Lecture Reaction

The lecture that I chose to attend was part of the Going Green: Sustaining a Just and Healthy Society. The one I went to was Green Chemistry: Novel Chemical Reactions and Processes for Pollution Prevention. From the lecture, I was able to think of several ways that I could apply the concepts to the classroom. Much of what he talked about was specific to chemistry, but there were a few things that I think would be possible to implement in an elementary school setting. One of the most basic things that I could do would be to use chlorine free paper. One of the main ideas of green chemistry is that things that go out into the environment should not remain. They should be recycled or reused with no negative effects to the environment. Chlorine free paper would be biodegradable and would not leave any harmful remnants. One of the other ideas of the lecture was that problems should be anticipated and prevented. Of course, in the lecture, this was in regards to harmful chemical byproducts, but I decided that it is an extremely applicable idea for use in the classroom. I think that if problems can be anticipated and avoided, then obviously the classroom will run much more smoothly. When planning an activity it would be a good idea to think through it and come up with possible problems and attempt to alter the activity so that the problems can be avoided. Another idea that was presented in the lecture was that green chemistry is about reusing waste. This is another idea that I think could easily use in the classroom. Extra papers and old handouts can be cut up into small pieces to be used for collages, and old broken crayons can be melted together to make larger crayons. I think that although this lecture was very much based on chemistry and how to make it "greener", many of the ideas presented can be adapted in such a way that they can be used in the classroom.

Lions for Lambs

I recently watched Lions for Lambs as a part of my Ed Psych class and it was one of those movies that stuck with me for a while even after it was finished. The parts that I found to be most relative and understandable to me were the scenes between the professor and his absentee student. The teacher was trying to get the student to see his own potential, something that was proving to be quite difficult. I had a hard time during parts of the movie deciding how I could make it relevant to my own future teaching experiences. I thought that since I am planning on being an elementary educator, that it will be very different for me, and that I probably wouldn't gain a lot from watching this movie. But after watching, and thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that as an educator, it will be my job as well to help students recognize their own potential. In fact, I'm almost positive that that was part of my high school's mission statement "educating students to reach their full potential!" I don't think it matters if you're teaching five year olds, or twenty-five year olds, it is still important to make sure that all students recognize their potential. As teachers, we need to make sure that we too recognize the potential in all students, and that we set high expectations for them to work up to. As the movie says, we need to be able to sell them, to them. That is what I will take from this movie, and I think that it will be a good thing to remind myself in the years to follow.

Welcome!

Welcome to my ed psych blog! This is a place that I will be voicing my thoughts and opinions about educational issues throughout the semester. I'm not sure how this will go, I've never done anything on this site before, and I admit, it was kind of difficult to set up. I'm sure by the end of the semester I'll be a professional! Be sure to stay tuned to see how my thoughts develop throughout the next few months.