Teachers' Domain: Forum on Modern Media & Web-based *Educatioal* Resources

Join industry media producers, technology experts, scientists, classroom teachers and educators for a day dedicated to the discussion of the relationships these groups have to modern education and 21st century skills.

The all-day event will begin with a keynote address by Edutopia’s Milton Chen, followed by discussion groups lead by representatives from the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and our own KQED QUEST production staff. Participants will also be able to ask questions of a carefully selected panel composed of scientists, educators, television producers and technology experts.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/106614888

Interesting. I may check this out, though it sounds more media-focused than anything else. It's a shame, too... that they spelled "Educational" wrong in the title. Hope they change it soon. Shucks, it's one of those things where you need to be critical if you want to be taken seriously, you know? How can people take an education-focused event seriously when you spell "educational" wrong? Tsk tsk tsk.

Busy Busy Busy!

It's been a pretty crazy month or so, to say the least. I have been interviewing teachers and staff at middle schools from all over the bay area. By the end of this school semester, I will have completed the following:

Number of districts visited: 3

Alameda . Oakland . Berkeley

Number of schools visited: 8

Will C. Wood Middle School . Lincoln Middle School
Chipman Middle School . Bret Harte Middle School
Montera Middle School . Claremont Middle School
Longfellow Middle School . Willard Middle School

Number of teachers and staff interviewed: 25-30

*whew*

I am learning so much from each teacher I visit. Every one has their own unique style of teaching, but I am starting to see that there are overarching concerns that teachers have and similar tips and advice that they would give new teachers coming into their own classroom for the first time. A lot of great advice on how to arrange a classroom.

Books I'm Reading...

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School, by Matthew Frederick

"Our experience of an architectural space is strongly influenced by how we arrive in it."

As I think more about the students' and teachers' classroom experiences, I can't help but to imagine what they think and feel when they walk through dark and dingy hallways to get to their classrooms. Though I'm not focusing on the school environment as a whole (that would be too much for a thesis project), it is a realization that not only does a classroom environment affect individual's psyche, but everything down to the dark hallways, and run-down playgrounds play a big part, too.

Tools of Teaching, by Fred Jones

"The key to room arrangement. The most important feature of room arrangement is not where the furniture goes, but, rather, where the furniture does not go. The objective of room arrangement is to create walkways. I do not mean little, narrow walkways. I mean boulevards."

Interesting concept. Of the classrooms that I have visited, many veteran teachers seem to like this solution as well. It's all about being able to access each student easily and quickly.

Check-In

Realized I haven't posted in a while. Things are picking up for me in terms of research. I've been working with my one-on-one directed study advisor, Ryan Henderson, and he's been a big help in prepping me in terms of putting together a detailed plan of action for my thesis, how to approach and interview middle school teachers, and advising me what are the relevant issues I need to consider and look more into.

It's actually been a rather hectic school semester. Balancing classes, thesis, and part-time design work, has been pretty crazy. I've been in and out of middle school classrooms for the past 3 weeks, interviewing teachers and observing classrooms. I've recorded a lot of interviews, and took lots and lots of photos. So far I've been able to cover the Alameda public middle school district. I hope to cover some schools in the San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley school district.

I'm also taking a web-design/programming class right now. Learning the CSS ropes. The awesome thing about the class is that my final project gets to be my actual thesis website! So that is already underway, and will hopefully be up in the near future.

Whew... what a semester.