Philosophy Reflection

Writing and putting together my video presentation was an interesting process. Things that I thought would go smoothly didn't, and things that I thought would be difficult, weren't. Three things that I found worked well were:

• Already having a stockpile of pictures and video I had been taking since the beginning of the semester
• Asking students for tips on iMovie
• Having the tools necessary to make this project

Four things I found difficult were:

• Having to listen to my presentation and addressing all the horrible mistakes (lots of "ums").
• The amount of time it took to put it together
• Having to submit it without it being perfect because I had so many other obligations
• Going through the pictures and realizing I won't have my wonderful students forever. My mentor teacher is going to have to wrestle them back from me

If I could change some things about my video, they would be:

• To have set aside more time
• To tighten the narration to match the images better
• To have more images
• To have a better introduction and conclusion
  

Something that I thought was going to be difficult, and turned out not to be, was finding my philosophy of education. "What the heck is my philosophy of education?" I kept asking myself. When I set that thought aside to cool, I started watching video footage from my class and reviewing pictures. I found my philosophy right there in the documentation.

Overall, projects like this one are fun for my students. From now on, if they do have to something like this assignment, I'm going to make sure there is enough class time for them to get the help and support they need.

Energy Conservation Project Reflection

Oops! I thought I had done this one!

The most challenging issue I had with the energy conservation project was recording myself. I felt like the first day of student teaching. When I went back and reviewed myself, I found myself saying "um" A LOT! I also noticed I avoided looking directly at the camera and instead kept my eyes safely pointed towards the screen. This shouldn't have been a problem since I came in on a Sunday to record it in private.

For the actual project, I was amazed at how much money I spent on fountain sodas and how much paper waste I accumulated because of my soda addiction. I used to also get a latte every morning but I have switched to tea to save money and paper. When I made this switch I had to deal with headaches (which I used to never get) that finally went away after about a week. Can latte withdrawals cause that?

I did try to get the convenience store to carry re-usable cups to sell, but I got a not-so-polite "yeah, right!"

Overall, it was an eye-opening experience that has influenced my routine.

Philosophy of Education iMovie

Starting my Philosophy of Education movie was not easy. I wasn't too sure what my exact philosophy was until I went back and started reviewing video clips and pictures I had taken over the last few months. I was surprised to find my philosophy right there in iPhoto!

It was fun compiling the pictures and video clips of my wonderful students. They continue to be the highlight of this school year and it is nice to know I will always have these images/memories of them to look back on after we have gone separate ways.

The only part of this project that made me want to throw my laptop out the window occured during recording. Getting my sentences to match up with the images was not an easy process...my blood pressure is going back up just thinking about it.

I hope you enjoy my presentation (sorry it's blurry, it loaded that way).