It's time for a revolution. Vamanos! (reforming K-12 education)

Steve Denning's article about changing the whole fabric of the K-12 education system is an eye-opening piece http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/09/01/the-single-best-idea-for-reforming-k-12-education/. He believes that the whole system is flawed because of the erroneous belief that the "factory model of management" can be used with education, when in fact, it hardly even works with factories/companies. This model dictates that everything is done for the system and, in the case of schools, that students ,teachers, parents, and administrators must adjust to it, in order for all cogs to function. This, according to the author, leads to students who feel dispirited because their imagination and creativity are being stifled. They feel like they are just being crammed with info and have to parrot it back when the time comes.

The thing that needs to change, according to him, is the goal of education: not making the students study more effectively but having students inspired to be lifelong learners. This article had the same feel as the other I read a couple of days ago that I blogged about( http://zenhabits.net/kid-skills/). Both mentioned that the future is unpredictable, and having students just learn one set of skills to do a  specific job will not be beneficial to them because that job may not be there in 10-15 years.

Thanks to Sean Doran's post on the same article( http://seandoraneduc932.blogspot.kr/2013/10/what-can-fix-broken-educational-system.html) , I learned that Finland has tried to do exactly what is being put forth by the author. After doing a little research on my own and finding this article,
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html?c=y&page=2 , I feel that this is truly the way of the future. Once those who are standing firm that the "old way" is the best are no longer in the picture, we can start on the road that will eventually lead us to better, happier, and more independent students. Unfortunately, I feel that Korea might be one of the last places where a change like this may occur. People here are not quick to change, more so than back in North America. I'm hoping for the best. 화이팅!

My first Screencast.....ahhhh...Im growing up

Who among you doesn't know how to create a group chat in SKYPE ( cue the cricket sounds)? Well..if you dont please have a listen. I hope it is helpful.

Better preparing our kids for the unknown future

The post that I read,  http://zenhabits.net/kid-skills/, was written by an individual who believes that the way we have been teaching our children, by means of memorizing information and regurgitating it back,is flawed and that a whole new approach, what he calls "deschooling" ,is needed to form a more well rounded individual. His main argument was that people "back then" believed the world of the future would change very little, so the information gathered then would be still relevant in the future. Unfortunately, we don't know what the future has in store thus we can't truly prepare for it. Instead, he believes that it is better for an individual to learn a certain set of skills which will allow the individual to become better prepared at adapting to any kind of change the individual is faced with.

One of the skills is "asking questions". He believes that by asking questions, one is able to learn many new things on their own. I agree with this completely. Looking at the way some Koreans are taught, by simply listening quietly to what is taught, I find that some have a difficult time formulating questions and expressing their opinions.

Second skill is letting them be more independent. Once again, I could not agree more. Individuals who are taught how to do things by themselves, are able to build up a lot confidence and have a sense of pride that the thing that they are doing is theirs. Of course, this is something that should be taught in stages throughout a child's life.

Overall, the list of skills he mentions make sense although actually implementing them all may be a huge challenge to any parent planning on "deschooling" their children. Only time will tell I suppose. As for me as a teacher, I believe that I should try to challenge my students more and try to incorporate some of these skills into my future lesson plans.

Save the Planet for Another Day...save Alaska....let the caribou stay

Having been an elementary school teacher in Korea for over 6 years now, I've had many highs and lows with respect to my lesson plans. When I first started out, I can honestly say that very few of my lessons were of high quality. Don't get me wrong, I tried my best to create what I thought were great lesson plans but that fact that I had little experience teaching at that level lead to less than perfect material. Thinking back on those days, I would say that many of my lessons were very poorly structured and didn't have a smooth flow to it. As with everything in life, the more you practice the better you get at that skill.

Over time, and with the help of the many websites that cater to us ESL teachers, such as http://www.waygook.org/, I have been able to fine tune my skill to where a feel like I can produce and most importantly deliver the info in a very clear and fun way. I'm not saying that I don't produce lesson plans that don't bomb...I still do that too at times and  it's always the first class of the opening lesson (I always feel sorry for them....lol)  But I'm able to pinpoint the problems quickly and tweak it in ways that enable me to still use it.

Now this year, the lesson plan that worked best for me was the lesson I taught to my 6th grade students on using "Should and Shouldn't". Now since I have a background in Biology, I thought I'd use those key words and relate it to our environment. They are fairly low level so I always try to keep my lesson very simple and accompany it with some sort of activity that includes a PPT and /or Youtube clips. So I used some incredibly funny clips, for example,  http://www.youtube.com/watchv=h8Ek3v1RBEU ,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzsQwwnqSGo and  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PqiSMtbxhY, to try and elicit responses using those key words. Now before, I showed these videos, I showed them a PPT which contained all other words that they would need in order to make  a full sentence. In the PPT, I had words like pick up, throw away, pollute, garbage, plastic bottles, save...etc. I had the students in groups of four with a whiteboard.  After each video and a minute of brainstorming with the other students, they would write a sentence that was related to protecting our planet. Some of the higher level students really surprised me with their answers. Things like " You shouldn't waste energy" or "You should turn off the lights before you go to bed" , were examples of things the students wrote.

The reason why i think this lesson was so successful was that it included a component that all students, even the ones with absolutely zero English, could enjoy. That being the video clips. All students enjoy a good laugh and bonus if they are using the intended language and learning something from it. I'm off to plan another lesson plan...... Good to luck to me and my first class students :)

(By the way.. the title of my Blog comes from a line in Neil Young's "Be the Rain" song on his Greendale album...which is Killer!)

Please tread lightly my friends!! (Digital footprints)

Living in a digital era where most information is readily available to anyone at any given time, one must be very cautious of the trails they leave behind in order to keep one's professional and personal reputation intact. I want to talk about a few things that one can do to ensure that the information they are allowing the world to see will not eventually come back one day in the future and bite them in the butts as well as steps we can do to sculpt our digital reputation.

Firstly, when creating your image, be it with Facebook,Twitter, etc. , one must present themselves to their audience in a way that befits the position they have. What  I mean by that is if you are a teacher or director of a company, you would want your tool of choice to reflect the professionalism you bring to your job. With that, the individual should make that their personal site does not contain any images that might damage their reputation. Pictures of you drinking from a beer bong ,that can be viewed by perspective employers, may not be in your best interest .On the same note, your site should not contain opinions that might easily offend others. Topics like religion and politics for example should be avoided at all cost unless you want to create another separate account using  a pseudonym.Sometimes the most harmless thing can snowball into something beyond your control.

Prior to this lesson I never gave my digital footprint any thought. My Facebook account until yesterday was the only way that people had access to my information online.  Ive now registered to Twitter as well. We were asked what steps we would do to sculpt our own personal footprint. Honestly, I had no clue. But after perusing the following site http://www.speakers.ca/2010/08/how-to-build-your-digital-footprint-in-8-easy-steps/, I've come to discover that creating your digital footprint is not something that you should rush into.According to this author, there are 8 steps one should consider before starting up. For example, choosing the right content channel and/or social network that's most suitable for what you plan on accomplishing.


Hope the above link helps you better understand the concept of your digital footprint. Enjoy!

The road to becoming a better presenter

I think there are many ways a person can become a better presenter. I will be discussing two that I think matter the most to me as a teacher. One of these is much easier to improve on then the other but I believe that having both of them in your arsenal will no doubt increase your ability to share information with others more effectively.

The first skill that everyone needs to know is how to present their information to the audience in a  clear and concise way when using technology. Most of the presenters that I have listened to in the past at mu university delivered their message across using the PowerPoint medium. Although most of them did a good job at organizing their presentation, I can recall a few that overwhelmed the audience with unnecessary information on each slide making it very hard for the audience and myself to follow. When setting up your presentation, it is imperative that you follow a certain format so that your audience has the best chance of getting the message that you intend to deliver. Things like keeping the number of words of each slide to a minimum, using proper contrast, and the always dependable KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid) adage, can help the audience soak up the information more efficiently. When I first started using PowerPoint, I was definitely guilty of trying to "wow" the audience rather than making sure that the information was easily understandable. Ive used a couple of YouTube videos for ideas on how to better set up my PPT's. 

The second thing that you have to make sure you do is to try to be interactive with the audience while delivering your presentation. Personally, I find this the hardest to do because I am a more introverted person and find it very difficult to express myself well in front of large groups. We can all recall a presentation, I'm sure, where the presenter simply stood at the podium and just read his cue cards or read each bullet from his Power Point. Not great, right? Now, what if that person ditched his cue cards and began walking around the room and interacting with the audience by asking questions and trying to get them involved? Way better, no? By doing this, you can capture your audience's attention way more effectively thus ensuring that your audience will be following your every word. I must admit that I still struggle with this to this day. I haven't really had to do many presentations since my university days so I'm really nervous about the upcoming presentations for this course. That being said, I also look forward to this challenge and  the chance of becoming more at ease with myself in front of an audience.


I believe delivering presentations effectively is not something that comes easily or quickly to anyone. I think one becomes well versed with them only through trial and error. Seeing what works well and what doesn't is the only sure fire way to better presenting.   

The ways I can improve myself as a teacher...let me count the ways

Even since I started working as a naturalist at the local park in my neighborhood at the tender age of 17, I’ve had this need to share the things I know with others, especially to younger children. Having been a teacher here in Korea for over 10 years at the elementary school level, I still feel that I haven’t lost this passion to teach and I still thrive to be the best teacher I can be.

That being said, there are still a few things that I feel that I need to improve on in order to keep up with the times. When I first got to Korea, the only computer programs that I had confidence in were Word, Excel, and I had a basic understanding of PowerPoint. Unfortunately due to my lack of computer skills, I have really never ventured off that path with more current tools such as Prezi. Computers have really always overwhelmed me. Due to this, I have stuck with the things I know and pretty much have been milking them to death. In my defense, the reason why I haven’t really changed is because I feel the students are still enjoying what I have to offer them. Or at least, that's what it seems to me.

The reason why I am so excited for this course is to get a better understanding of the technology available to me so that I can bring it in to the classroom and make my lessons more enjoyable and interactive for the students. With anything in life, variety is key. With different teaching tools, I can hopefully engage the students more, and by doing that, the students might feel more inclined to continue their English studies.

Another thing that I feel I need to improve is my communication skills with my co-teacher. Over the last 3 years at my present elementary school I have been pretty much a “one man show” going on. The co-teacher in my classroom is more there for discipline and translation and is really not a part of the class. I do this because her English skills are not very good and sometimes it takes me a while to get my message across to her. I feel that if I had her "on my side" we would have better classes. I hope that a can pick up some useful tools in this class to try and improve on my current situation.

Wish me luck!