Saturday, April 14, 2012

Wk 2 Leadership: Publish or Present??

Hmm....I have not really given them that much thought as far as if I had to decided right now. I have published articles in newspapers before and presented at conferences and meetings but I do not know about presenting or publishing my project.

The project did not go as well as I hoped but under the circumstances, it went well. I learned a lot about the students today and the old way of learning is obsolete to them. They have laptops, computers, iPads, iPhones, tablets and much more to aid in them learning things. My target audience taught me a lot and I had to make changes.

The obstacle that hindered a lot of the project was time and the fact that I am not a teacher so I had limited contact with my population. I took full advantage of the time and contact I had but with running a FREE tutoring program, resources and time are limited. I loved the experience and I would love to share my experience with the world but I don't know how I want to do that yet.

Wk 2: Comments on Kwasida's Blog

Kwasida,

I agree that reading this book at this time was very beneficial to me also. Like you, I have read many self help books and this book made me think about my life and where it is heading and where I'm at now.

A lot of people would not call me optimistic and positive but I see myself as a realist. I don't see it as being a negative person but I live in reality most of the time. I can agree with the authors when they state that much of our existence is about survival. I can interpret that many ways based on experiences and life.

Hang in there, you are a survivor.


The book The Art of Possibilities by Benjamin Zander is an inspiring and amazing book. The reading assignment comes at a perfect time in my life and I stand at several crossroads in my life. While, I've read numerous self help books, I like the way the author frames the power of possibilities. I'm a pretty positive and optimisitic person. However, latetly I've been tested by a few challenges in my life. As I read the text, I'm reminded that I really need to draw a different frame around my current circumstances. This suggestions is motivating and aspiring because it provides hopes. The following, statement " We perceive only the sensations we are programmed to receive, and our awareness is further restricted by the fact that we recognize only those for which we have mental maps or categories," is powerful as it encourages us to think beyond our perceptions.

I also really appreciate the author, stating that much of our existence is about survival. Day in day out, even as I strive for personal fulfillment my subconscious is pretty much focused on the business of  survival. I enter the realm of possibility when I'm around the ocean, as it calms my spirit and grounds me  and reminds me to just be.


Zander, R. Zander, B. (2002) The Art of Possibility. Transforming professional and personal life 1-65

Wk 2: Comments on Alison's Blog

Alison,
I know all about “unspoken expectations,” I face them everyday as an adult. It was harder to deal with as a child. Everybody wanted you to do this, be that or act some kind of way according to their standards.
I think I turned out pretty good among the madness of those expectations. I have started taking risk now since I am old enough to handle what ever comes with taking those risk.

I have a “bucket list” that is forcing me to be more adventurous and push me to experience life by my rules. I learned that those “expectations” made me afraid and my own worse critic. Now I just say, whatever if things do not go as planned or something messes up. Life is about right and wrong, making good and bad choices. You have one life so live it on your own terms and to the fullest.


As I read the first four chapters of The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, I started to reflect on how their ideas impact me.  As I was growing up, there was an unspoken expectation that I was going to do “right” – go to college, get a good job, get married and have my 2.5 kids.  I was afraid to fail.  Because I was afraid to fail, I took no risks.  In college, my viola professor was desperately trying to get me to play a piece I was working on more passionately, but I just didn’t get it.  Trying to get me to open up, she told me to yell.  Yell anything.  Scream.  But I couldn’t do it – in fact, I couldn’t even make a sound.  To me, that was so wrong, and definitely NOT proper.  However, over time I started to realize that that was exactly what I needed.  All these ideas of what were right and wrong and what was expected of me were all things I had conjured up myself.  I was hurting myself in this “safe” place I kept myself in.  I began to take risks, and I began to see the world differently.  While I allowed myself an A in many things, I realize now that there is so much more I should be giving myself an A in.  Not only that, but giving others around me an A.  Changing that perspective and opinion in others, be it students, colleagues, friends or family,  I can only begin to imagine the difference in changing my life as well as others.

Wk 2: The Art of Possibility


The Art of Possibility reminded me of the books I read when I was pursuing my Masters in Counseling and Psychology. This book requires that you be open-minded and think outside of the box.

The issue of perception always fascinating and I can agree from experience that we see the things we want to see. Most of the times, we see the things that are most important to us.  Interpretation is another aspect that affects people in different ways. I work at a community college and I see students of all ages. I have learned that I cannot relay the same information the same exact way to a 20-year-old student and a 50-year-old student. When talking to people, you have to be mindful not to insult their intelligence. Perception is everything, how I see something is not the way my mother would see it.

Obstacles are something we all face. Recently, I lost my uncle during our spring break. It was hard to focus on anything other than that. I am still coping. The body and mind work together to function. Things like survival, security, perception, and how we interpret things is all apart of being human. We exist in this world based on the many of the things listed. These things differ based on age, race, nationality and other things.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Wk 1: Leadership Role Model

People who are born leaders are very rare. Most leaders had to learn the role of being a leader. A leader possesses many incredible talents but first and foremost, in my opinion, a leader must learn to follow or be willing to follow before leading. I many times am asked what characteristics or qualities must a leader possess. I will list them as my top 5: 1. PATIENt, 2. Honest, 3. Hard worker, 4. Trustworthy, 5. Optimistic. There are many more qualities but that is my top 5.

The organizations that display leadership:

AKA
The oldest Greek-lettered organization. I have been apart of this organization since 2004. The sorority is made up of women from different races, ethnicities, occupations and the list goes on. Leadership is something we promote and strive for in our day to day live.

SCCEOPP
This organization holds an annual Student Leadership Conference for students participating in SC TRIO programs.


People I admire:

Teachers everywhere
-Today's youth are different from when I was in school and I applaud any teacher who can inspire and help students achieve their level of success.


The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth."  ~Dan Rather

Mentors
I serve as a mentor to former students of mine. I enjoy sitting around talking to them about life and experience and most of all I love just listening to them. Most students just need someone to listen.



Dreams sometimes do come true. But not without something that looks a lot like hard work.      
-Sylvia Ashton Warner





Comments on Amanda's Blog

Amanda,

Copyright is confusing and will always be something society will question. In your post, you stated "As technology grows and changes, transforms the way people create and view their cultural relevance." I totally agree. As technology and this world changes, people will also have to change to adapt. The whole copyright issue is something I know about, school has beat it in my head but yet they never really explained why. We were just told you cannot violate copyright laws.

Creative Commons is a lifesaver for some. Copyright is still confusing to some people. In education, I just want to use a picture in my blog post for class and give credit to where I got it from. Some people may see it as illegal even though I referenced where I got it from. It is mind-boggling to me. After all the videos and articles I read on the issue, I am still a little confused because everyone has their perception on copyright.


Week 1: Copyright Issues







Image courtesy of (2008) MikeBlogs. 
Some rights reserved.

After viewing and reading the articles provided to us about copyright it is hard to wrap my head around how this term or law has changed and continue to change the way we share, view and create information, art, and media.

I had never particularly paid attention to some of these laws and what they truly meant. This topic has really opened my eyes to a concept that was something I had never known much about as well as Creative Commons, which seems to simplify this ever changing and relatively outdated law.




 Screenshot of “A Shared Culture,”
by Jesse Dylan.

I think Creative Commons was created out of the necessity for all of the confusing copyright infringements that can happen unknowingly. Larry Lessig’s ideas were an essential step forward to help with this massive law. As technology grows and changes, transforms the way people create and view their cultural relevance. So changes in these copyright laws and new Creative Commons is inevitable and will continue to impact how media and art is shared to suit these every changing needs.





Screenshot obtained from centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use


The notion of Fair Use was intended to provide a safe guard so that copyrighted material can be used or reshown but only in limited and vague circumstances. Which can seem a bit confusing.  So with the notion that, yes this term Fair Use apply and doesn’t apply to situations you may have once thought, brought fourth a Fair Use best code practices guide to help the creator, figure out some of the Fair Use Practices that are applicable to the content the creator is using to recreate his or her own work.


The case with Shepard Fairey seems to fall under these inconspicuous Fair use practices but many people fall on either side of the spectrum with this case especially because of the earlier work Fariey has created as well as not providing credit to the original artist. 



Screenshot of Larry Lessig's TED Conference  


This topic has undoubtedly been an eye opening learning experience to the laws and how I look at material viewed or created.  One point that stood out particularly and can really apply to whole idea of copyright was given by Larry Lessig in his TED conference, describing the term “Democratize” which is roughly described that “anybody with access that can take sounds and images from culture to recreate and say things differently. Theses tools of creativity have become tools of how our kids think, speak, and their relationship to themselves.”




Wk 1: Comments on Dana's Blog

Dana,

The video, “A Fair(y) Use Tale” caught my attention and I automatically thought of ways it could be used with teaching the students I come in contact with about copyright. The video used bits and pieces from many Disney movies to make a point. I ask, was the video illegal if it was used for educational purposes? Hmm, makes you think. I also agree with you when you say there are many sides to copyright. There are people who just use material just because and profit off of it, people like us who use material for education and mean no harm and people who do documentaries to educate and inform others.

Week 1 Reading Entry




One video mentioned that copyright isn’t about use, but about permission, which I think is really important to remember.  It doesn’t so much matter how you used something or what your intentions were, but do you have permission to use it? 

I found the Disney clips video, A Fair(y) Use Tale, very interesting.  In talking about fair use, a video mentioned using just a small part, which this video obviously complies with.  This really makes me think about teachers.  I know many teachers show clips and videos all the time.  It makes me wonder: is what a lot of us do on a regular basis actually illegal?

I think there are 2 sides to look at copyright, well maybe 3.  Some people just want movies and music for free.  Some people have fairly good intentions and want to use copyrighted items, maybe for educational purposes and want to see what they can get away with, and hope they don’t get caught.  Another side of that are documentary filmmakers who want to prove a point or preserve history.  To me, this seems like more of an unselfish point of view.

I really like the idea of creative commons.  It’s a way for artists to put their work on the Internet for people to use under the conditions they set.  I thought the video was very nice.  It was nice to see an explanation of creative commons.  We’ve used Flickr Creative Commons in previous classes in this program, but I was never completely clear what it was, exactly.

Youtube video: A Fair(y) Use Tale by Eric Faden/Media Education Foundation, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FNDo

Youtube video: Eyes on the Fair Use of The Prize directed and produced by Jacob Caggiano, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r0pM1hJGU8

Blip.TV video: A Shared Culture produced by CreativeCommons.org, retrieved from http://blip.tv/file/1192356/