Here's a great link I found about academic branding.  Check it out!

http://www.slideshare.net/SidneyEve/academic-branding-36767502

My Chosen Resource Article Analyzed

As most who are reading this blog are already aware, (Hello fellow classmates!) the second assignment in my composition class was to choose an article related to the topic, the flipped classroom, as a resource for our second paper.  Now, with this post, I am analyzing the article and giving my opinion on the success of the writer, Scott LaFee, to handle his reader and thesis.  I thought this would be an easy assignment.  After all, I had watched the professor's video, read, and really enjoyed reading, the assigned pages in the book, and completely read every topic on the website link the professor gave, not just the parts he said to make sure to read.  I figured, no big deal, right?  Until I sat in front of the computer.  I had already read the article several times, and normally at this point in the weekly assignment I would already have ideas or at least the beginning of something that could get me started.....but nothing!  So I read the article again.  Okay, now what? Not a whole lot happening upstairs at this point, if you know what I mean.....it's not often that I get like that.  A form of writer's block, I suppose.  This paragraph has gotten me through that, I hope! 

So I started to think about the "audience" part of everything I had been reading in our assignment and I decided that the first step would be to decide who was intended to be the audience of Scott LaFee's article, Flipped Learning.  This article was published in The School Administrator, a professional magazine published by the School Superintendents Association (AASA) in March of 2013. (Make sure I give proper credit!!) 

I think it would be safe to assume the audience of this particular article would be school superintendents.  That also says to me that I should be aware of a possible bias that would be good for school superintendents in some way, and I should also think about any personal bias's that I may bring to my judgment of Mr. LaFee's success handling his reader and thesis, be they good or bad.  Personally, I'm adjusting well to the schedule of the class, and my initial fear that it would have the feel of an online course has not, thus far, come true.  I enjoy the flexibility of the flipped class and the quick, concise course instruction.  Since I am aware that I have slightly favorable feelings towards the flipped class technique, I will strive to disregard that in my judgment of the article.
I also have many positive, and negative, opinions regarding the public school system as a whole because it's personal to me.  My children attend public school, so I want to know what's happening with our school system.  I feel, though, that most school employees really care and they have the children's best interests at heart.  I realize that the people that work for the public school system that my children and I have contact with, are the ground troops.  They're in the trenches doing the best they can.  So I don't have any negative feelings towards either the writer, nor the audience, of this particular article.

In regards to a possible bias that could be shown by the printer's of the article, I can't really think of too many things that could really sway a school superintendent considering the fact that the public school system is a government funded program.  After I did a quick glance over the major topics of the last twelve issues listed in the archive on the AASA website, I decided that it appears to be a highly specialized (school superintendents) trade magazine that delves into topics that are directly relevant to the public school system and some topics that are also related to the current events of the time period that the issue was published.  With all of that said, I don't see where if a teacher, school, or even an entire district were to begin to use the flipped classroom method, the AASA would benefit in any way, other than credit for giving good advice.  If the method worked, they gave good advice and if it doesn't then they were introducing it as a new trend, but possible fad........

Which, by the way, is the thesis of the article as stated by the following title, and first two sentences, which were visually emphasized, in the magazine.  The emphasis made it fairly clear what the author of the article was preparing to cover in the text that followed.  And I quote:

"Flipped Learning. Whether it becomes a fix or is just a fad remains to be determined as educators reverse the use of students' time in school and at home.  FLIPPING OUT IS IN."

So far I've covered the audience, my personal bias's, and the thesis, and it's now time to decide whether or not I feel that Scott LaFee handled his reader and thesis.  The text of the article describes the basic idea of what the flipped learning technique is, lists common doubts expressed by skeptics, and then answers through quotes from teachers that have used the technique, shows statistics of improvements in student's scores after the flipped class had been implemented in their school, briefly describes a possible drawback during the implementation of technique, and goes on to include additional resources about flipped learning.  Also included within the pages of the article, is a small article written by the principal of a Title I school who successfully implemented the technique.  I've concluded that Mr. LaFee handled his reader and thesis well.  It is informative, lists pros and cons of the topic, and gives personal accounts from teachers and administrators who have experienced the topic.  The article does a great job informing it's targeted audience of topic and made the information relatable to the audience, school administrators.

Another Positive of the Flipped Class

With flipped learning, there's also the added bonus of not experiencing leaving a class without ever having understood the professor, or the professor lecturing for and entire hour and a half with no interaction from the class.  After a while your brain shuts off and the last part of the class was blah, blah, (I'm so hungry) blah, blah, (Why won't this school let us have any food or drinks in class?), blah, blah, (You know we are adults?), blah, blah, (With what I pay for these classes I should be able to eat a freakin' Snickers bar!!), blah, blah, (At the point of mutiny......stomach growling like thunder.....), blah, blah....lecture's finally over.  I have no idea what happened in the last half hour.  My brain was too hungry!  With the "lecture" portion of the class done at home (Where I can eat a Snickers bar if I want to!), class time is handled differently.  It's more interactive, so it's easier to focus, even if my brain is hungry!

A Student's Approach to Flipped Learning

With flipped learning we, as students, can read and/or watch as few, or as many, articles and videos as we want and as many times as we would like to.  I tend to pick things up quickly, and I have a heavy course schedule this semester.  The ability to get my "homework" done quickly for the following week, then check in on the computer everyday and let the words flow when they happen to, and then show up to class, is a proficient use of my time.  Having a guided, but flexible structure to work within is an ideal format for a class for me and has been easy for me to fall into a regular pattern to manage into my busy schedule. 

 

But I also realize that not all students would utilize the system in the same way that I do.  This system of learning can be a benefit for those students who sometimes need to watch, hear, or read something a couple of times before it completely sticks.  That's the value of flipped learning, you have constant access to the course material and anything that a student doesn't understand can be discussed during the class time.  But a student has the ability to repeat the material prior to class so the concept can already, or at least mostly, be understood before entering class, and then time would only need to be used for the concepts that were not completely understood.  That allows for everyone in the class to pace themselves according to their particular educational needs.



The Flipped Classroom Technique....What Works and What Doesn't

The amount of time that we get to go over the material that should be covered for the week is fantastic.  The videos and reading assignments are short and can be reviewed if necessary for comprehension.  That gives us plenty of time in class to do what would normally be homework.  I do appreciate this, because if you are taking a full schedule of classes, then this leaves you with at least one class that isn't laying hours worth of homework on you every week.  I still end up checking up on my ongoing assignments outside of class, but it's not all left for that time.  That part of the class definitely works for me.

The part of the flipped classroom that I don't care for as much is the fact that it can lead to a less interactive lesson for the initial introduction of new material.  Though, with my current professor that is using the flipped classroom technique, I've found that that interaction comes later, when the parts of the lesson that were not completely understood are being discussed or the "classwork", or homework, portion of the course is happening.  This does provide the instructor of the course becoming involved with the class, so it's absolutely not a hands off approach to teaching.  It just happens to be in a different order than I am used to!  All in all, I do enjoy the flipped technique and I think that it works well for my English Composition class.

The Power of Words (Part 3)

We the People....

Those three words bring to mind so many things to so many people.  And they mean different things to different people, as well.  I'm sure that "We the People" means something completely different to an American as it does to an Englishman.  (History is viewed differently dependent upon whether you were the winners or the losers of any given war!)  The connotation and impact of the words are dependent upon the reader. 

Just thinking of the words, We the People, makes me, as a proud American, feel a quick swelling of pride and a fleeting impression of all of the things that were drilled into my head throughout my American public school education.  You know...the land of the free, home of the brave, first in everything, defenders of the downtrodden, leaders in democracy, and on from there.  These first three words of our United States Constitution are just regular words used in everyday vocabulary without any emotional impact at all, but as soon as you put them together, in that specific order, you almost always get some sort of a reaction that can, at times, be visceral.  That is the true power of words.  They stand for something.  And when they stand for something as great as what our country is, and represents, then they are truly powerful indeed!

The Power of Words (Part 2)

Words are not only spoken, but can be communicated in many other ways beginning with pictographs on cave walls by the earliest humanoids, then writing on animal skins.  We then moved onto the earliest forms of paper, hemp paper such as the United States Constitution was written on, and now the amazing feat of using technology to produce the written word on computers where it disappears into that unknown place called the "cloud." 

(By the way, does anyone really know where the cloud is?)

These various forms of recorded words have given present humans a glimpse into the minds of the people of an ancient, and not so ancient, time in history that the words of whichever document is being interpreted were written (or painted, etched, etc.).  And what a wonderful thing for our ancestors to have left for us!!!  The vast amount of information that we have gleaned from the many ancestral documents that have been discovered throughout the course of history has given us a glimmer into the past.  And all through the use of words.  In a way those humans whose writings have survived the test of time, spoke a message to the future and we are lucky enough to have the ability to read it.  What a gift!

The Power of Words (Part 1)

I believe that words can be one of the most powerful tools that we have as human beings.  There are so many ways and forms in which we can use them to create such a huge impact on the world at both the micro and macro level.



Within our home, as family members and, especially, as parents, our words create an impact on our children and help to make them who they are and, ultimately, who they become as adults.  These adults that we have affected with our words throughout their childhood go into the world and make impacts on it.  Depending on how we, as parents, have impacted them with our words, they can make either a positive or a negative mark on society.  They could become great and do wonderful, huge things or they could spiral down a self-destructive path that takes others with them and causes harm in numerous unknown ways.  With the power of our words, just within our own homes, we can make the world a better place, or we can cause irreparable damage to our family and future society.  These consequences, be it good or bad, are caused only by the spoken word and yet we use words in other forms.

A Personal Achievement...

I have been a smoker for the past six years and hated every day of it.  I began smoking because of a surplus of weight gained with one of my pregnancies coupled with a new thyroid condition.  Everything that I ate stayed with, and on, me and my weight was completely out of control.  So, with the naïve thought that I had great willpower and I would be able to put the cigarettes down as soon as my thyroid levels were in balance and my weight returned to an acceptable level, I made the horrible choice to begin smoking.  That was the biggest mistake of my life!!  What a nasty, unhealthy habit smoking is!  My assumption regarding the awesome strength of my willpower proved to be entirely incorrect.  Six years later, and countless efforts, aids and tactics used in the attempt to quit and here I am, still smoking.  The nicotine has, thus far, proven more powerful than my willpower.

That is not the end to this particular story, but the beginning.  I would never post something that makes me feel so ashamed of myself unless I had a triumphant ending to share!  I discussed my repeated lack of success using the common aids available over the counter (patches, gum, etc.) with my doctor and we agreed that Chantix would be a good option for me to try.  Though I generally try to avoid medications if at all possible, I decided that a medication in the short-term is better for my health than smoking long-term.  A little over a week later, and I'm delighted to say that I am cigarette free.  I don't even have an urge to smoke when I get stressed out, which, believe me, having five children will do to you.  I'm super excited and thrilled to be able to say, once again, that I am a non-smoker and proud of it!

My Online Image

After doing a Google search on myself, and only coming up with my Facebook page and information from others' various pages, I decided that I need to make a concerted effort to have more of a presence online.  The search results made me feel slightly invisible with us living in the technological era.  Fortunately, this problem is something that can be corrected and is certainly better than seeing many negative posts, comments, and pages attached to my name and image.  I've always kept my image on Facebook positive because my children are old enough to have their own pages and I force them to be my friends so I can monitor what they are doing online.  Being a mother has made me very aware of the negative, and even dangerous, things that can come as a result of using the Internet and social sites, so I've always been very careful to project an image that I can be proud of.  That awareness has also led me to the problem of not having enough of an existence online.  Thankfully I'm taking this class which has shown be the flaw in my careful Internet behavior!

Writing with a Group

Composing a group writing assignment has taught me many different things.  To begin with, I learned many things regarding the assigned topic, an online image, especially as it specifically relates to me.  While exploring the available information applicable to the topic of our paper, I was exposed to numerous facts that I had not previously known, such as: the extremely high percentage of companies that conduct online research of applicants before contact is even made for an interview, the importance of asking for written recommendations throughout your education and career, the various tools available that will notify you when something with your name tagged or attached is posted to the Internet, and, most significant to me personally, the perceived negativity that a lack of presence on the Internet can portray to employers looking at candidates that have applied for positions.  As I stated in my previous post, I have become more aware of my online image, or the current lack thereof, and am determined to show my future employers that I have kept up with the lightning fast pace of recent technological advancements.  After researching the vital role an online image now plays in the hiring and professional networking process, I found that the way to achieve my goal is to have a variety of positive, worthy information about me that is readily available through the most popular search engines.

Aside from the valuable information I learned about the subject matter contained within the report itself, I also gained an increase in social skills purely from the act of working on an academic project within a group.  I'm the type of person that is a natural leader so, as a result, I have always taken employment where I can utilize that part of my personality.  In general, whether it be at home or work, I make the decisions and give the orders.  This aspect of my persona can be both a strength and a weakness depending on the situation I find myself in.  At home, and in my usual employment in management, I've found that it is a strength.  This group assignment placed me in a position where I was required to hold back that urge to completely take over and tell the other group members what to write and how to accomplish said task.  In order for it to be a group project, and not just a paper that I wrote and put the other group members' names on, I had to reign myself in and really listen to the opinions, thoughts, and comments of the rest of the group.  All in all, I feel that the assignment taught me awareness of both my online image and my tendency to take charge and push others out.  It gave me an opportunity to work on myself as a person, and anything that gives you something that is beneficial to your personal growth is worth the time and effort you invest.

Writing to Learn

Every time I sit down to write a paper, and my "creative process" begins, I am thrown into a mental learning zone.  While brainstorming on the topic of the assigned paper, choosing a subtopic, beginning research, and possibly adjusting my subtopic depending on how information I found while researching correlated with my original thesis choice, I am absorbing information.  The research and writing process is, in and of itself, completely conducive to a maximum opportunity for learning.

About Me

My name is Brittany and I am a mother of five wonderful children between the ages of one and fifteen.  I have recently enrolled in college at South University in order to attain, first, a bachelor's degree in nursing and then a master's degree as a family nurse practitioner.  Many years ago as a young adult, I attempted to begin college immediately out of high school, but had trouble finding childcare for my oldest child, whom I had only a few months after high school graduation.  As a result, my education was put on hold so that I could care for him.

The most substantial concern for me in life has always been the provision of a proper environment for my children to be raised in, especially in their formative years.  Currently four of my children are school age, so this issue has become less of a constraint on me.  With the time that they are attending school now becoming available for me to utilize for my own personal development, I knew that my life was finally coming to a point that college would finally present itself as a realistic, attainable option.  I've always been the type of person who enjoys learning and I constantly search for opportunities in which I can accomplish that desire to know.

Recently, I was laid off from my employment as the office manager of a small home health care agency.  With a critical lack of employment prospects, education qualifications, and responses to the applications that I submitted following the lay off, I decided that my home, personal life and schedule could be arranged in order to permit my return to college.  With my return to an academic environment, I am able to fulfill that desire in a more structured way and, as a result, I am attaining the intellectual satisfaction that I have always instinctively sought in life.  My return to college, at this point in life, has helped to make me an all-around happy, fulfilled and content person.