Here’s what happened today in the Wide World of POT/COM.  Luckily, there were no “agony of defeat” moments:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2AZH4FeGsc[/youtube]

Administrivia

After a short debrief of the Digital Tattoo presentation, we asked all persons interested in sitting on the MY Cohort Social Committee to seek out Andrea.  Then, we took some time to outline our plans to get you ready for EDUC 315: the Tuesdays Practicum.  Here’s the plan:

• Monday, 26 September: Submit completed TC Profile to Dave and Lawrence vie email
• Tuesday, 27 September: Attend Pre-Practicum Seminar (more details below in this post)
• Tuesday, 4 October: Middle School Rotation, Day 1 (AM and PM)
• Tuesday, 11 October: Middle School Rotation, Day 2 (AM) and Post-Rotation Debrief (PM)
• Tuesday, 18 October: 1st Day in Practicum Placement for EDUC 315
• Tuesday, 22 November: 6th (and final) Day in Placement for EDUC 315

Pre-Practicum Seminar

Before you enter the field, Dave and I want to cover “Everything You Wanted to Know About Having a Successful Practicum Experience But Were Afraid to Ask”. We’ll do that in a two-part Pre-Prac Seminar on Tuesday, 27 September.  Here’s how the day breaks down:

• Part 1: Getting Energized – 11:00 am – 12:30 pm in Scarfe 204
• Lunch: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm in Scarfe 1328
• Part 2: Getting Informed – 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm in Scarfe 1328

Traditionally the lunch on this day has been a potluck.  It’s up to you and the Social Committee to make this happen, of course.

More MIAB Speeches & the MIAB Speech Analysis Task

When the final four speakers per group had presented, I took some time to outline the post-speech task.

In an effort to stimulate improvement in your verbal and non-verbal communication skills, what you need to do is watch the video of your speech and consider the following questions:

1. What are my strengths as a speaker?
2. What challenges did I face when delivering this speech?
3. What goals will I set for my next speech / presentation?

You can use the “Me in a Bag Speech” Assessment Criteria / The 8 Ps of Powerful Presentations as a framework for this analysis and you can touch on any other aspects of your talk that strike you.

Now, the beauty of this task is that you can present this content information – your thoughtful and detailed answers to the 3 questions above – via any end product you see fit.  This approach to the assignment is consistent with the princicples of differentiated instruction (DI):

Here’s a 6 minute clip with some basic info on DI at the K-12 and university levels:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJmEiQ4HmEc&feature=PlayList&p=4C5E68673251FE37&index=1[/youtube]

To get you personally connecting with the task, I asked you to brainstorm a list of product options in class – which I promptly forgot to write down.  That said, you could consider analyzing your speech using:

• a map
• a song
• a poem
• a comic strip
• a dance
• a news article
• a poster
• a graphic organizer
• a Prezi presentation
• a game show
• a model / diorama
• a sculpture
• a collage
• an interpretive dance

The possibilities are well and truly endless.  The key, however, is to ensure that whatever product you choose is conducive to clearly demonstrating the content. Some products may need  to be accompanied with a one-pager that makes all three aspects of the analysis clear.

I’m  looking forward to seeing what sort of creations you come up with by the due date, Wednesday, 28 September 2011.

Introduction to Mind Mapping

We are asking you to attend the 9th Annual Field Trip Fair for Teachers on Monday, 26 September 2011 from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Science World.  After the event, we are expecting you to choose one of the available field trips to mind map.  Here’s the task handout:

• Field Trip Fair Mind Map Assignment

To prepare you for this task, Dave took some time to highlight the salient aspects & advantages of mind mapping as presented in this video clip starring Tony Buzan, the “inventor” of mind mapping and, I believe, past-president of the Hair Team for Men:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ[/youtube]

Here are some model mind maps for you to look at:

This next one’s pretty meta as it’s a mind map on how to mind map.  Whoa!  The only thing cooler is Kramer’s coffee table book about coffee tables!

If you’re interested, here’s a link to Mr. Orr’s website with instructions on The Steps in Creating a Basic Mind Map.  If you prefer your info in PDF form, here’s a two-pager on Mind Mapping.

As a guided practice piece, Dave asked you to mind map information you found on the SD43 website.

That’s all for today.

Cheers,

– Lawrence