lu. I was born on April 12th in San Diego, California. At age 4, me, my parents, and my month old baby sister moved across the country to Bayou La Batre, Alabama. My parents, grandparents, and uncles were all born in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, my family escaped and lived in refugee camps for several years before making it to the United States. Education is a big deal for my parents since they never got the chance to get a good education they want me and my sister too.

I realized in high school that I have a love for the arts. Creating, designing, building, anything that was hands-on, I loved. With drawing I was not very good but if I could make it with my hands, it was one of the best. Another love of mine is photography. My high school offered a black and white photography class which I ended up loving. I even tried running a photography business for a while but I quit not too long ago. I'll explain why below.

Some of my photography





In 2010, I graduated high school and began my first semester of college in Fall of 2010 majoring in Graphic Design. By Fall of 2011, I switched my major to photography which I believe was what I was meant to do. I loved photography. After an entire year of barely passing classes, I realized that I was extremely unhappy. I was tired of being "the camera guy" at events I was invited to and having to work so much harder to make money. What I started out loving, I began hating, and my love for photography has never been the same. After the spring semester was over, I thought long and hard. By mid summer of 2012, I changed my major again to Elementary Education. It has been a year and I am feeling much more confident about my future. I decided on Elementary Education because I love kids, I love watching them learn. Creating lesson plans, teaching, making test; it just all sounds fun to me. I also want to make a difference. I want to make an impact. For 21 years I don't feel like I have made an impact on anyone's life. I want my students to want to learn. I always had a hard time in school. I was lazy, never wanted to do my homework, and never wanted to learn. The subjects did not interest me and I was bored. And now that I look back. My favorite high school classes were art related. Sometimes I think that since the internet has become such a huge part of our lives, kids are losing their imagination and creativity. I want to bring that back and show kids that they can dream of anything.

This is one of my favorite movies. It shows love and determination.

My Test Post Title

This is my first post for EDM310. I always click the HTML like I should. I am now a Blogger!