"And You're going To Be A Teacher?"

Not long ago I was playing Trivia Pursuit with family and friends. As I was playing I realized I did not know much of the Trivia questions and was generously reminded by the comment “and you’re going to be a teacher?!” I mentally chalked the comments up as fair game solely based on oppositional rivalry. Apparently this phrase haunts me and I would like to redeem myself by taking the box of trivial pursuit to the bathroom with me for now on. During my time in the bathroom, I will take the opportunity to study, memorize, and defeat my mouthy opponent one of these days. I may have no connections to the random questions whatsoever but I will drill those questions in my head until I can repeat the answer with the snap of my finger! Does this sound familiar? Should we get a box of questions with multiple choice answers and drill our students until they get the right answers; until memorization sets in? Hmm hmm…ISTEP?

I may not be a Trivia Warrior however if I am going to become a teacher I promise I will not make my students memorize facts without first trying to make alternate and personal connections. I will encourage my students to use games such as Trivia Pursuit to do exactly what the games states…PURSUE educational inquiries through their own personal exploration. 

Here is my random Trivia Pursuit question I picked that I don’t know the answer to. I will first pick the question. I will then attempt to look up and answer the question. My last step is to connect the question to my life somehow so when I play with that Trivia bully again I will at least get this question right! HA!

Who were the first U.S. civilians to be killed for espionage? 

The first U.S. civilians to be killed for espionage were “Julius and Ethel Rosenberg  for providing classified information to the Soviet Union about Americas atomic bomb development remain among the most controversial events of the early Cold War."

The most bizarre thing about my random trivia experiment is that I went to a play recently at Notre Dame about the Cold War. The play was called The Real Dr. Strange Love. So when I saw this question did my brain pick this question because I did not know the answer or because the question looked familiar? My personal connection to the question relates to the scene(In the play) where Edward Teller tells Robert Oppenheimer he was going to be accused for treason just like the Rosenberg’s. So when someone asks me who were the first U.S. civilians to be killed for espionage I will respond kindly – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

The current Jeopardy show hosted the first computer named WATSON to challenge and successfully beat Jeopardy’s all time winners. So does random information make you smart or is it the amounts of information you are able to recall make you more intelligent? This article discusses the challenges of creating a computer mega mind to answer questions and gather information from millions of resources similar to how our brain retrieves information on a much grander scale of course.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/television/New-Computer-Overlord-Watson-Conquers-Jeopardy-116366444.html

                                                             Works Cited

Paul S. Boyer. "Rosenberg Case." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 28 Feb. 2011 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

State of Education State of Mind

Becoming a great teacher can be an incredible challenge. The journey must begin with the passion to demonstrate effective teaching decisions in the classroom. The atmosphere we create as teachers in the classroom impacts the students daily. In order to provide a holistic experience in the classroom we must find a way to accommodate the challenges of testing, teaching methods, and positive experiences in the classroom. We must find the determination, will, and inspiration to become a new strength in the teaching community. The state of mind has many influences over how we interact, communicate, and teach effectively. In order to have success we must have the mindset to overcome the many challenges we will face in the classroom.

Promoting optimistic experiences through sharing stories offers hope to the negative aspects we often see, hear, and read about. The experience I would like to share is about a group of students who gathered to identify the equality of human emotion. The importance of understanding children and their differences among family, friends, and schools can be one of the most significant factors of their education as well as their future. In many cases students may look at their differences. I viewed a demonstration where students were asked questions based on some emotional aspects of their life while they were all standing in a circle. Some of the questions asked were as follows.

Has anyone ever felt sad?

Has anyone ever been put down?

Has anyone ever lost a friend, father, mother, brother, sister, or an animal? 

As the questions were being asked the students were required to move to various areas. As the students were moving, aha moments were happening all around, some at different times. You could see everyone looking at everyone while they all moved around. Some of the students started crying. The point of the story is that even though some of us look different we all have most of the same emotions at one point or another in our life. These commonalities, not differences are why we as human beings, charged with emotions, are scared to sometimes be different. After the students  could visually see everyone in the room move to different  areas of the room based on emotional aspects they have been through the students began giving each other hugs, not because they were asked to but because they were all the same, with similar  feelings at this particular point and time. We have to learn how we can relate to each other, how much more the same we are, and that differences are not bad they are just different.

Embracing positivity and encouraging emotional balance in the classroom can prove to be challenging but the above example gives me hope. Sharing opportunities concerning the state of education must begin first with the state of mind.

Artifacts and Community

Finding 5 artifacts that best defined me was a great way to look inside myself and reflect on my past and what I value in my life. The artifacts presented by classmates were personal and left the viewer with only an abstract idea concerning the artifacts. This encouraged me to imagine what the artifacts meant, how they were used, and how they felt. Each artifact opened a new door to a different fantasy and created wonder and excitement in my mind. As I focused in on the artifacts, I felt as if I was looking through a keyhole. I felt as if I was spying on someone’s life one scene at a time. This gave me an idea.


The Investigation of an artifact
Students would construct a personal narrative through journalism, investigation, exploration, and report their findings.Students would bring in artifacts and set the artifacts in a pile on the floor. The teacher would take pictures of the artifacts and print the pictures out. The teacher would give half of the class a picture of an artifact. The students would find the person that the artifact belonged to. The teacher could come up with questions as a class(provide an experience) about what types of questions they would like to be asked about their personal artifacts.The class would brain storm possible questions.


Examples of Questions
How old is the artifact?
Where did the artifact come from?
What does the artifact mean?




Students would be encouraged to write about what they thought the artifacts represented before they asked the other student questions relating to their artifact. The students would then use a Venn diagram to compare the differences or similarities about their thoughts of the artifact. The students would create presentations using power point, voice recordings, or video cameras to document their findings. The students would then share their findings with the class.The partners would switch the following week and investigate their partners artifacts.






In this assignment students would find many differences among their classmates as well as see how much they are the same. Learning and accepting others values will help students see different cultural aspects,beliefs, and feelings as well as build community. Interviewing another student about their artifact will also promote that students ideas and experiences are important. Sharing their thoughts about their artifacts gives them a voice about something they may be passionate about.