Final Thoughts

This will be my last formal entry for GMST560.
Joe - I feel like I am so far ahead of 14 weeks ago in terms of what it means to be a teacher and all that goes with it. I know it's only one class, but this has been a great one to provide the framework/structure to hang the rest of the material to come. I can really see how it can all work in a classroom.
The research I have done in support of the projects has added a lot of knowledge about teaching, and especially this last group project with all the material about what can be done better in US schools - and we are doing it!
Tonight's project has a slight chance of being too long, so we may do a final edit just before class. We will be moving through the material quickly and deliberately. This might be a good approach, since the idea of this one is to create some tension and show that we have a solution and will save the day by implementing an MST program!

Joe - Thanks for all your help and completely professional delivery of this class! I'll keep you posted.....

The Last Night!!!

Another big weekend wrapping up the final group project.
It's not quite pulled together at this point, and needs to be trimmed down a little, but I think it's looking pretty good.
We have emphasized the issues of US performance with respect to world technical education as the primary reason to implement an MST program. Also have included a lot of detailed information on the latest school designs to focus on this as only a first small step.
We will also supply briefing books with additional material in hardcopy and softcopy form to allow the board to review this information offline after the presentation.

Missed Class

I got stuck at work this week and had to miss a class. Luckily we had an extra week for the presentation or it would have been a mess for the others.
The research for this project has brought me to a lot of information about the state of technical education in the US. We are IN TROUBLE.
However - it's very cool that all the research I have found points to integrated learning experiences as the optimum educational method. So apparently I picked the right degree!
I've stuctured our group presentation using the "hollywood" type storyline, and I think it is going to work out. I'm worried it's running long, and that it might be a little over the top. If our delivery is sincere then we should be able to cover the heartfelt requirement. I'm alos using the Gerry Spence idea of "fear as your ally", essectially scaring the board into implementaing the integrated program because they really have no other options.

Son to Father Letters

I put together what I think was a creative presentation for my prophesy paper presentation. I extended it beyond just the physical tech aspect by including one letter from each time period and one from each area of tech. The main idea to personalize it, since a letter is your inner thoughts at work, was to record and play a narration, instead of reading it.
The presentation last night went well and there were some very nice comments. Shelley in particular had a very nice comment about the result being very powerful.
We worked more on the final group project - it's coming together more and I've been doing some research into the concept of "telling a story. This gets at the idea that the presentation must be heartfelt and emotionally connect with the audience. I picked up a book called "Beyond Bullet Points" which gives a method for putting a presentation in terms of a "hollywood" script - naming a protagonist, creating a crisis, and saving the day by proposing a solution. I've volunteering to try to tie together our stuff with this idea.

Prophesy Paper #3

I submitted the last prophesy paper Monday and I had to diverge from my timeframe that I held in the first 2 - +/- 150 years. I knew about George Selden, Rochester and the automobile, and with the announcement the other day about the fuel cell research at GMs research center in Honeoye Falls, I wanted to work all that in. So I did +/- 100 years.
My original intent was to utilize the fuel cell car idea for the fianl group project, but Joe threw a curve by posing a very different question to answer. But I still hope to work it in.
Jenn , Melissa and I got started on layout out the school board presentation elements. Not quite sure how this will come together. I looked into the Gerry Spence argument concepts and picked up some additional ideas there.