TeachUTeachMe

bit and pieces

Not much going on around here, so here are some bits and pieces.

I love presents that keep on giving after they are opened; such as this beauty given to us by John & Barbara (bro/wife).  Two more blossoms to go, :>) 

 

1. Aunt Ruby in AR has no power, but able to get to a friend's with heat.
2. Got my University To Do list to managable proportion.

3. I finished my part of the AACTE chapter/paper being presented next Friday/Saturday in Chicago.

4. LOST was most interesting last night. . . Why didn't Richard remember the compus that Locke gave him? that's my burning question today.

5. Can anyone tell me why my post is suddenly going all double spaced on me????? I like TypePad, but since the upgrade I have had trouble with posting on all three computers. POOH!

6. no knitting photos to show because the sun has taken a hike, except when I am at the office and away from my knitting! Have two FOs for show & tell. Presently making another Noro 1x1 scarf for myself --- going to be Br-r-r-r in Chicago next week.

7. All out of news, or whatever this is. Maybe some photos of knitting over the weekend.

Weekend trip

I made the trip across state to see Mom & Dad this weekend. I was forced to take an unexpected detour because of an accident on 161 near King's Mountain. The state trooper sent me back to King's Mountain State Park to drive through the park to get to US 85. I had never been to this park, so I took a few minutes to visit the Visitor's Center --- only to discover this is a state park with a national park in the middle of it.

 Learned some facts from a Park Ranger

1. battle only lasted 1 hour,
2. 1000 men on each side, and 
3. only battle in RW when Americans fought against Americans.

  

Virginia sent a photo of baby Julie in her sweater & blanket. She is soooo cute, and of course the sweater is really sweet on her.

Did some knitting while visiting parents, will post photos tomorrow.

Snow Day!

not so unusual for my nothern friends, but here in South Carolina snow is an event.

 

 

On the knitting front: I finished off all the baby things; washed, blocked, and wrapped for mailing just as soon as I can get there. I decided to add a tassel to the Tulip hat, but didn't take a new photo. It was so cute.

I also finished the Swirling Rib Cowl and wore it. But I made an error in using the bamboo fiber; too soft and drapey for a cowl. Also with the color variance and drape, the rib almost disappears. Live and Learn.

 

 

Going to spend this lovely day finishing the revision of another chapter, listening to tv telecast of inauguration, and maybe knit a bit while watching the 4th season of LOST; only have today to finish before season opener. I am so glad that they switched to Wednesday, as I always had to race home and through dinner with hubby after Thursday night class.

off to work on chapter.

Staycation is over. . .

I spent today preparing to return to teaching; revised syllabus and class schedules, rewrote several assignments, and updated a WebQuest that I use for an assignment. Tra-La! 

But this is also a knitting blog, so this is what is on my needles for right now.  First, this is a project for me. The stitch is Swirling Diagonal Rib knit with Fibranaturea Exquisite Bamboo, in Winter Sky. It is an easy knit, but requires some counting and keeping track of rows. The pattern is Aibhinn by Mary Burr and I found it on Kitty.com: Winter 04 Issue.     

   

I am knitting my second Tulip Sweate. The pattern came with a kit which I ordered from Kitty City when I was in NYC last February. I made a previous one from cotton for a niece who lives in a warm climate. Fiber is Dream in Color, see details on Raverly.  Now I am knitting for the daughter of a friend. Expectant mother lives in Denmark, so the wool will be perfect.

That is all I've got for today; brain is fuzzy from thinking after a relaxing Christmas break.

Happy Days: Staycation & lots of knitting

I love a good staycation and this was one of the best with lot of time for reading, knitting and watching my new DVDs of the first four seasons of Lost. I am waiting anxiously for the new season, so decided to review while I knit and wrapped presents.

Not every minute was spent at home. I did go visit my parents and my nephew, David, who flew out from the west coast to spend four days with us. that made the holiday even more special to have him with us.  

Hope all of you had a good Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year. Now that the holidays are over, I can share my FOs that were gifts (see Ravelry). I knit every minute I could find AND actually did a bit of sewing. So here we go. . .

First, here are the baby things for Virginia's baby. These are both from Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss

       

Then the very popular 2X2 Noro Silk scarf worn by our nephew, David Jr, who got the scarf for Christmas. You can find directions for this scarf on Brooklytweed This was a quick and relaxing knit --- love the fiber which is silk, mohair and lamb's wool. Once washed it is soooo soft and cuddly.

 

Next I made birthday hat and mittens for niece, Kat. These FOs were knit with Noro Silk and can be found in Noro Designer Mini Knits by Jenny Watson. I bought my copy of this book and all of my fiber at Yarn Shop by Rainy Day Creations in Pineville, NC.

       

My sewing project was for my friend Lisa, who is just learning to knit.

          

But the fun is almost over and I have work to do now. Some edits of the book chapters I wrote, emails to co-author and contributors, and some other easy stuff. Then it is on to revising syllabi, making class schedules, and updating the course sites on WebCT. All that makes returning to work seem too real.

Speaking of work which I will do rarely, but this is a public action that has been in the local newspaper. Everyone at the University has been furloughed for nine days (read: docked pay, but still have to work) this spring semester. Sigh! The state took back 3.4 million dollars of state support for the University. That is important to know because we are getting less than 20% of our budget from the state! Parents and students take notice!! That is why tution is rising across the state abd perhaps in other states as well! Yes, I am whinning, but not really for myself --- I will not be overly affected by this at this point in my career and I do realized that I HAVE a job, etc. But I do see this as one more way for the state administration to note that we really don't need the money and continue to lower our funding. Okay, enough. 

Life in general is good and we and the extended family are well. Wishing the same for you and yours in 2009.

The knitter in me takes over. . .

I decided that I am not getting value for my money if I continue to blog solely about teaching. I just don't have the time or interest to scour the Internet for tidbits about teaching when so many others do a better job. You can find those blogs listed on my delicious page @ http://delicious.com/eversr   

So I am changing it to a more general blog about my crafts as well as my academic life; more about books I am reading, works in  progress (both research and crafts), vague references to family and friends (to protect the guilty),  and my daily activities.

This is not my only presence on the web, I also Twitter as @eversr so you can get in touch with me there, post lots of photos (see flickr on sidebar), and post projects on ravelry @ http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eversr

hope you will check in and comment whenever you can.

Where have I been?

Where have I been? No where, just didn't seem to have anything to say; wondering if I really want to blog and what should I blog about.

• I don't usually blog about my unversity or students there for all the obvious reasons that other professors have learned the hard way --- too many possibilities for trouble there. But some of the events at the University did keep me from blogging; teaching schedule, some strife and distress and then there is the general stress of any workplace --- bits involving me such as my post tenure review, but mostly just that general and probably normal stressors, including that our dean resigned and the search for a new dean;
• I was finishing my chapters of "THE book": Now the first draft of 12 chapters is done and out for review.
• I did several big jobs for Allyn & Bacon Publishers that kept me busy. These were teaching materials for two textbooks, so won't find my name on them.
• Became the new editor for the Education Annual Edition published by McGraw-Hill. That was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed it.
• Involved in two research projects with folks in my department. Very interesting -- we are woking on ways to evaluate those elusive dispositions for teaching that we think our teacher candidates should have before they graduate. Also, looking at their Internship Work Sample for evidence that they are using the knowledge and skills we have taught in the core courses. I assume that the content area folks are doing the same. These led to presentations at three conferences last year: National Education Computing Conference (June 2007), Council for Learning Disabilities (October 2007),  and American Education Reseach Association (April 2008). 
• But not all was work, did some fun things as well. I have been doing more reading for pleasure, visiting my parents once a month (mostly), and began knitting again. Spent time almost everyday working in the "garden" --- needs lots more work before I can leave off the quote marks.  Then, I completely refurnished my home office; furniture from a box that took several days to construct.

So those were some of the things that were keeping me busy. But where to go from here. 

Learning Styles: Again???

The debate goes on regarding learning styles (teaching to a particular modality). In a recent letter to the Editor, Alyssa Sosinski writes:

“Study after study shows this specific subculture is more likely to comprise kinesthetic learners, who learn best when carrying out physical activities, and is also likely to comprise more creative learners. Since the standardized tests are not written for kinesthetic learners, this may be why those children score so low - not because they don't know the material.

Our students are learning and our teachers are teaching! The standardized tests set forth by NCLB are biased in that they recognize the success of the linguistic and logical-mathematical learner, and therefore are missing a huge population in our schools. These children go through life believing they are failures based on test scores that do not accurately measure their intelligence and are culturally biased against them.”

Eric Schmidt responded to Ms. Sosinski’s letter with:

“The idea that standardized tests don't accurately measure what all children have learned because they emphasize what the letter-writer calls "linguistic and logical-mathematical" skills is a strange criticism. Such skills are at the heart of intelligence. Teaching students to read, write, and cipher - and to think - have been considered the basic tasks of teachers for millennia. That standardized tests should be biased in favor of this is exactly what we should want. After all, what the tests are designed to measure is not kinesthetic ability, but academic ability. Rather than blame the messenger, one could more reasonably draw the following conclusion: Students don't do well on these tests because they simply don't know the material tested. Any concern about the success of poor and minority students should begin with a recognition of these realities.”

I learned of the above letters when Dr. Llyod discussed the topic in his blog Teach Effectively  citing an article by Dr. Willingham (also of UVA). In this article, Dr. Willingham cites cognitive psychology research that determined teaching in the content’s modality is more likely to help learners than teaching to a particular modality. I recommend that readers visit the links above for Dr Llyod’s comments,

Reading Dr. Lloyd’s blog this morning reminded me of a challenge made by Will Thalheimer in the summer of 2006 and discussed again this August. Dr. Thalheimer offered $1000 to anyone who could offer evidence that learning styles actually improve learning outcomes. He still has his $1000.   

If there is no credible evidence that teaching to learning styles makes a difference in learning outcomes, why do so many teachers and educational leaders continue to base teaching methods and school programs on a false belief? I found an answer near the end of an earlier article by Dr. Willingham’s article: Students remember. . .what they think about.

I wish I could believe that this debate will end anytime soon and that teachers will attend to the tasks of teaching with/for meaning and finding the best method for teaching a specific content; rather than spending their time thinking of “fun” ways to teach. I don’t mean that learning should not be fun, but rather that because they are learning and doing well, students will find the content taught interesting and relevant to their lives which gives it meaning --- so they learn.

Added Snaps today

I am trying out the new widget I added today.

I try to read this blog everyday --- such a wonderful example of how parents can be advocates for their child. I hope you will read the blog and BUY the book.

Busy Summer

Been busy time since AERA and don't see any change in the near future; end of the semester, Maymester class everyday for 3 weeks, and got 2 on-line courses up and running. So now Maymester is over and so is one of the on-line courses, so time to breathe. Getting ready to go to NECC next week. Presentation will be fun; how we are incorporating Web 2.0 into our teacher ed program.