Stay On Task - Don't Go Ahead!

I've been working at various schools substituting for aides who need the time off for whatever reason.  This week I observed two different classes react differently to the same set of instructions:

            "We will be doing these problems as a class.  Follow my instruction.  I will give you time to finish each problem.  Stay on task.  Do not go ahead of your classmates.  It's important that we do this together."

            The first group did not even make the attempt to follow the directions.  Each had a private race against the other classmates.  Most of them really did seem to understand what was expected on the worksheets but still lacked in following the direction of staying on task and not moving ahead.

            The second group stayed on task and focused.  Though many of the answers were displayed on the board, none wrote the answer on his or her worksheet until the class members were instructed to do so.  The instructor paused with every problem and asked if there were any questions or if anyone need more time to finish writing the answer.

            The children from the first class had raced ahead and run out of work.  They got bored.  There may have been some who were bored in the second group as well, but they understood that their boredom would only get worse by racing ahead.

            Sadly, I saw myself in the first class more than the second and felt ashamed because I had missed out on so much.  By trying to move ahead on my own, I had deprived myself of more learning as I was focused on "moving ahead" rather than "staying on task" that I had missed much of what was being taught.

            As I observed the second group, I was amazed at the metaphors that went through my head as I realized that it isn't just with written assignments in which we need to need to stay on task and not move ahead but we need to be aware of this in our everyday lives.  Perhaps if we all stayed on task and waited for everyone else to catch up and support one another, there would be less problems with crime and negative attitudes.   Instead of moving ahead, we could assist one another at helping all of us to stay on task.  No one would move ahead and therefore no one would get left behind. I think by following these simple instructions we could make this world a better place.

What Happened To This Month?

          I had been asked to mark attendance for choir - only I have not marked anything for four weeks now - either choir was canceled, the doors were locked, or I wasn't there.  For an entire month?

          Every fourth Sunday a class is offered to the instructors. A primary counselor reminded me of that.  It's hard to believe that four weeks have gone by.  Where am I?

           I had just finished another accounting class - suspecting that my instructor is even more bored with the class than I am.

          The one I compared to Walter and Sheldon here, has been copying and pasting her findings word for word.  I called her on it.  I don't know if anybody caught that. 

          So bored with the discussions.  It felt like reading a high school yearbook.  "Have a good summer" blah blah blah . . .  no originality whatsoever.  Are accountants not allowed to be creative?

          Today I start two new classes.  Another accounting.  Subject auditing.  Oh, joy.  It's with an instructor I had before.  His lectures will be easier to follow than some of the other instructors that I've had recently.  That'll be nice.

          My other class is in ethics - which did not appear on my original agenda of required classes.  This will be with an instructor that I have also had before.  She is the one who had to cover four centuries of history in four weeks (one century per week).

          I have my water fitness class this morning, my role as story lady, and need to take Jenna up to Roseburg for a few things before she leaves for camp tomorrow.  Today is also the day in which there will be a live lecture in each class.  It'll be a busy day for me. I'm afraid I won't be able to attend them both live. 

          June is near its end.

PowerPoint part 1: Computer Fundamentals

          I wish the instructors would provide entertaining power points as is expected of the students.  One of the first courses I took at the online university was in computer fundamentals.  I did not know much about
PowerPoint at that point.  In fact, my baby girl knew her way around it much better than I as she had not only used it before, but enjoyed doing it.

          I don't know if we (the students) had been introduced to the "speaker's notes" part of the PowerPoint at that time.  I know I didn't use them in that particular class.  Yet I still received full credit.  We were given certain requirements for completing these assignments:

Create a professional 6 to 8 slide presentation on the topic of our choice. 

Our  PowerPoint was to include all of the following: 

1.      Title slide with your name, course, date and title of the presentation

2.      A standard design theme for the entire presentation

3.      Clip Art

4.      Smart Art

5.      Word Art

6.      Transitions between each slide

7.      At least 1 animation

          Insructor PowerPoints are generally 20 - 40 slides long.  No animation, few use word art or smart art.  I have only seen one use transitions.  Several have used Clip art.  Very few (if any) PowerPoints have entertained.

          For my first power point assignment, I made the topic obviously simple.  I used animations for all of my slides.  I had Jenna help me with some of it.  These are three of the slides  I ended up with:

          For our other power point assignment, I was  required to find a celebrity who had gone into the same major as I and do a power point on that person.  I learned that both Bob Newhart and Kenny G both accountants.  Who knew?  I remember I did research for them both.  I don't know why I ended up doing Bob Newhart instead of Kenny G.   Kenny G. has been a major investor in Starbucks (here) I find that interesting.

 

          So my Bob Newhart videos featured only three slides about him personally.  One on his background: 

his accomplishments:

and where he is today.  The images for the slides had to be retrieved from Window insert provided by Bing.  I would have liked to use this picture for "Where he is today" but was not allowed as it did not come up in Windows by is protected by copyright (I have not always honored that as I hadn't considered that aspect - figuring if they came up on Google images, I could use them.  But I have learned that isn't so, and apologize to any I may have offended by using copyrighted pictrues on my earlier posts and will remove those who send a request for me to do so.

Each slide was numbered and had my name at one side.  The next powerpoint I did my first philosophy class (here)  I did not use a numbering system in that class.