Wednesday, March 29, 2017

About me...

How we define ourselves is an important part of our identity. As we saw in our previous post, during Middle Adolescence teenagers develop an independence as part of distancing yourself from your parents. As Simon Sinek said in the video we watched, this independence allows us to "acculturate (assimilate to a different culture) outside of our immediate family and into the broader tribe" of the society around us.

So for this post list three things that you feel you identify with or define you and a brief description of what it is about it that you enjoy.

Example:
Rock music: I like it because to me it is rebellious.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Why no cell phone's in school policy?

Let's start a discussion with why from a professional's point of view.

Simon Sinek is a marketing expert and motivational speaker. In this recent talk he discussed the issues about mobile technologies and their impact on generations of people having grown up on them.

https://youtu.be/YrT8lJNa9Z8?t=3m13s

For our conversation let's consider what happens during the stages of adolescence...





So for our blog post using the above chart, pick one or two elements of development under Early or Middle Adolescence and make an argument for or against using a phone in school. For example: During Early Adolescence as my intellectual interests expand I need a phone to engage more with what I'm interested in studying...discuss your opinion in a few coherent sentences. Do not copy my example.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Ted Talks II

For our 2nd blog post of Q3, you are the driver. Please visit TED and pick a topic, watch one of the many experts give their insight and share your findings with our class.

Please include a link to the talk in your post and describe in detail (atleast 5 sentances) describing what it was about and include why you chose to watch it and why you believe your classmates should check it out. Please include a link to the video you watch.

https://www.ted.com/talks

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

How to give a killer presentation.

Giving presentations is hard. Many of us are extremely uncomfortable speaking in front of an audience. It takes practice and skill. Here are some helpful tips. Excerpts from: https://hbr.org/2013/06/how-to-give-a-killer-presentation

Frame your story
We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey. A successful talk is a little miracle—people see the world differently afterward.

Plan Your Delivery
There are three main ways to deliver a talk. You can read it directly off a script or a teleprompter. You can develop a set of bullet points that map out what you’re going to say in each section rather than scripting the whole thing word for word. Or you can memorize your talk, which entails rehearsing it to the point where you internalize every word—verbatim.

Develop Stage Presence
The biggest mistake we see in early rehearsals is that people move their bodies too much. They sway from side to side, or shift their weight from one leg to the other. People do this naturally when they’re nervous, but it’s distracting and makes the speaker seem weak. Simply getting a person to keep his or her lower body motionless can dramatically improve stage presence.

Plan the Multimedia
Keep it simple; don’t use a slide deck as a substitute for notes (by, say, listing the bullet points you’ll discuss—those are best put on note cards); and don’t repeat out loud words that are on the slide. Not only is reciting slides a variation of the teleprompter problem—“Oh, no, she’s reading to us, too!”—but information is interesting only once, and hearing and seeing the same words feels repetitive.

Watch the following video and write a short paragraph (3-5 sentences) opinion about Richard's story. What about it moved you in particular. 



Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Digital Literacy Continued

This is a continuation of our previous post regarding information literacy. Websites and news organizations make money from advertising when we view their content. There are three important distinctions for you to know:
  1. Native Advertising - advertising that tries to sell or promote a product disguised as a news story
  2. Traditional Advertising - most common advertising that sells or promotes a product 
  3. News story - real content containing factual information about a subject and independent of bias and should answer, who, what, when and how
For this post take a look at the following two website banners and answer this question:





Which are these an example of: native advertising, traditional advertising or a news story and why? 



Friday, January 6, 2017

Digital Literacy 101

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about the abundance of fake news. Fake news is information deliberately posted to confuse people, drive traffic to websites and influence discussions or policy. We know from class that anyone can create a website. It is now our job to become detectives of what is real vs. what is fake.

Websites and news organizations make money from advertising when we view their content. There are three important distinctions for you to know:

  1. Native Advertising - advertising that tries to sell or promote a product disguised as a news story
  2. Traditional Advertising - most common advertising that sells or promotes a product 
  3. News story - real content containing factual information about a subject and independent of bias and should answer, who, what, when and how
For this post take a look at the following website banner and answer this question: 


Is this native advertising, traditional advertising or a news story and why? 

Friday, December 9, 2016

Modeling Empathy

em·pa·thy
ˈempəTHē/
noun
  1. the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.


According to some studies empathy is on the decline among young people. Recent "research, led by Sara H. Konrath of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published online in August in Personality and Social Psychology Review, found that college students’ self-reported empathy has declined since 1980, with an especially steep drop in the past 10 years." 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-me-care/ 

Here is the video we watched in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDWvj_q-o8

You have a three options for this post.
  1. Research what is contributing to this phenomena. READ THE SOURCE and summarize it for us. You must also include a link. -5 without a source. Tell us why empathy is important. 
  2. Look at the video one of the two examples listed below and tell us about it in your own words. Did the example move you? Why? Why is empathy important to you? 
  3. Describe an example from your own life where you or someone you know displayed empathy in a way that moved you. Why is empathy important in your own words? 

Empathy examples:
Here is one way a student changed his entire school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=PIHtuKc3Gjg

FSU football player changes 11 year old autistic boy's life: http://time.com/4474258/florida-state-football-boy-lunch-autism/ Video is short please read article as well.