Peking Acrobats

I attended the Peking Acrobats and as I was sitting there enjoying the amazing stunts I realized that this could be a very good educational experience for me. I first listened to the musical instruments and how their folk music was very different from American styles of music. The Instruments were very different and the techniques for playing the instruments were also very different. I noticed that women were playing the string instruments and the men were playing the percussion instruments. Then in the stunts they always tried to get it right even if it was a very dangerous stunt. One man who had a balancing act flipped bowls up and caught them on his head. He had a problem catching the 3 bowl combination and kept trying until he got it right. If something didn't happen right they would always try to get it right before they would let the audience applaud for them. I believe that never giving up is a part that has been integrated into their culture for a long time. I really respect their effort for accomplishment. If I could create an environment in my classroom to have students keep trying until they succeed, it will be a very good life lesson for them. This experience for me has helped me to really think about traits that other cultures have that would really aid me in my quest to help students become the best that they can be.

New Eating Habits

After last week having better learned about my spiritual living I decided to go more on the physical aspect of my life. This week I made an effort to eat a fruit and a vegetable every meal. I have discovered that the Cafeteria really does a good job of giving us great vegetables to eat. However, I found it hard on day 3 to keep on eating those apples and bananas that we only have. I had a large variety of vegetables to choose from and then a very limited selection of fruits. Once leaving Luther I found it even harder to make this effort to eat a fruit and a vegetable at every meal. I found that at one meal I would eat a fruit and at a different meal I would eat a vegetable. Then I also got in the debate if a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable with other people. I found though that eating healthier allowed be to get better sleep at night. I was also more alert during my classes during the day.

Attending New Church Services

I have attended 2 different church services this past week. One was Vespers Wednesday night at Decorah Lutheran. It was interesting to be at a place off- campus and then try to fit in with the local patrons. Then I also attended Campus Palm Sunday worship. I have never heard the reading of the passion quite like how they did it. I also thought it was interesting to see how these new Lutheran Worship practices differed from the Catholic structures I have been brought up knowing.

technology

I think that some technology is needed in every classroom. However, some areas need less technology than others. For example, in music and other art classes, I find that technology can only be used to aid learning on a basic level. The music classroom can use technology to play recordings and have students listen to their parts. In an art classroom I cant see how technology will really help artists. The students have to actually do the actions that they are trying to learn. A general technology problem is the use of computer slang in writing at a young age. This may be a reflection of poor parenting allowing their children to talk online before they really know how to use proper grammar and spelling in a formal type of writing. The instant messaging craze has influenced children. But technology does open up doors for proper sites on the internet and it can be a very useful source if used properly. I think it is advantageous if used properly, but in my practical application of it in the classroom, all I need is a cd/tape player with good speakers.

video

Here is the link to my video about the budget cut issue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR5-zUE6BOY

Vagina Monologues

I decided to attend the Vagina Monologues to just see what it was like. Thankfully I was there with my girlfriend which made the situation less awkward. I would not have had enough nerve to go by myself. Some of the monologues were very funny talking about how some women were looking to find themselves because they were so reluctant. The also said the word Vagina a lot. They also used other nicknames a large amount as well. They brought up many issues that happen right here in today's world about treatment of women. One culture would burn a woman's face or body to try to kill them. Also in Iraq, the soldiers have raped many Iraqi women. I enjoyed how each monologue had a different delivery. These monologues have opened my eyes to the treatment of women.

Gospel Choir experience

I attended a Gospel Choir workshop this past Saturday and Sunday by Dr. Keith Hampton. Here I had an experience with the African-American worship rituals. He taught us the the main difference between European worship and Black worship, as he preferred to be called, was passive participation versus active participation. He explained to us that in normal Black conversation the two people will say something after nearly every sentence. We performed two songs that he had written as well. He taught us how to sing some songs by rote. Rote is learning orally with-out music. Dr. Hampton taught us by having us listen the first time, sing the second, and be perfect the third time. This was an effective method to teach college students. However if he had taught us more complex music it would not have been so easy to learn these songs. The songs that we learned through this method were very repetitive. If we had done harder songs with more complex harmonies this would have been very hard to do. He didn't really have to maintain control of the group because he is a very highly respected composer and we respected him and he respected us. Because of this he did not have to worry about keeping the focus. He also was funny and integrated humor into the long rehearsal. This experience was very good and I really learned about something I didn't know before.