C4T #4 Summary Post

During the week of 4/9-4./15, I left a comment for Dr. Strange on his blog post entitled, "Lectures - Part 1." His post was about effectiveness of using the lecture method in the classroom. He discussed the opinions of several notable people and then asked these questions: why abandon lectures, what would be better, and what are the impediment to achieving a better replacement for lectures? Dr. Strange agave an answer to each of these questions, but also asked for opinions and thoughts.

Here is my comment:

Dr. Strange,
I have been "fussing" about the lecture method of teaching since I started college. I have had many professors simply lecture directly from PowerPoint slides. Oftentimes, these slides were provided, in entirety, by the textbook company. I felt as though my professors did not truly care about their students. I think that the "bond between professor and student," as Wesch suggests is very important and can be addressed in many ways. One of those ways is to not read from PowerPoints that are pre-made. 
I think that the traditional lecture method has had its heyday. I don't advocate for its complete eradication, but I do think that it needs to be used sparingly and carefully. 
I plan to use a combination of videos, interactive learning projects, discussions, and lectures to keep my students fully engaged and actively learning. It's important to find a level at which I can connect with my students and thus, facilitate an eagerness to learn, as well.
I hope to impart in my students an understanding and awareness of imagination, possibilities, life, and real-world skills.

During the week of 4/23-4/29, I another of Dr. Strange's blog posts. This particular post was titled, "Facts."
Dr. Strange explained his thoughts on the irrelevance of facts in today's world. He says that simply regurgingtating a fact is pointless, instead one should really want find answers and go through the important steps in finding them. He also argues that nearly anyone can say anything on the internet, so it is difficult to find the "real facts."

Below is the comment that I left for Dr. Strange:

Dr. Strange,I don't think that facts are irrelevant in all fields. In the above blog post, you referred to a conversation with a man about facts in American History. I can see where learning the exact dates of certain events in history isn't productive. However, it is very important to know about Boyle's Law in Chemistry, without fully knowing and being able to use Boyle's Law one cannot progress in Chemistry. Where does one draw the line about what facts should and shouldn't be "taught?"
In your final paragraph, you mention the usage of the internet in fact finding and checking. I think that one should use the same care in selecting a reliable website as one does in finding reliable sources for research papers or anything else where accuracy matters.
I believe in facts and do not think they are irrelevant. However, I heard a very interesting story on NPR today that was titled 'The Death Of Facts In An Age Of 'Truthiness' It seems that you and NPR agree that facts are no longer in the grand scheme of things. Here is a link to the NPR story:http://www.npr.org/2012/04/29/151646558/if-a-fact-dies-in-the-forest-will-anyone-believe-it
Best,Eleanor Pomerat